In this article, we will look into the potential strategies that you can implement to give your subscription business a competitive edge.
Subscriptions are one such business model that is designed to depend on existing customers to generate recurring revenue. It is far easier and economically viable to retain customers than to bring in new ones.
This does not mean that acquiring new customers is out of the question! In order to maintain a balanced subscription business, it is important that you focus on reducing the churn rate and increasing new subscribers.
Anyone who has worked in a subscription business would know of the difficulties associated with bringing in and retaining new customers. Things can be a hit or a miss a lot of times, and you need to adjust your strategies in a way that benefits your business and your customers alike.
Let’s get started.
Key Takeaways:
- Subscription marketing lets you acquire new subscribers to your products or services and retain the existing ones for your subscription business.
- Effective subscription marketing includes leveraging happy customers, crafting compelling email campaigns, maintaining consistent engagement through regular posting, collaborating with influencers, and more.
Subscription marketing is the practice of using targeted processes and strategies to attract new subscribers and maintain ongoing relationships with existing customers. It focuses on acquiring, engaging, and retaining subscribers by delivering continuous value, often through recurring services or products, personalized content, and exclusive offers.
Marketing efforts for a subscription product are different from those for a one-time purchase, primarily because subscription campaigns are aimed at building long-term relationships with customers. This would help you retain the customers for a longer period of time.
The marketing strategies that you implement should depend upon the product or service you offer. For example, a product like desktop management software should be marketed to enterprises rather than individual users.
There is a lot to be done to build and optimize the best marketing strategy. You will have to launch campaigns, collect the actionable data, and analyze it to understand what works better for you.
What Do Customers Get From Subscriptions?
Why do customers choose subscriptions? A major reason lies in the nature of the products themselves. Many subscription products are items that customers need to purchase regularly, like a bag of coffee beans or skincare essentials.
In these cases, opting for a subscription makes far more sense than repeatedly buying the product manually. Subscriptions offer several advantages that appeal to customers:
- Convenience: Subscriptions simplify the repurchasing process by automating it, saving customers time and effort.
- Time-Saving: They eliminate the need for frequent shopping trips or manual reordering.
- Cost Efficiency: Subscription pricing is often designed to help customers save money, offering discounts or perks for long-term commitments.
- Consistency: Customers enjoy the peace of mind, knowing their favorite products will always be in stock and delivered with minimal effort.
By addressing these pain points, subscriptions provide customers with a hassle-free way to access the products they love.
Subscription businesses may need to use several tactics or strategies to build a plausible marketing campaign. But whatever your campaign strategy may be, its core objective should be the same. These objectives include
- Add value to customers, even for those who would not purchase
- Build a strong relationship of trust with your target audience
- Appropriately communicate the value additions to customers
- Maintain a customer-centric approach and avoid being too pushy
A subscription campaign should establish the product’s value and its edge over the competition. It should also focus on exposing the product or service to a maximum number of core audiences.
There are several challenges in offering subscriptions and acquiring new customers. But some of them can be alleviated by marketing your subscriptions better.
Here, we will see some of the prominent and effective marketing strategies for subscriptions.
1. Utilize Your Happy Customers
People believe people! No amount of campaigning would stand equivalent to a positive review from satisfied customers.
Collect reviews from your customers and make them a part of your marketing campaign. You can use several tactics, such as offering additional discounts or renewals free to get reviews from customers.
Once you receive these reviews, market them on your website and share them on social media to attract new buyers.
In addition to reviews, you may also use the other content that your customers generate for marketing purposes. It can be their YouTube videos, images they shared, blogs they wrote, etc.
Also, encouraging your customers themselves to share this content would help you reach a much larger audience who would not have been in your brand’s digital network.
2. Create the Best Email Marketing Campaigns
If you are not yet collecting the emails of your customers, drop all your other tasks and implement a system for collecting them without any delays. Email marketing is a necessary strategy that would take you closer to your customers.
You can use email marketing to reach new customers, communicate new offers and collections with existing customers, send cart abandonment emails, follow-up emails, and more.
The core aim of your email marketing campaign should be value-addition to customers. At the same time, you should focus on nurturing the relationship with your customers so they won’t abandon you for your competitors.
3. Post Regularly
Content is King. Post content regularly on all your marketing channels to keep your customers engaged and updated. SEO-friendly content would help you gain more audience.
Contents such as tips, tutorials, how-tos, and blogs would attract more users to your website. Also, such content can help with reducing the churn rate of your website.
Also, content is the best tool to offer value to users without them having to buy something from you. This would help with brand awareness and brand engagement.
Plan your content beforehand and make a strategy that maximizes value for your customers to make this work.
4. Partnering With Influencers
Influencing is a big thing now. You can partner with influencers who have a following that is relevant to your brand to benefit the most from it.
Influencer marketing would mainly help you with two different things – trust and reach. An influencer endorsing your product would help build trust in users who already know your brand.
Nevertheless, such endorsements would take you to the forefront of users who are not aware of your brand.
5. Understand What Makes Your Brand Stand Out
Take a good look at your brand and understand what makes you good. You can then use that information to market your brand best.
For example, if your product is the cheapest in the market, let everyone know it is the cheapest. You can send emails, write blogs, publish this on your website, and more to gather the attention of the readers.
In simple terms, this is nothing but – knowing your value and using it.
6. Offer Special Promotions to Win Over Customers
Promotions are some of the most common yet most effective subscription marketing strategies out there. You can offer several kinds of special offers, such as – free trials, zero sign-up fees, etc.
In the case of existing users, you can offer free renewals too. You may also offer free one-time gifts with renewals to reduce churn.
7. Offer Free Trials
Free trials are one of the most common requirements of all users. The main reason behind this is its handiness itself.
Users can test your product and understand if it works for them with a free trial. Since it is free, users can easily use it without many hurdles. Moreover, such an experience would improve the brand image of the company and may help with customer acquisition in the future.
8. Start a Loyalty Program
A business will stay successful if it can keep its customers satisfied. What better way to gain your customer’s loyalty than starting a loyalty program?
A loyalty program should reward customers for their continued relationship with the company. Treating such customers right would, in turn, help you grow your business.
9. Leverage Retargeting Ads
Retargeting ads are an effective way to re-engage potential subscribers who have interacted with your website but didn’t complete their purchase. These ads can remind them of the value your subscription offers and encourage them to return.
Use platforms like Google Ads or Facebook Ads to show personalized messages, such as a discount offer or highlighting features they may have missed. Retargeting ensures that you stay in the minds of potential customers, increasing the likelihood of conversion while making the most out of your marketing spend.
10. Host Webinars or Live Demos
Showcasing your subscription product or service through webinars or live demos can be a powerful way to educate potential customers and build trust.
You can use these platforms to highlight the key benefits of your subscription, answer customer questions in real time, and demonstrate how it works. Providing an interactive experience helps customers understand the value of your offering, making it easier for them to subscribe confidently.
11. Build a Referral Program
A referral program can help you tap into the networks of your existing customers to gain new subscribers. Offer incentives like discounts, free months of service, or exclusive rewards to customers who successfully refer others to your subscription.
Referral programs not only boost your subscriber base but also strengthen the loyalty of your existing customers by showing appreciation for their advocacy.
12. Optimize Your Landing Pages
Your subscription landing pages play a crucial role in converting visitors into subscribers. Ensure these pages are optimized with compelling headlines, clear call-to-action buttons, and concise descriptions of your subscription’s benefits.
Include testimonials, trust badges, and a FAQ section to address potential customer concerns. A well-designed, user-friendly landing page can significantly improve your conversion rates and encourage visitors to subscribe.
13. Use Social Proof to Build Credibility
Social proof, such as customer testimonials, ratings, and case studies, is a great way to build trust and credibility for your subscription business. Highlight positive experiences from your subscribers on your website, emails, and social media platforms.
Displaying real-time data, such as the number of active subscribers or recent sign-ups, can also create a sense of urgency and reliability, motivating potential customers to subscribe.
14. Target Niche Audiences with Personalized Campaigns
Rather than casting a wide net, focus on specific niches that are most likely to benefit from your subscription. Create personalized campaigns tailored to these audiences, addressing their unique needs and preferences.
For instance, if you offer fitness subscription boxes, you could target segments like yoga enthusiasts, runners, or gym-goers with customized ads, emails, and content. Personalized marketing not only improves engagement but also fosters deeper connections with your audience.
15. Invest in High-Quality Video Marketing
Video marketing is a highly engaging way to showcase your subscription service. Create videos that highlight the value of your subscription, such as unboxing experiences, customer testimonials, or tutorials on how to use your service effectively.
Share these videos on platforms like YouTube, social media, and your website. High-quality videos not only capture attention but also provide a clear and visually appealing way to communicate your subscription’s benefits, making it easier for customers to decide to subscribe.
If you are looking to set up a subscription website in WooCommerce, the WebToffee WooCommerce subscription plugin is the right choice for you.
WebToffee WooCommerce Subscription Plugin – An Overview
The WebToffee WooCommerce Subscriptions Plugin is a comprehensive solution for creating and managing subscription-based products in your WooCommerce store. With this plugin, you can seamlessly set up simple and variable subscriptions, customize recurring billing intervals, and manage subscription lengths. It empowers you to offer free trials, charge sign-up fees, and handle renewals with ease, making it an ideal choice for businesses looking to build recurring revenue streams.
One of the standout features of this plugin is its flexibility in handling renewals and discounts. You can set renewal intervals ranging from daily to yearly, synchronize renewals for all subscribers, and even pro-rate charges till the first renewal. The plugin also supports popular payment gateways like Stripe and PayPal for secure recurring transactions and allows you to offer recurring discounts through fixed-value or percentage-based coupons. Additionally, automated email notifications keep both customers and store owners informed about subscription statuses, renewals, and cancellations.
The WebToffee WooCommerce Subscriptions Plugin also enhances the customer experience by giving subscribers full control over their accounts. Customers can easily view, manage, cancel, or suspend their subscriptions through a user-friendly interface. Whether you’re offering digital services, physical products, or memberships, this plugin provides the tools you need to streamline subscription management and maximize recurring revenue for your WooCommerce store.
If you already have a WooCommerce website, just follow the procedures in this article to set up recurring WooCommerce subscription products.
If you prefer video, here is a video tutorial on how to set up WooCommerce subscriptions. Take a look.
In case you have not selected the platform where you want to build your subscription website, take a look at this blog on how to create a subscription website.
Frequently Asked Questions
Unlike traditional marketing, which often focuses on one-time purchases, subscription marketing emphasizes building long-term relationships with customers. It’s about retaining existing customers while attracting new ones, ensuring consistent revenue streams for your business.
Email marketing helps you maintain regular communication with your subscribers. It’s an effective way to share updates, promote new offers, send cart abandonment reminders, and nurture customer relationships to reduce churn.
Free trials allow potential subscribers to experience your product or service before committing. This builds trust, reduces hesitation, and increases the likelihood of converting trial users into long-term subscribers.
Subscription-based business models have become increasingly popular in recent years, and for good reason. Since the model works by offering a continuous stream of value, subscription services create long-term relationships with their audience, leading to increased customer loyalty and revenue.
However, building a successful subscription service requires careful planning and execution, as well as a deep understanding of your target audience and their needs. By implementing the strategies outlined in this blog, such as regularly communicating with users and offering special promotions, free trials, loyalty rewards, etc., you can increase the effectiveness of your subscription marketing efforts and drive growth for your business.
Ultimately, the key to success in subscription marketing is to focus on delivering real value to your customers and building a community of loyal subscribers who see your service as an indispensable part of their lives.
