Getting subscription products is the new norm and customers want to avoid purchasing everyday items repeatedly. They subscribe to the service and get their desired items at home. The concept has gained more popularity in recent years due to the hectic schedule of people with jobs. There are different types of subscription products, such as tangible or digital products.
You will be surprised that about 15 percent of online buyers use subscription products from e-commerce stores. Some people also subscribe to digital products like Netflix, Spotify, or the newsletter of their favorite consultant, etc. If you are a person with an entrepreneurial mind, you can also run your setup of subscription products and generate good revenue. However, before starting, you must know "what is a subscription product" and "how to manage your subscription product.
What is a Subscription Product?
In the model for subscription products, a person pays one-time dues to subscribe to a service and then gets charged regularly for getting the products. The product is said to be a subscription product because you subscribe to the services of a business, and they provide you with your subscribed products recurrently on a fixed date.
As more customers adopt this business model, subscription items will continue to grow in popularity. The furniture, electronics, vitamins, food, fashion, and children's apparel and accessories industries are a few examples of sectors offering subscription products.
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Why is selling subscription products beneficial?
For your business, subscription products offer the following significant advantages.
1. Subscription products allow you to receive recurring revenue because your customers will pay you over time rather than all at once.
2. Enabling new users to access your product via a subscription is a terrific method to get more income from various consumer groups.
3. Increased success rates in client contacts with your company improve customer loyalty. It means a customer will interact with your services periodically, and this interaction will build his trust in your brand. Moreover, you get numerous chances to impress your clients with your services.
4. By offering subscription products, you get a guarantee of cash inflow for the upcoming few months. In this way, you get enough time to find other potential clients. You can also ask your users to review your services.
Types of Subscription Products You Can Offer
The ideal subscription products are those your consumers must frequently purchase. Select a subscription product that adheres to the same principles as your customers. For instance, an innovative coffee business might offer a monthly mystery membership with a new roast every month. However, a coffee shop may allow customers to select their favorite bean and roast if they want enough coffee.
Which products are the most suitable for subscriptions, given the many subscription services available? Naturally, this may vary depending on the industry, but generally, it needs to be a product that your consumer frequently uses or is pricey to purchase initially. One-time-use items are the best choice for subscription products. You can offer your customers the following types of subscription products.
1. Consumable or Disposable Products
Products that are consumable or disposable are excellent candidates for e-commerce subscriptions. Consumables are required for a process, such as printing inks and welding rods, whereas disposables may be thrown away after they are broken or no longer functional. Daily necessities are typical subscription products, including food, apparel, water, and workplace supplies like paper, notes, document cases, and ink cartridges.
At the same time, measures of disposable products include sanitary products, writing instruments, photographic cameras, plastic mugs, grocery shopping containers, packaging paper, takeout food cans, paper platters, and paper towels. You can also sell decoration products like balloons, greeting cards, and gift papers as subscription products.
2. Digital products
In this digital age, people are becoming habitual in subscribing to digital products like episodic novels or coaching videos. One can also sell digital products like newsletters, monthly articles, e-magazines, etc., as subscription products.
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3. Luxury Items
A luxury item is not required for survival. But It remains desirable within a culture or civilization. The demand for luxury goods rises as one's wealth or income rises. As income increases, luxury goods are purchased more frequently. Although the definition of luxury varies from person to person, the following goods are often regarded as luxury goods in economies:
a. Clothes made to order
b. Expensive watches and jewelry
c. A luxury vehicle
d. Dwellings and properties, etc.
People frequently use products that should be replaced and also come in the category of subscription products. These products include toothbrushes, bath towels, kitchen sponges, plastic containers, etc.
What are the things you need to do to sell subscription products?
Before offering subscription-based products in your store, bear these fundamental guidelines in mind.
1. Don't Waver from Your Industry or Area of Expertise
Ensure that your chosen types of subscription product blend in with the rest of your store. If your store sells home goods, don't just tack on a coffee subscription box because coffee is a good fit for the subscription model. Look for a complementary venture to your current experience. In the start, you can go for only one or two subscription products to check the reaction of your clients.
2. Consult your clients regarding their demands
Before purchasing a subscription service, ask your customers about their needs and preferences. Send surveys and do phone interviews. The most crucial thing to learn is how your customers will use the subscription service. Consider a subscription service for pet toys. You'll spend two to three toys each month. Customers who have pets that gnaw on or destroy their toys would love it, but those who don't will subscribe to the service.
You may also give your VIP customers access to your membership first so they can test it out. Make your product available to the rest of your clients if they like it.
3. Manage your subscription product
You will need a platform to manage your subscription products and operations once you have decided which product to sell as a subscription. Doing so manually can get complicated once you have a small number of consumers. You must control subscriber growth as you scale, or it may become impossible to control.
It makes sense that getting customers to sign up for a month is more challenging than doing so for a one-time purchase. Before choosing whether the product is long-term value for their money, they want to touch and feel the effects. One great way to encourage consumers to try out your subscription services is by making them available for a one-time fee.
4. Encourage clients to give their subscriptions to friends
Make sure buyers can recommend your goods to friends. Consider a plan from the start of your subscription business so that clients can guide you to others.
5. Make sure all of your terms are understood.
Can clients receive their order if they sign up on January 15 and you ship on January 18? If you bill on the 2nd and ship on the 8th, casn they claim reimbursement if they cancel on the 5th? Can a customer change their mailing address to get a package if they travel for a month? Does their subscription have a pause button? Do they have to send back the entire box if they don't like something in it, or may they return or swap it? Are substitutions permitted?
When you start selling subscription products, these troubling questions become significant problems you wouldn't usually deal with as an eCommerce store. Make a schedule for when you'll bill, send, refund, cancel, etc., using a calendar. Giving a clear-cut description of all your terms and conditions is another best practice.
How to create a subscription website with Strikingly?
Strikingly is one of the best go-to options for creating your subscription website. The best thing is that it doesn't require hardcore coding or programming. Even an inexperienced person can make a professional website by using overwhelming templates. Building a website with Strikingly is a game of a few minutes. But what to do if you want to facilitate your visitors with a membership service?
Image taken from Strikingly
Strikingly has got you covered by providing the membership feature. It would help if you considered Strikingly's free and paid plans for creating a membership website. For digital subscription products, you will grant access to your content only to subscribed users. Similarly, you can also design different membership tiers, such as quarterly or annual subscriptions. All this will help you generate good revenue, and it can work as your passive income source.
Conclusion
While considering subscription products, consider whether a subscription product service is suitable for your business. It would help if you analyzed different factors before starting a subscription products service. Consider your brand awareness, customers' interest, and tires on your brand. A subscription products service is best for your store if you sell consumables or throwables. To execute this business model successfully, you must develop your online website to deal with everything in one place. The next step is deciding the types of subscription products you sell. However, once your business starts, you will learn how to manage your subscription product and generate massive revenue.
