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Subscription growth rates are accelerating, so how can media and publishing businesses ensure they can get the most from their subscription models and retain customers? John Cheney, CEO, Workbooks, explains how organizations can overcome the biggest challenges of subscription management and adopt a more effective and efficient model using the right tools.
Subscription and renewal management hurdles
Subscriptions must be managed effectively throughout their lifecycle, from customer sign-up to potential renewal opportunities, and ensuring exceptional service – even during cancellation. But this comes with its challenges. Billing errors, ensuring the timeliness of renewals, and keeping track of customer concerns are the most common that arise with subscription management – and all play a role in influencing renewals. Keeping on top of every customer, together with interactions and KPIs, can be incredibly difficult.
Despite the vigilance of companies, once made, mistakes can often take a long time to identify. This can result in significant losses, not only from identifying and correcting errors, but repairing any damage to customer relationships. It is therefore important to dedicate proportionate resources and focus into billing and tracking a broad subscription base – an undertaking that requires incredible accuracy and continuous follow-up to maximize ROI. Technology can be a great enabler here.
Leveraging CRM
Customer relationship management (CRM) and subscription management go hand-in-hand. CRM focuses on the interactions between the company and its customers; it can assist with the management of customers and keep track of all the necessary information about them, including their subscriptions, preferences and interactions with the business. It can also provide companies with valuable data and insights, which can be used to influence important strategic business decisions and relationships with their customers.
A powerful CRM solution can also automate most of the subscription and renewal management process. For instance, some organizations automatically send out renewal notifications to customers with expiring contracts. Others send these reminders directly to their account managers.
In addition to managing subscriptions and renewals, business owners can also use a CRM platform to alert them to important milestones throughout the lifecycle of a subscription. Publishers can then check in on customers on a quarterly or monthly basis to build the relationship and ensure they are receiving value from the subscription.
Automation
The need to contact a vast number of clients to ensure recurring payments can be a headache, and can result in the loss of valuable time, particularly for finance teams. With a CRM solution, businesses can put an automation process in place that will automatically draft and send invoices on designated dates. This is crucial to ensuring customers remain on board.
Automation also eliminates the need to personally reach out to every customer every time their renewal period comes up. Customers will appreciate the added convenience this brings, allowing them to access products or services they buy regularly without the need to re-enter information or go through what can be a lengthy sales process.
Personalised service
Increasingly, customers demand greater personalization from brands. This means flexible terms and plans to accommodate the varying requirements of every paying client. With data gathered from a reliable CRM platform, it’s easy to set personalized billing terms for each customer.
Analyzing individual consumer behaviors can also be useful in establishing a workable and agreeable billing frequency for all parties. For instance, the sales team can conveniently track any ‘at-risk’ clients and take remedial action before things escalate. The business can analyze client data to gain a more defined idea of who their customers are and what they truly want or expect.
Companies can also forge better relationships with their customers and gain access to a demographic that has already expressed interest and commitment to the products and services they offer. They can eventually tap into this group for reliable feedback and even new offers.
Guaranteed accuracy
Subscribers are some of the most important customers for media and publishing businesses, helping to create a stable and predictable revenue stream and drive strong customer lifetime value. However, subscriptions and renewals can be a challenge to manage, track and maintain. A single mistake with regards to billing, renewals or upgrades could undo months or even years of good customer relationships. As a result, it’s essential that companies establish an underlying infrastructure that leverages CRM if they are to grow and manage their subscriptions effectively and efficiently.
John Cheney
CEO, Workbooks
John Cheney, is CEO of Workbooks, provider of cloud-based CRM and marketing automation applications. You can visit Workbooks at The Publishing Show 2022, Stand D22PS. Or, for more ways to optimise your sales and marketing efforts, don’t miss John’s talk on 8th March, 2 pm: ‘How can you optimise your sales and marketing efforts to make sure you can build a business fit for the future?’
