When managing your customer subscriptions becomes easy
Subscriptions are a real plus in a commercial offer, as long as they are in line with your customers' expectations. And these expectations are changing. How can you make your subscriptions evolve without creating a "gas factory"? Find out all about the challenges of subscription management in our dedicated section.
Be as close as possible to your customers' expectations
Pay-as-you-go billing
Consumers are increasingly accustomed to paying only for what they actually use. And this possibility, synonymous with fairness, is fast becoming a criterion for choosing between offers. The one with the most flexible pricing will win. You can charge on a pay-per-use basis, or offer a basic package to which you can add a choice of pay-as-you-go options. Your customers will make your services their own, with the feeling of being tailor-made. And you, in turn, will sell more to your existing customers. This will increase your margins, rather than chasing after new customers without optimizing your existing ones.
Invoice as you go...
The scary thing about subscription is the commitment aspect. If the customer suddenly wants to stop, how much leeway will he have? And after how long will the interruption be effective? GTCs (General Terms and Conditions) that are too rigid in this respect scare off potential customers. What's more, they can have a perverse effect.
... on a pro rata basis
When subscriptions are only recharged from date to date, for example, they encourage a wait-and-see attitude. Your customer will wait until the next due date to update his options. For formulas based on the number of users, for example, when your customer has a new recruit and wants to modulate his formula accordingly, it's a shame if he waits until the 5th of the following month. In that time, his productivity suffers. And on your side, it's a service he needs that you won't have sold him. Allowing formulas to be updated over time means billing in proportion to the service consumed. And everyone benefits:
- your customer, who uses what he needs when he needs it, without waiting.
- You as the service provider. By satisfying your customers' tailor-made needs, you make it easier for them to access and use your services.
... or by allowing upgrades
Time commitments can also be a source of loss, on both the customer's and the supplier's side. Making it possible to upgrade subscription formulas means, in particular, allowing those who have started out with a monthly formula to switch to an annual formula, and vice-versa. This greater flexibility is synonymous with freedom for the consumer. And it's a real optimization lever for you as a service provider.
Be more competitive and strategic in your management
Modulate your prices
In a competitive market, it's important to be reactive. When a competitor offers a low-priced package, you need to react with an innovative package of your own. Even if subscription-based offers seem more complicated to modify, it's essential to work at it to stay in the race.
Modulate your offers
The price element is an interesting variable to change, as is the content covered by the formulas. As time goes by and industry practices change, it's crucial to be able to modify your packages at will to stay ahead of the game.
Knowing how to anticipate
As a subscription provider, you have a role to play in reminding your subscribers of their deadlines. Accustomed to your services, they don't necessarily remember that they will end next month, the anniversary date of their subscription. So it's up to you to send them renewal reminder e-mails, well in advance to avoid the inconvenience of service interruption.
Keep up to date
For your part, keeping track of payments associated with subscriptions can quickly become complex. While some are often made in cash at the outset, subsequent direct debits may be made under SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area). This means a ten-day delay before you know whether the payment has been made. These are significant beats for your cash flow and customer relationship management. Ideally, you should identify unpaid invoices as early as possible, so you can react accordingly.
Use a tool designed to
Whether it's to improve customer satisfaction, make your offer more competitive or ease back-office administration, subscription management software is a must. Without it, you'll have to allocate human resources: a full-time position or two to manually administer data that quickly becomes unmanageable. As a result, you're not immune to management errors, and your responsiveness is likely to be at an all-time low. With dedicated online software like ProAbono, you have a clear and exhaustive overview of the payment status at any given moment, and can afford to modify and increase the complexity of your offers. The benefits, both operational and strategic, are obvious.
Subscription-based offers offer interesting business models, where flexibility and responsiveness are key to staying competitive. With a dedicated tool, no more administrative headaches. You can manage your subscriptions as you go along, to your customers' great satisfaction.
Article translated from French