Can your business offer a subscription?
More and more, subscriptions are becoming a common way to pay for products and services. Generally tech enabled; streaming service subscriptions, subscription services for basic goods like razors and toothbrushes, free shipping subscription clubs, newsletter and podcast subscriptions, monthly clothing subscriptions, gaming and e-sports subscriptions, creator subscriptions, food of the month subscriptions, coffee of the month subscriptions, wine of the month subscriptions, Amazon Web Services, reoccurring donations, subscriptions, subscriptions, subscriptions. There’s a lot of subscriptions, and there’s a reason for it! Subscriptions are a fantastic way to keep customers engaged with your business and offer them the flexibility of being able to cancel their membership at any time.
It may be hard to remember, but the primary way of making money on Apple’s App Store, a $64 billion business, used to be selling access to an app as a one time purchase. It was only in 2011, when Apple started offering subscriptions for apps on the App Store, four years after the iPhone was announced. Back in the early days of the App Store, developers would usually sell their apps for 99 cents, or more if the app was a professional grade app or premium service. This was great at the time, as it was a new way for software developers to monetize their work, and a brand new way for consumers to find and buy apps for their cellphones. As smartphone adoption became the mainstream, app stores became common and subscriptions became standard, Apple’s App Store and others like it became platforms that enabled whole new industries that created billion and trillion dollar companies.
If you sell an expensive product or service, can you turn that price tag into smaller monthly payments? Photoshop used to be an extremely cost prohibitive software for people to use, or let alone buy to see if they like graphic design. Because of this, graphic design was much more expensive and difficult to find people with experience. As more people started using computers, and Adobe introduced a new monthly subscription plan, more people are now able to download creative software, and figure out if that’s a skill that they’d like to learn.
Software isn’t the only business that is going to a subscription model. Panera Bread, known for bread bowls, bagels and baked goods is now offering customers a coffee subscription plan. For the cost of a couple cups of coffee a month, subscribers can get unlimited coffee. This keeps those customers coming back for their coffee in the morning, where they now may now buy a breakfast sandwich. That customer may now go to Panera for lunch now too, because of the free coffee refill. Subscriptions can be any part of your business that keeps your customers engaged with your business.
Most website platforms that offer commerce tools also offer a subscription plan for businesses to create. You can get creative with what you offer, like a surprise of the month club, or use a subscription to collaborate with a local nonprofit, like a book of the month club for a local coffee shop. If you’re a yoga studio, can you offer a subscription to unlimited classes, or virtual classes? If your business has an expertise, then maybe you can create a paid newsletter for information and advice on your domain. What will your subscription be?
Email newsletters are a simple way to reach your customers
Newsletters are a great way to reach your customers directly. By emailing them directly, you can give business updates or promote specific campaigns, while linking back to your website or product and event pages. Newsletters bring your business to customers’ attention by meeting them where they are already. Most people have email, and a lot of those people get email on a phone that they might have with them often. A newsletter, sent regularly, can become a direct dispatch to your most engaged customers, where you can build brand identity and keep customers up to date.
As Nextdoor explains, “as a small business owner, you know every interaction you have with potential customers is one that counts. Sending regular newsletter campaigns is an effective way to cultivate long-term relationships that are essential to your business’ growth.” These emails give a higher resolution impression of your business than a single image posted to a social media website. With newsletters, you can go into detail about your business, and what makes it unique. Do you offer a selection that can’t be found anywhere else in your area? Showcase that within your newsletter and give in depth descriptions of what you sell.
Nextdoor continues, “aside from fostering quality, intentional communication, newsletters can also be well worth the time and marketing dollars spent on creating them. In fact, research conducted by Litmus showed that for each dollar spent on email marketing, brands saw an average of 42 dollars in return.” This means that for every dollar invested into email newsletters, a company can see up to a 42x return, or more, on their investment.
Email marketing is so cost effective because you can reach an unlimited amount of people per email sent. You are only limited by the amount of people on your mailing list. An email with several links back to product pages, or one with advertising embedded in it (with display ads, affiliate links, or paid content) can have a high conversion rate, as it is sent to people who have likely already bought something from your business.
Most website building platforms have built in tools to collect emails and send newsletters. Squarespace has tools to help you build a newsletter right on your website’s dashboard. Mailchimp is a pretty common tool that can plug into most website builders.
Your newsletter doesn’t have to be weekly, or even monthly. You can send a quarterly, or even year end, update, as long as you keep your newsletter consistent. If you feel that you can add more emails, then add more. If you notice that less people are opening your emails, then send less. Email marketing is a great way to communicate directly to your customer, in a way that can be much more in depth than through other channels.