The 6 steps to a successful subscription business model

Empowered by technology, people today are making more informed decisions about how they prefer to pay for and use products and services. With limited time and energy to expend, convenience has become not only a highly valued benefit, but a driver of purchase decisions. This represents a growing opportunity for organisations to adapt and offer convenient products and services.

One model that businesses are adopting to create convenience for customers is the subscription business model, and it’s being leveraged across different industries on a global scale. As the name suggests, the subscription business model is where a business receives recurring payments over time from a customer base, in return for a product or service being delivered on an ongoing basis.

Right now, your business may already be offering products and services that are purchased regularly by repeat customers. Perhaps you are manually invoicing these customers or utilising direct debit for payment collection. Well, that puts your business in good stead to start adopting the subscription business model. However, are you employing the best business practices to reduce the administration and streamline the operations behind these recurring transactions?

Creating a successful subscription business in 6 steps

The evolution towards a successful subscription business can be a challenge, even if you’re offering recurring payments already.

The 6 steps will help you introduce automation so that you can optimise your subscription business for long-term success and uncover real advantages across many business areas.

Each of these 6 steps represent an important aspect of your business and can be explored in more detail in our free eBook - "The 6 Steps to Creating Subscription Success".

Step 1 – Create value for the market

Subscription payments come from offering your customers an ongoing incentive that is associated with your current products and services. Remember, there must be a reason why they would sign up for regular payments and orders, over a once-off purchase.

Step 2 – Build your customer base

Customer acquisition, service and retention are essential parts of generating income for your business, which is why the subscription business model is so advantageous.

Step 3 – Establish process efficiencies

Your subscription payment system may be running sufficiently now, however manual processing, as well as chasing and tracking payments in and out of your business doesn’t leave much room for expansion as your customer base grows.

Step 4 – Manage complex transactions

When a customer creates an order, your business reacts by delivering services or shipping products. If you cannot utlilise this historical order data to inform future planning, then fulfilment, resourcing and revenue can be unpredictable and present challenges.

Step 5 – Measure business success

The business strategy is the fundamental direction of businesses of any size, and provides the collaborative guidance required to achieve the overall objectives and goals.

Step 6 – Position your business for success

The ability for your subscription business to grow comes down to setting up foundations which enable the flexibility to expand your operations.

Adopting an automated platform to manage these 6 steps will put your business in a better position to manage cash flow, ensuring more funds are available to cover expenses and invest in new projects. With automation built into the subscription process, you will also free up your capacity to expand into the rapid growth phase of your business.

For more detailed information on each of these steps and how they apply to your business, download your free “6 Steps to Creating Subscription Success” eBook today.