How to grow Subscription model eCommerce in 2023?

Updated on November 14, 2022 in Ecommerce by Nishant Shrimali

Having an eCommerce subscription business model means a whole different set of audiences and marketing ideas.

You are not selling your product once, you are building a long-term relationship with the customers.

In this guide, you’ll be learning about how to attract and build relationships with the customer to grow your subscription model eCommerce.

Previously, we have shared a guide on the use of the eCommerce subscription business model and 7 trending eCommerce subscription business ideas that you must have a look at.

How to grow subscription model eCommerce in 2023?

Create an audience

The main ingredient in the eCommerce subscription model is trust. Your customer knows you and trusts you that you’ll send them quality products every month when they sign up for it.

Building this trust takes a lot of time and engagement.

That is why, before you start running ads just to gain marginal ROI, invest in building an audience for yourself.

Compared to ads, it will take time. But if you know them well, you know what they want and what you are offering aligns, the ROI will be much higher, recurring, and organic.

You can use social media, Youtube, SEO, closed community, or any marketing methodology to create an audience.

Create Waiting List

Most important point. The number of followers is for the show, but the people who engage with you are your real assets.

So your main focus while creating an audience should be on that.

When you can consistently get engagement, it’s time for the pre-launch marketing campaigns.

Pre-launch helps you to increase buzz about your brand. And because of having an audience, you can direct that buzz to become the “exclusive” members of the list to get early access and discount.

From a customer’s point of view, they are getting a chance to be in an exclusive group, interact with your products before anyone, and a discount on the product.

Seem like a win!

Once you have created a list for your audience, and they are done with the launch period, you can reconnect with them to get reviews.

Subscribe and Save more model

If you are already selling products individually and starting a subscription model for eCommerce, you can give a subsequent discount to the customers for a subscription. No brainer!

But if there are multiple subscription plans, like 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months you can distribute the discount as well.

Like 5% off on 3 months, 15% off on 6 months, and 25% off on 12 months.

This breakdown gives the customer even more incentive to join you for a longer duration. This also gives them an option to choose the best fit for themselves, hence reducing the cancellation rate.

Subscription-based membership

The goal here is to increase the average lifetime value of your eCommerce subscribers.

When someone becomes a subscriber, their lifetime value rises and then becomes still. To make sure it keeps rising, you can integrate subscription-based membership.

The idea here is to allow your subscriber a special discount on every other product on your eCommerce as well. Exclusive for your subscribers only.

That means, other than just recurring products they get every month (on a discount), they can even buy other products of their will and get benefits over them.

One of the viable offers here could be free shipping with the next monthly delivery of their products.

Focus on Wow effects

Once the sale is over, the loop of marketing and engagement doesn’t end. The goal is to hook the customer to our brand. That is why you must keep trying to get the “Wow effect!” from your customers.

What is the wow effect? In terms of tracking, getting positive reviews on social media, customers showcasing the product with friends, engaging with your brand content and all these positive signs are the wow effect.

In one way or another, you have to keep the effect rolling with your audience. One of the best ways for subscription model eCommerce is by surprising the customers with something exciting in their subscription box.

Receiving your box can become usual. That is great, but let’s make sure they stay hooked. Adding a surprise product, for example, a sample of your new cologne, scented candles, or even a handwritten thank you card can surprise your customers to love your brand even more.

Follow up with unsubscribed

Managing churn rate would play a huger role in subscription model eCommerce. After all, a customer committed for months but for some reason ended it. Why?

You must be aware of the problems your customers are facing. Issues can be:

• They are not finding subscriptions valuable.
• They found a better option.
• There is an inconsistency in delivery/product quality.
• They don’t require your products anymore due to an abundance of availability.
• They didn’t receive their order.

As you can see, the reasons can be normal to critical. Some might have a genuine problem like the fourth point. But others can be addressed and improved upon.

You’ll know about the problem only when you ask about it. Create a simple form that asks your customers who are opting out of the subscription.

Bonus Read

Subscription model eCommerce is a way to make sure your customers are regularly engaged. But if you are trying to improve the customer experience, it might just come to a steady still.

So make sure you keep trying new ideas to build a brand that customers love.

It can be your packaging, your marketing, your box content, or your product itself. When your focus is on customer experience, you know other metrics will align with your goals.

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