Subscription Fatigue: How to stay ahead in the subscription race

What is subscription Fatigue? 

Subscription fatigue describes feelings of being overwhelmed and frustrated with the massive amount of different subscription services available. It has been mainly used in regards to streaming and online publications. However, it can also be applied to software-as-a-service, product subscriptions and other subscription-based business models. 

Even with affordable subscriptions, many consumers feel as if they’re losing control over the total amount of money that they spend each month (or year) on subscriptions. In cases of different streaming and publication services, it can even get to a point where consumers see diminishing returns since they’re using each service less the more other services they subscribe to. 

Symptoms of B2C subscription fatigue: 

• Lacking overview of all subscriptions
• Perceived redundancies when it comes to different subscriptions that fill the same need (e.g., streaming)
• Price increases across the board
• Perceived (and real) limitations of features (e.g., Netflix and Co cracking down on password sharing and reducing their content libraries)
• Evaluating the best offers has become more difficult with more market players
• Prices of all subscriptions stack up when combined

But it’s not just B2C subscription markets that might have to find ways to convince consumers of their products and services. 

According to a Bettercloud report from 2020 (PDF), the average number of SaaS apps used by a single company was 80. It’s only logical to assume that this number has increased in the last three years, with remote work and the pandemic-push for digitalization having pushed the use of cloud-based solutions.

However, for companies, these numbers also bring real challenges with them, that in parts are similar to consumer challenges. 

Symptoms of B2B SaaS fatigue: 

• Lacking overview of all applications for the IT team
• Prices stack despite relatively low individual prices
• Price increases have also occurred across the SaaS market
• If the applications are not properly connected, they create data silos and can cause security risks
• Too many applications can also circumvent branding and process standards
• Since the decision-making for SaaS solutions has moved from the IT department to business units, it’s more likely that different teams use similar/redundant applications
• If not properly connected, too many applications can cause an increase in manual work (e.g., to find, move, and synchronize data). 

What can you do against subscription fatigue?

1. Know your customers

The more the merrier? When it comes to subscriptions, it’s far better to know which customer groups and buyer personas are more likely to subscribe and stay loyal than to just use the free trial or subscribe only for a few months. 

The good news: you can easily gain this info from your own customer data. Simply look at your most loyal customers and define what they have in common. This way, you can focus your marketing and sales campaigns on their profiles and increase your revenue. 

2. Focus on your USPs

Make it easy for leads to make a decision by providing them with values and advantages that the competition can’t offer. These don’t have to be service or product features only, a great service, a sustainable business model, excellent data security or low downtimes can be amazing reasons to choose you. 

Additionally, analyze what people criticize about your competition and see where you already do better – that way, you make sure that your USPs are addressing real pain points. 

3. Strive for transparency

When it comes to pricing, service fees, add-ons and price increases, you have to be transparent because you’re not just selling a one-time paid product or service, you’re selling a long-term commitment and relationship with you as a company. 

Trust is pretty much synonymous with transparency of your pricing plans, your strategy, potential future updates and changes as well as service level agreements. 

By the way, transparency also helps your customers when it comes to comparing different solutions. Realistic expectations ultimately support your bottom line. 

4. Excel with your support & services

No matter what level of support you’re offering, make sure that the quality of it is high. Quantity is not necessary, e.g., you don’t have to provide services on all channels but instead choose the channels where you can provide the best service. 

If you offer self-service, take a customer-centric view and identify the areas that customers actually require. For example, customers might prefer to easily log in and see their subscription plans and manage them as they like, along with their payment data (pause, cancel, down- or upgrade). 

On the other hand, when it comes to issues with the service or product itself, an additional contact channel with human support can prevent frustration pre-emptively. 

5. Engage with your customers & create relationships

Whether in B2B or B2C, since it’s quite likely/preferrable that your consumers and customers engage with your product a lot, you have endless opportunities to engage with them in turn. From the wording of your help center, transactional emails and marketing materials, up to newsletters, events, and loyalty programs – subscription businesses have the unique opportunity to stay in contact with their customers and therefore foster loyalty. 

However, make sure that these engagements are coherent with your brand voice across all channels – yes, this includes dunning management, support issues and even bad reviews. It’s important to be open, inspiring, and customer-oriented across all customer touchpoints – especially the ones that cause friction. 

6. Nurture your existing customers

Remember when internet and phone companies used to do everything in their power to gain new customers and offered the best contracts, discounts and free trials to them? Well, it’s the same in many subscription markets but don’t forget that your existing customers do see these offers too and wonder why they have to pay more even if they’ve invested much more into your company. 

There are different ways to show gratefulness to your loyal customers: loyalty programs, exclusive offers, vouchers, special service agreements, etc. SaaS might invite loyal customers to test out sparkling new beta features while subscription boxes could add a little extra now and then to show their appreciation. 

Never forget that at the core of a successful subscription business is not just the amount of customers but also their customer lifetime value. And to appreciate their commitment, goes a long way to keep them excited about you. 

7. Experiment with your pricing and subscription plans

Last but clearly not least is one of the most important parts: your product. Another huge advantage of subscription businesses is the fact that you have insights into long-term user data which you can analyze to find out what features are most popular, what pricing models work best, which incentives are most attractive for first-time customers and which ones are attractive to upgrade plans. 

Experiment with your products and pricing models for your campaigns, involve your customers when it comes to further developments, and don’t be afraid to play around with incentives to find the perfect combination for conversion vs. ROI.  

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Billwerk+ Optimize is the perfect platform for easy and fast subscription management. We provide you with a payment gateway, flexible subscription plans, pricings, payment options and incentives and offer you no-code hosted pages and a customer portal for a quick implementation. 

The best: you can sign up for free (no credit card necessary) and test the platform. Take a look around, set up your plans and configure your perfect subscription landscape in a free test account before you commit to us. 

Need something for more complex processes? Our Billwerk+ Transform offers subscription management, billing, and compliance for enterprises and other businesses. Set up a demo and find out, how Billwerk+ Transform can transform your business.