MAKE IT WORK BETTER

To enhance a subscription model is to make it run more efficiently. This can yield big increases in revenue, reductions in cost and opportunities to save time throughout. In all of our years of working with many member & subscription-based companies...

We've never encountered a perfectly optimized model. Every model- including yours- can be improved. There's recurring cash in those improvements. Want it?

Often it's a matter of objectively documenting the existing model, evaluating it end-to-end and identifying the unoptimized pieces that waste money or time... or act as a removable obstacle to greater revenue. Fresh eyes & minds like ours can see your model objectively... which is key to doing this very right.

Most companies don't even have their subscription model documented. It is usually in one or more heads on staff who- if asked- will quickly reveal the fluidity at which it changes day-to-day and/or how even THEY are not in harmonious agreement about the actionable details. It is difficult to efficiently get to where you want to go if your legs are not consistently running in the same direction.

A GOOD MODEL SHOULD BE WRITTEN DOWN in a sufficiently detailed way so that those with experienced brains can understand your model AT-A-GLANCE. If you were privy to aircraft engine manufacturing, there would be complete documentation on exactly how those much-more-complex engines are constructed. If you pay close attention at a fast food restaurant like McDonalds, you'll probably spy a step-by-step flow of how to assemble every meal they serve. Why do they bother with something so obvious? Because it works better than assuming employees know what is to be done and exactly how it should be done.

Documenting processes in detail is an exercise that helps a company recognize problems or opportunities in their flow... then improve them. Productivity improvements almost always yield MORE PROFIT.

We've been involved in many such efforts where applying a time table to a process would reveal mysterious gaps of time that seemed to interrupt an otherwise efficient flow. When we dug in to learn more about those gaps, we discovered that they represented bottleneck delays... often because someone couldn't/wouldn't delegate some key task to others.

The whole team's work would lock up at several points during a process awaiting the input or actions of a single individual or a distracted department. When a subscription model is documented, such holes can be objectively recognized and quantified in terms of how they adversely affect sales or costs. Then recommendations can be made to close or fill those holes with better options. Efficiency gains are often revenue gains… forever.

Subscription models have a multitude of variables to review: everything from product development to renewal programs, acquisition marketing, cross-selling & upsell efforts and so on. Exactly HOW is your model faring in various ways vs. competitors or industry norms? Internally, you may believe that everything you do is smarter and better than ALL competitors... and all-too-common delusion.

Such delusion/illusion/confusion undermines problem solving and opportunity gains. If competitors exist, they must be doing something better than you. What is that exactly? And how can you absorb or nullify it to take that business as your own?

We can help you (objectively) find out, so you can consider evolving your model to incorporate the "best of" advantages THEY have over your business. That's one great way to take more share from them. It's a simple recipe for tangible growth. The hardest part without us? That OBJECTIVE view.

Company insiders are almost always lacking in sufficient objectivity to fully see their competition. Internal rah-rah and what they think the boss wants to hear biases their senses or constrains their opinions. Commonplace emotions like fear can suppress great ideas. Consultant outsiders can draw those ideas out in a no-risk way. And outsiders CAN'T be biased by internal company spin.

SOME KEY ANSWERS EVERY SUBSCRIPTION OR MEMBERSHIP COMPANY SHOULD KNOW

• Are you efficiently acquiring new customers?
• Is cost-of-acquisition trending in the right direction?
• Are you utilizing best practices in all matters related to attracting and converting new subscribers?
• Have you profiled your subscribers to identify new favorable pools of likely buyers?

We can objectively evaluate what you are doing against established norms and answer these kinds of questions and many more... NOT gut guessing or assuming: ANSWER.

Where your model is unoptimized, we provide specific, actionable recommendations to improve it. Fact-driven changes yield more money, efficiency gains, reduced costs, margin growth, etc.

• Are you growing your ARPS (average Annual Revenue-Per-Subscriber)?
• Is your upsell model performing well?
• Is there anything that can be improved there?

That last one is rhetorical: OF COURSE THERE IS IMPROVEMENT POTENTIAL! Nobody has a perfected model. If you have an upsell model, you know that those subsequent sales are typically the most lucrative you can get... so even a modest enhancement to additional selling opportunities can make a MAJOR difference in profitability.

What if we could identify something(s) to grow ARPS 5%? Or 10%? 25%? How much would even a little ARPS growth mean to your bottom line year after year? As you ponder that possibility, note that our business is not called Little Innovations.

We've worked with clients fixated on only certain ways of running upselling campaigns... ignoring a number of other, well-proven practices commonly employed within their industry. Some couldn't accept change observations alone, so we offered ways to objectively test them... so that head-to-head results can PROVE it. Objective cash measures against "we've always done it this way" staleness is the ultimate business evidence: revenue lifts do not lie. If you happen to have some of this type on staff, run the test again... and again if necessary. More money speaks LOUDLY. Even the hardest, hard-head can be brought around.

• Any issues with subscription model churn?
• Are you retaining as many customers as you believe you should?
• How are your retention metrics vs. industry norms?
• Any room for improvement?

All subscription companies know...

It actually IS much cheaper to KEEP a subscriber than replace them...

...but many lack this crucial layer of focus. They're often so fixated on new subscriber acquisition, they simply accept bigger holes in their leaky bucket. Some holes can be closed with only modest adjustments or a smarter bonding program. Keeping more customers directly translates into very lucrative profit... for upwards of many YEARS to come. Retention revenue doesn't have to endure COA again. Shrink those leaks and retain that money!

You've already done the much harder job of selling them. Don't let them needlessly slip away now. We are EXPERT at reducing membership model churn... FAST & effectively... and masters of "come back" tactics to restore quality income.

CASE STUDY: IMPROVING SUBSCRIPTION MODEL RETENTION

We worked with a company that had some retention issues. We recommended a focused survey for cancels & expireds (those who canceled and those who let their subscription lapse) to help quantify exactly WHY subscribers were slipping away. We have deep experience helping companies get closer to their customers and offered to develop this survey FOR them. Instead, they chose to develop it themselves.

Not long thereafter, they told us they intended to substantially cut prices. Why? Their survey showed that just about all cancels were price-driven. While pricing is always a consideration in why subscribers quit, we were suspicious about it being such a dominant driver of cancellations. We asked to see the survey.

The survey reflected assembly inexperience. It looked like it was (too) quickly "thrown together" vs. being well thought out. Best practices were clearly lacking. Still, it was not terribly constructed... though we continued to hold suspicions about the outcome.

A terrific sounding board in DIY market research is front-line employees (sales & service people)... those who interact with subscribers every day. In this case, they were charged with actually executing the survey when cancels were made via phone. We told them that the company was thinking about cutting prices in a big way because the survey implied that price was a dominant driver of cancellations. They immediately scoffed.

He continued: "If we were not given a reason for the cancellation or if the cancel was manually driven by email, mobile app, web request or other, price was default. So, of course the default answer ranks highest! But price is definately NOT the main cause of our retention problems."

Instead of cutting prices based on a very flawed, DIY approach to this project- an action that would have caused revenue pain for upwards of years to come- they allowed us to help them do it right on a second try. This time, we did things the company did not do. For example, we:

• involved the front line staff to help us list EVERY reason why customers canceled their subscription. Naturally, the resulting list was more complete than the first one.
• included an "other" reason just in case this improved list missed something important.
• motivated the company to clearly and regularly communicate the importance of gathering the correct information to the team.
• motivated the team to contact cancels that came in via email, their app and web forms to try to gather their reasons as well (not ONLY those who canceled by phone).
• set up "unknown" as the default reason in their system.
• kept in regular contact with the team managers, reminding them of the importance of gathering good information.

As a result, while price was still ONE reason why subscribers canceled (price always gets some ticks), it was no longer the dominant reason. And by stressing the importance of getting accurate information, the new default- "unknown"- did not rank as relatively high as had the former default... which was an added confirmation that this reserach was being implemented more seriously by all involved. This led to 2 HUGE outcomes:

1. The company did not cut its (revenue) throat with a needless price decrease, and,
2. A number of other reasons that rose to the top identified several resolvable issues within the company's control (and most were easy fixes). This yielded actionable points of focus to enhance this part of their model.

End result: several holes in the subscriber bucket were closed or constrained, facilitating the desired improvement in retention rates. This yielded greater, highly-profitable renewal revenue which, tabulated over time, added a hefty amount of profit to the bottom line… profit that would have otherwise been sacrificed. A small amount of good research- done right- made a huge short and long-term difference as measured in the most tangible business metric. Does your business need similar gains? We can find them for/with you. Let us help you!

ENJOY THE MANY BENEFITS OF A BI ENGAGEMENT

BI experience with this kind of work helped us detect a probable flaw in the in-house effort as soon as we heard the result. We knew to dig in deeper to either verify their conclusion or identify the error. The steps to take were well proven from past scenarios. For example, we knew going directly to the front line might paint a different picture.

Our company "outsider" status contributed to those sales & service people feeling a bit more relaxed about offering their input. We could NOT fire, reprimand or inhibit their career path. We were simply there to help. Instead of telling us what they believed management wanted to hear, they could share what they actually thought... to speak freely... which is almost always a view of a business that differs from internal PR spin or chain-of-command translations/interpretations... the TRUEST view.

We also learned how much they appreciated being asked... something the company failed to do in the first round. Getting to the remedy was also a "been there, done that" tactic- a smarter way to execute this kind of intelligence-gathering process.

Had the company gone with its initial conclusion, margins would have been hit hard for an invalid reason. Revenue would have suffered over the long term (likely years).

Because the actual reasons driving most of the cancellations were NOT price related, we doubt that the big hit in revenue-per-subscriber would have made much of a difference in their retention metrics. Instead, we suspect cancels might have stayed around the same level or quickly returned to the same level once the initial price cut effect wore off. When the company realized the mistake via market reaction, they would then face the added pain of trying to raise prices back up to former levels... likely adding to the (original) subscriber defection issue... and probably accelerating it.

Hiring BI to help you enhance or refine your subscription model is engaging long-term experience to objectively evaluate and recommend ways to grow your revenue, reduce your costs and increase efficiency. We are not biased by company "we've always done it that way" traditions, nor afraid to point out delegation bottlenecks and other controllable (thus fixable) issues. Our outsider status is a big benefit, as is our objectivity to see your company differently... and with great clarity.

We've NEVER encountered a subscription model that was perfectly optimized in every way, so we have EVERY expectation of finding ways to improve yours. That means more recurring money for you... if you want it.

Improvements will harvest MORE MONEY for your company and add that LIFT FOR UP TO FOREVER. Try us and we'll find some lucrative opportunities to enhance your model.