When it comes to subscriptions, most customers prefer flexibility and tend to stay away from rigid commitments with brands.
That’s because they don’t want to risk paying for a long-term subscription without surety and certainty of benefits.
That’s why it is important for brands to offer flexibility in subscriptions to lower churn, enhance customer experience, and increase customer lifetime value (CLTV).
And there are many ways to create flexible subscriptions on Shopify.
Curious to know how you can improve your Shopify subscription experience through flexibility?
Read this blog.
TL; DR
- Why flexible subscriptions? Rigid subscriptions with long-term commitments make cancellations difficult and increase churn.
- Implementing flexible subscriptions helps. The solution is to implement flexibility, giving control to customers, such as pausing, skipping, switching plans, easy cancellation, etc.
- Benefits of flexible Shopify subscriptions: Lower churn rate, easier customer acquisition, and higher lifetime value.
- Actionable flexibility features: Pause and skip subscriptions, switching between delivery frequencies and subscription tiers, trial and short-term subscription options, and flexible billing, such as monthly, quarterly, and annually.
- Integrate with Appstle Subscriptions App: The app enables self-service for flexibility features, smart cancellation flows, in-built churn management features, and other subscription marketing capabilities.
Why rigid subscriptions push customers away
Customers prefer flexibility over rigidity for various reasons. While for some it is the fear of long-term commitment, for others, it is simply the ease of making small monthly subscription payments for easy cash flow. Here are the reasons why customers prefer flexible Shopify subscriptions.
The fear of long-term commitments
Subscription models that require long-term commitments or have difficult cancellation rules make customers feel bound. Customers may not want to sign up for such subscriptions because of the fear of having to pay for something they might not like.
Moreover, subscriptions that require upfront payments or have penalties can also keep customers away. These kinds of rigidity factors impact new customers more because they might not have built trust with the brand.
Customers’ psychological need for control
As customers, our brains are wired to have control over our shopping and spending. Even when it comes to subscriptions, customers prefer brands that make cancellation or pausing easy. For example, Netflix. When eCommerce stores make subscription plans rigid, customers naturally feel constrained.
Benefits of flexible Shopify subscription models
From subscription churn reduction to higher engagement, offering flexibility in subscription models has many benefits for Shopify stores. Here are some:
1. Lower churn
When customers have the option of pausing their subscription instead of canceling, it lowers churn. For example, say a customer is going for a two-month vacation and won’t be needing subscription deliveries for those two months. If there’s an option to pause, they’d choose that.Subscribers who have control on their subscription, feel a sense of ownership. This emotional connection also leads to higher customer retention for Shopify stores.
2. Easier customer acquisition
Flexibility and ease of use lower the barriers to subscription sign-up. When potential subscribers know that they can pause anytime or swap products, etc., they see less risk in signing up. For instance, SaaS plans often offer a free trial or monthly payment options, making it easy for customers to sign up.
3. Higher engagement
Giving subscribers freedom to to change, modify, pause their deliveries increases engagement. Instead of cancelling, customers would choose to pause and resume. This not only increases engagement over time, but also increases the lifetime value.
Examples of flexible subscription options
If you’re wondering how to implement flexible subscriptions on your Shopify store, here are some examples and actionable points on how to implement it.
1. Pause and skip features
One way to increase flexibility in your subscription plans is to enable pause and skip features, and create short-term subscription models. Here’s how it helps:
- Pause and skip allows customers to pause their subscription instead of cancelling it. For instance, when subscribers are travelling or do not require the products/services for a short time.
- The flexibility to skip subscription deliveries provides more granular control to subscribers. They can skip selected deliveries while still maintaining their overall subscription schedule.
- If a subscriber has enough stock from the last subscription, they can easily skip a delivery and avoid wastage. This also makes it more sustainable and enhances the brand’s positive image.
- When subscribers can easily pause or skip on their own via the subscription app or portal, it makes the process easy. Customers do not have to contact customer support or wait for the brand to approve the pause or skip.
2. Plan switching features
Subscription models that offer different tiers, for example, Basic, Premium, Ultra, can make it easy for subscribers to switch between plans based on their needs and preferences. Here’s how it helps:
- The ability to easily switch between plans allows customers to upgrade or downgrade their subscription plans without having to cancel and resubscribe.
- Customers who subscribed for a basic plan should be able to upgrade to a premium plan when they wish to.
- Customers who signed up for weekly deliveries should be able to change the delivery period to fortnightly.
- Offering seasonal plan adjustments can also help with subscription churn reduction. For example, allow customers to change plans based on seasonal needs.
3. Short-term and trial subscriptions
Another way you can offer flexibility in subscriptions is to offer trial periods and short-term subscription models. This also makes customer acquisition easy.
- If you make signing up for six months or a year mandatory, customers might hesitate to pay upfront and make a commitment. But offer a 15-day or one month trial, and you can increase sign ups.
- Once first-time subscribers sign for the trial period, they see the convenience, and are more likely to continue.
- Providing shorter subscription options, for example, for two or three months can also offer flexibility. Shorter commitments could have lesser benefits or discounts, to make them more profitable, as well as to increase the likelihood of customers signing up for longer durations.
- Collect customer data during short trial periods. For instance, get to understand customer satisfaction, conduct surveys, product-market fit, etc., so you can optimize your subscription plans.
4. Flexible billing options
Another way of offering flexible subscriptions for Shopify is providing multiple billing options. Here’s how it helps with customer retention for Shopify stores:
- Create hybrid billing options for subscriptions, for example, pay-as-you-go subscriptions.
- Offer a prepaid credit for subscriptions, for example, customers can use discounted credits towards subscription deliveries.
- Setting up usage-based billing structure makes it easy for subscribers to commit for the long term because they have the convenience of paying based on their usage.
- Enabling payment timing flexibility, for example, annual payment, monthly payments, etc., can also offer flexibility. It helps customers manage cash flow and gives them the convenience of pausing if they want to.
Implementing flexible subscriptions for Shopify
Try these effective strategies to implement flexible Shopify subscriptions, churn reduction and increase ROI.
1. Leverage subscription apps – Appstle Subscriptions App
While Shopify and Shopify Plus platforms offer functions for subscriptions, you will need to integrate a comprehensive Shopify subscriptions app for advanced features and subscription management.
When selecting a subscription tool, look for these features:
- Customer-friendly portals, making it easy for customers to manage their subscriptions
- Flexibility features that allow customers to pause, stop, skip, reschedule and switch between plans themselves
- Automated subscription workflows that do not require manual intervention
Here are Appstle Subscriptions App’s features:
- Self-service features, allowing subscribers to manage various aspects of their subscriptions
- A dedicated customer portal for self management
- Pause, skip, swap deliveries and products
- Flexible billing options, allowing one-time purchases and subscriptions
- Different types of subscription plans
- In-depth data analysis and insights for personalized marketing
2. Designing cancellation flows that encourage flexibility
When designed well, the cancellation experience of your subscription model can increase subscription churn reduction. Here’s what to do:
- Create flexible cancellation flows by offering options to subscribers. For example, offer them the option to pause instead of canceling.
- Enable switching to less frequent deliveries when customers initiate cancellations.
- Find out the reason why subscribers want to cancel subscriptions. Then, make offers to make them stay.
- Add a human touch to the cancellation flow by reaching out to them over chat or call, and convince them to stay.
- Offer personalized and genuinely helpful solutions when subscribers show the intent to cancel. If subscribers feel their concerns are addressed, they will choose flexibility over cancellation.
3. Track churn reduction metrics
When you set strategies to reduce subscription churn, you can easily track and measure various metrics. Try to find out what works and what doesn’t. What makes subscribers stay. Here’s what you should do:
- Track churn rate before and after implementing flexibility features.
- Track how many subscribers use features such as pause, skip, swap, etc.
- Monitor reactivation rates for subscribers who have paused.
- Customer satisfaction scores for subscription experience.
- Track engagement rates for customers who have chosen flexible options and those who signed up for long-term.
- Track the number of times subscribers pause, swap, etc., to identify those that might be misusing your offers.
- Run A/B tests to identify which flexibility features create more engagement.
Wrapping up – Enhance subscription experience via flexible features
Offering flexible Shopify subscriptions shifts customers’ perceptions from rigidity to convenience. Ecommerce brands that focus on flexibility in subscriptions tend to see more sign ups, lesser churn, higher engagement, and better returns from subscription plans.
However, to integrate flexibility features allowing greater control to customers, you need a subscriptions app that allows those features.
Appstle Subscriptions App is designed for Shopify and Shopify Plus brands. The app offers comprehensive features that enable flexibility, better customer experience, leading to increased performance.
Install Appstle Subscriptions App on your Shopify store today!
