9 ways to deliver an amazing subscription service over time

A business operating a subscription-based pricing model can better predict its future revenues. This is because they know that at whatever point it kicks in, they'll receive monies on a regular basis. Should you be contemplating this, there are a number of things to consider. A key one being whether you need to charge a one-off setup fee gets collected. Or you can move straight to periodic billing (e.g., monthly, quarterly, annually etc.), which is something akin to simpler offerings.

The rollout of a subscription plan can yield some spectacular results when done right. It can be replicated many times over, giving you leeway to scale extensively. You will also identify gaps in your offering quicker as more users are onboarded. This leading to a greater idea of how to plug them as you strive to please growing customer demands.

It may well be the case you are hesitant to operate this style of payment structure today. Many often fear disrupting the status quo may bear less fruit over the long run. This can be overcome by having different payment methods for your various services.

Here’s an organic list of what you may want to do when deploying a subscription-based service. Following these recommendations should safeguard you and your business for the long haul.

1. Determine which pricing model you’ll adopt and if it’s standalone or layered
2. Work out an efficient means of processing payments efficiently and effectively
3. Develop an ever-evolving content strategy that lasers in on your target users
4. Make your success stories ratify why others in designated sectors must sign-up
5. Categorise your buyers into groupings centred on their behaviours and traits
6. Use a substantial portion of the funds that you generate to advance new ideas
7. Ensure you have go-to content, features and functions that can’t be avoided
8. Demonstrate the value your product renders via demos, trials, bolt-ons and more
9. Keep an eye on competitors’ offerings so you gain the headway to surpass them

Subscription-based services generally come in five formats. These are fixed (or flat), tiered, usage-based, per-user, and per-module pricing. You can opt for one or multiple or layer them into your current rates. Arriving at a decision will depend on client needs and operational costs—also the age of the product and where it is in its life cycle.

Like many starting out, you may opt for fixed-rate pricing in the beginning phases. This is to allow your earliest adopters to receive all the available value of your offering. They’ll also form your core user base if the rate they lock in is one your new users won’t receive. It doesn’t mean their price stays the same for time and millennium, only that it will be substantially lower than future rate cards.

Separate from the idea of going in with a fixed cost is knowing how long such an arrangement will last. Over time, you may need to introduce caps around usage, users or what content gets accessed. If this is the case, we suggest you plan for it rather than doing it as a drastic measure.

As the constituent parts of your offering grow, your running costs may also accrue. You might have to look at other subscription cost options when this happens.

A tiered price presents various price points for access to different assets. Per-user pricing introduces a fee for each individual granted access to your platform. Usage-based pricing looks at how a client’s consumption affects running costs. And per-module pricing enables subscribers to pick and choose which parts of your service they require, hence removing unnecessary features or adding them as required.

There is no right or wrong answer on how you go about setting your pricing. Don’t be put off by using more than one pricing model. Many service providers do, to capitalise on their several benefits. They also protect an organisation’s ability to generate revenue and protect profits.

There are a few things to examine when thinking about how to process payments. One is the type of payment system being used. Will it be online or offline? Another is the number of transactions you need and expect to process. Last up is the speed for finalising transactions.

When it comes to online payments, there are a few different options available. How you go about making a decision must bring into account a range of variables.

First, establish if your payment processor supports the currencies your subscribers use. Next, consider the cost of brokering these transactions to confirm it's affordable. Finally, determine if the hit taken in each payment you would receive makes sense.

It would be unfortunate to be in a position where your bottom line is harmed. So, ensure your chosen payment processor's tech integrates well with your systems. An example of where this is critical is in the software space. This is because the pace at which invoices get distributed is pivotal to delivering a seamless user experience. And the ability to cease service automatically for non-payment, especially when no monies are paid within a system-generated grace period.

Although less popular nowadays, offline and manual payments do benefit some businesses. These range from cash and cheques to bank transfers and postal orders. Although all present security and verification concerns, some leave a paper trail. In the broader sense, its dependents like the physical representation of their earnings.

of the total amount of online payments made in 2021 were via digital/mobile wallets., and this is expected to grow more in upcoming years.

Global Payments Report by WorldPay

As your business grows, so too should your content strategy. Honing in on your desired customers lets you hit them with engaging information. You should, therefore, produce inbound assets that drive conversions. This will allow you to become familiar with parties you didn’t know prior.

Now, content is much more than blogs, social and the occasional video. You also have the likes of FAQs, forms, checklists, case studies and infographics. As well as webinars, glossaries, emails, and whitepapers, to name but a few.

One thing we love using at our end is solutions-based landing pages. These are web pages that focus on distinct buying groups. Parallel to them are your service pages. Here, fresh ones should be created when new ways of delivering your expertise arise. What’s good about both is that they can contain all the content types above, doubling down on the standalone pages where they may sit on a website.

Whatever your motivations, remember your pushing to receive data you can act on. So, look to produce optimised content that gets detected by search engines. Also, throwing some stationary items in the mix (where applicable).

The golden nugget we’ll give away for free is the importance of geo-tagged versions of your web pages. These will mainly be services and solutions pages built for the towns, cities or countries you cover (or want customers in). And where their strength their use unique content that ups your chances of being found on Google et al.

In light of this suggestion, if you are without a website (or have a poor setup lacking these fields), consider a new build or an entire overhaul.

How others have reached their end goals using your services is worth a share. Your true bread and butter lie in the procedures used to assist these users. For this reason, you want to use real-life narratives to prove the impact your offering has on these users individually and as a buying group. It will result in you winning more business as more space is given to justify why others should sign up with you.

Don’t be lacklustre in your descriptions. Use animated and compelling language so your use cases act as direct sales pitches. Your desire must get someone so hooked that it at least sparks a conversation. The intended interaction must get them to the point of trying out what’s on offer or requesting more info.

The aim of your storytelling has to be to evoke emotion. It means making concepts that might have once seemed complex easier to grasp. As long as intrigue and interest are central to what you lay out, you’ll remain memorable to viewers. A great way of achieving this is by breaking things down into digestible chunks. Also, use imagery, analogies and metaphors to convey your message.

There is no need to contemplate these actions. Buyers need to see and feel proof of what you’re promising them. The best purchasers are those that are well-informed about their investment. The value of this supersedes any monetary amounts spent.

Shifts are forever occurring with the different markets you may be targeting. The conventions set over time get eked away daily as consumer habits change. To combat this, you need to get a general feel of where the wind is blowing. This means you must be specific in your targeting, unique when communicating your message and personable when making contact.

From now on, take note of every customer you acquire and categorise them into every imaginable segment. These may include location, gender, age and spending habits, preferred payment methods, and the dominant category of their purchases. It could even extend to cover current and historical data alongside groupings like new, returning, loyal, occasional, high value, VIP, wholesale etc.

With in-depth characteristics logged about your subscribers, you can find more prospects. This is because you’ll know the traits you’re pursuing and what makes them tick. With well-thought-out marketing, gaining traction in the verticals that matter is simpler.

When armed with this knowledge, a justification for incentivising users emerges. Their insights into the ongoing use of your services could warrant a reward. Should you go about this, make sure you collect accurate statistics. The aim has to be an awareness of how you can improve your service delivery. So, a smart move would be to look at potential product adjustments and create a product roadmap. The payoff here will be a continually improving service that is hard to knock from its pedestal.

On this point, you’ll be surprised how much FOMO (the fear of missing out) stimulates those without to act. Simply put, no one wants to know others have something that enhances their performance and leaves them out. If you, too, succumb to this theory, it can lead to those you want to do business with taking actions they wouldn’t usually take.

A reasonable amount of funds you generate from subscriptions should be set aside. You will want them to be an incubator for new ideas because an innovative spirit will help you outwit your competition. Should your current position not enable you to do this, still aim to hold a leading role in your industry. A temporary shortcoming won't thwart your ability to grow your organisation and its market share.

Making improvements is paramount. Avoid believing that you are either unable to break the mould or that what you offer is immensely exceptional. Even those not doing what you do will derive ways to duplicate or arrive at the same endpoint for lower costs. For this reason, all research must be ongoing. What you learn will keep you ahead of other players and make it harder for them to land a knockout blow.

On occasion, you may face issues around copyright, trademark or patents. As a result, you may not be able to roll out an idea for a designated period. Yes, this means a lot, but not so much to stop your rivals from seeking workarounds. They'll push to have their users arrive at the same or comparable outcomes you desire. This is why it's in your interest to curate unique propositions. The ones that allow you to excel and maintain a loyal clientele.

One thing you never want to be is out of whack with the most advanced ways in which your industry delivers success. Transformation happens within the blink of an eye. In response, always be of the mindset that you'll innovate to dominate. And, where others have great systems that can be attached to yours, you'll push to integrate.

It is important to have content on your website that is engaging and unique. This will help visitors stay on your pages to explore more of what you offer, especially if what's shown is easy to go through.

When you look at your platform as a whole, it's on you to ensure value is regularly supplied. It could mean frequently uploading new content, maintaining core features and functions or tweaking your packages to address user demand. Whichever of these it may be, it's key to understand how to prevent subscribers from feeling detached.

Having content, features and functions that your users yearn for will heighten anticipation. So, make every proprietary thing you create curtail copycats and imitators while recognising your thought leadership will gain you much merit.

Don't let anyone tell you it's not in your best interests to develop a loyal following. Anyone who believes in your words and actions will do a bucketload of advocating on your behalf with levels of excitement you may have never witnessed before. In giving these individuals info that appeals to their needs, you can rest assured that your brand always comes out on top.

A smart way to set about this task without making it a daunting one is to set up a content release schedule. It will keep you on track and avoid elongated periods of no data distribution, which is vital to a beautiful relationship with your audience.

If you want people to see the value in your product, you should detail its inner workings. How it’s presented to your desired target markets says a lot about how they’ll relate. With this knowledge in hand, highlight things that tweak emotion, are eye-catching and deliver tangible results. Then clarify why they are difficult or near impossible to attain elsewhere.

When it comes to any part of your offering that can be delivered online, do live or pre-recorded video walkthroughs. The objective you'll need to fulfil is guiding viewers through the critical components of your setup, particularly those that address a viewer’s needs. You don't want to show them everything, only that which resolves their dilemmas.

Even though we stress online solutions, they may not fit all scenarios. This is because winning an agreement to conduct a demo and the prospect's likelihood of attending can wildly vary. A yes over the phone or via email isn’t the most potent indicator a supposed buyer will turn up. However, the chances are notably increased when you’ve nailed your ideal customer profile. And out of this, you will more likely speak to someone with the time, space, and expertise to take on what you’re saying.

As you can see, online interactions are not for everyone. Those not meeting this criterion may need in-face human interactions, mainly when being sold physical items that need to be held and touched. But in saying this, you must know what your business stands for and who’ll you go out and see or not. This is due to the costs associated with in-person walkthroughs and in-store visits, where transportation, refreshments, and moving goods shouldn't be underestimated. Also, adding that there is no certainty you’ll recoup this outlay.

Whatever choices you arrive at, don’t fall short of being a seasoned professional. Be the one who’s on the ball with day-to-day insights and updates about your product and ready to address queries head-on and speed up all buying cycles.

of buyers think that product demos help drive them to make a purchase.

Wyzowl

This goes without saying. Whatever you observe on the market today won’t necessarily be around tomorrow. Even if some things are a mainstay, how there presented will likely be improved in some way, shape, or form.

With sectors forever changing, staying on top of trends is essential. This should crystalise your drive to improve on what exists. Also, to craft functions and practices that you can call your own. When going about this, drawing inspiration from others is absolutely fine. There’s no shame in learning from those making a dent in the spaces where you want to be influential.

To present irresistible solutions, integrate studying and learning into your business’s operations. It will help those needing working fixes understand the depths of your problem-solving. Alongside this, also deliver your workforce and user base improvements at a manageable pace. By empowering them, you'll see more meaningful revenue over time.

Be mindful that everything can be enhanced and that you can imagine anything you want. Whether immediate, through iterations, integrations or added manpower, change can be brought about. It’s good to think and record your thoughts since this gives impetus to bring your ideas to life. Use this momentum to amass a greater market share and improve your profit line.

Whatever happens, ensure the areas you lead don’t fall behind. A concerted effort to be creative shouldn’t detract from your core activities. It should be supplementary. And a balanced approach can boost your current setup while ushering in new concepts.

Are you able to add a tenth suggestion to our list? Drop what you think it should be, and we’ll add it to the updated version of this article.

As important to us is hearing which tip resonates with you the most. It will likely inspire future writings as we drill down on interrelated issues.

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As always, the team and I are happy to discuss your endeavours and bounce around any ideas you may have. So, don’t hesitate to reach out should a private discussion ever be of interest.