Subscription based websites take full advantage of customer retention. It is a feature that takes serious time to pull off but is worth the investment. You can streamline the usefulness of a subscription model by offering payment solutions. Creating a lucrative subscription model requires surviving the competition, and staying far away from the easy mistakes.
Is Your Idea Farfetched?
What makes a good idea for a company may not work well in subscription form. This is the biggest hurdle for businesses to get across. If your original business doesn’t include a subscription plan, it is like starting from the ground up. Making the change can alienate your current customers without a guarantee that new ones will return. For new companies, this could very well mean the closure of business.
The only way to transition to a subscription website without shocking current customers is to offer an incentive. Major service changes usually have incentives attached, and the best examples can be seen by phone and cable company crossovers. A short-term benefit to the change will keep your old customers while being an inviting way to bring new customers aboard.
For companies that start out with a subscription model, the rules change. It doesn’t get easier, but it becomes a lot less complicated. Unless you’re creating the next iPhone, there is no need to worry about a rush of customers overloading your platform. New subscription services have the benefit of starting with a steady stream of users to collect data from. Based on this small sample size, you can shape your marketing and future service options to better cater to the customer base.
A company that starts off with the subscription business model can shape their entire vision around consumers that show the most interest – which is difficult to do when you try to shoehorn a subscription plan in at a later date. Both methods have a chance of success, but one requires more work than the other.
How Easy Is The Payment System?
The payment system will make or break your subscription service. Ease of use is key, but more importantly you need it to be reliable. A reliable business model isn’t built around downtimes, constant updates that break things or slow customer support. Optimizations need to be done before adding in a subscription service, not after. By taking a half measure with a subscription-based website, you risk customer retention.
For payment options, auto drafting is important, but is one of the many features that should be included by default. For the most convenience possible, automating multiple payment scenarios should be a priority. With subscription-based websites, customer retention is a variable that can be measured by the quality of service offered. If you offer a service that people want, then it will be consumed. In short, think of how your payment system is handled and treat it like a feature of the website.
Wrap Up
Make sure that the platform you want to run a subscription on is compatible. Creating a regular website requires a completely different set of protocols. Do your research, and the money will flow in naturally.
