The subscription economy is expected to be worth at least $100 billion by the year 2020. Consumer behavior is evolving, especially among younger consumers. Owning and accumulating goods isn’t as big a priority as it used to be, while the experiences are increasingly important.
Amazon and Netflix are two of the giants of the subscription economy, but the range of possibilities for subscription-based businesses is nearly unlimited. People can sign up to receive a monthly box of cosmetics or cat toys, and they use software as a service (SaaS) routinely because, in many cases, it beats loading software onto a computer or server.
If your business is considering offering products or services on a subscription basis, you must appeal to people’s desire for convenience and positive experience, while retaining customers long enough for them to have loyalty value.
Convenience Is a Primary Factor in Choosing a Subscription Service
Signing up for Amazon Prime or Netflix is easy because consumers, whether in a B2C or B2B context, expect convenience for all subscription services. Byzantine signup processes simply won’t fly, so you have to make sure you provide a sleek, efficient procedure. At the same time, you need to be able to collect analytics from customers so you can learn what they use most and where problems tend to arise. Competition in subscription-based services can be steep in many industries. If you don’t provide the simplicity and convenience that customers want, you’ll struggle to get ahead.
How Long Must a Customer Subscribe to Become Profitable?
You also need to determine in advance how long a subscriber must stick with your subscription-based service to reach your targeted customer lifetime value. How many subscribers are needed to support your SaaS product, plus upgrades and technical services? The good news is that subscriptions can be easier to sell because of the lower buy-in cost associated with them.
Most of your lifetime customer value arrives in installments with subscription-based products and services. The length and strength of customer relationships are even more important in subscription services than in a traditional business model.
Subscription Workflows Must Be Flawless
The workflows involved with acquiring, serving, and retaining customers must operate perfectly. They should also collect relevant data, including usage, clickstreams, and location so you can understand how your customer base uses your product or service. Analytics are the key to keeping existing customers, attracting new ones, and finding new opportunities for monetizing products and services.
Workflows must be flawless so that customer experiences are consistent and problem-free. The right workflow software can be of tremendous importance in making sure the customer experience meets or exceeds expectations.
Customer Service Workflows as Important as Ever
The workflow software that powers your customer service workflows is at least as important in a subscription-based business as it is for traditional methodology. Not only must you do what you can to ensure that people remain with you after their free trial period, you must be ready to tackle problems immediately when they arise. It can be all too easy for a customer to decide to switch to a different provider when their current one is not living up to expectations.
Billing mistakes, for example, can be a major cause for customer service problems, so the workflow tools that manage billing must work consistently and accurately every single time. Not only do your customers want an easy and memorable user experience, they have high expectations that your company will make things right when there are problems. The right workflow tools let your team focus on customer relationships, rather than individual transactions. That’s the key to success for subscription-based services.
If your company is planning to step into the world of subscription-based services, outstanding workflow software is essential. PerfectApps is workflow software that is flexible and powerful enough to be applied to processes as diverse as new employee onboarding and collection of customer data.
Subscription-based businesses are growing because of their convenience and reasonable buy-in costs. Succeeding in a subscription economy means your efficiency and workflows must be in top form at all times. PerfectApps invites you to watch our demo video. You’re sure to be inspired with numerous ideas for making sure your workflows are efficient and effective enough to meet your exacting standards.
