Subscription Stats: Top reasons why B2C customers subscribe
Top Reasons, why customers subscribe: 1. Convenience, 2. Price, 3. Lifestyle Routines.
To increase subscriptions and customer retention and reduce churn, you need to know why customers subscribe in the first place.
Why do people subscribe to products and services?
- 51 % – Convenience
- 47 % – Cost effectiveness
- 42 % – Lifestyle routine (e.g., healthy eating, regular grooming)
- 41 % – Personalized products and services
- 41 % – Trying new things
- 33 % – Trying before buying
- 24 % – Sense of community
- 22 % – Part of another deal (e.g., Amazon Prime)
- 16 % – Subscription is needed to access a service
(Source Statista, 2023),
Top 3 Reasons why customers subscribe
1. Convenience
The product or service is easier to obtain via subscription. For example, household items, pet or baby food, healthcare products, etc. are much easier to manage when they get delivered on a regular basis.
Likewise, a digital media subscription can be much more convenient than buying physical media, since people can immediately gain access to their movie, album, newspaper of choice.
2. Price
Depending on the product or service, a subscription might be much more price-efficient than buying the full version or using alternative means. For example, most streaming services are (for now) less expensive than cable TV.
For Software-as-a-Service, a subscription can also be much less expensive, since the users both don’t have to buy and install/implement a huge software solution but can easily access parts of it via the cloud and therefore not only save the money that the software itself would cost but also save resources and effort that otherwise would go into setup and implementation as well as maintenance.
3. Lifestyle routine
Now, this reason is probably the most interesting of the top 3 since it includes a more psychological aspect: aspiration. A subscription product or service can basically help the customer to lead a better life. Whether through a workout subscription, a meal subscription box or access to health and beauty products, subscriptions support a better lifestyle.
It highly depends on your customers, what this better lifestyle encompasses.
For example, a weekly vegetable box delivery can be aspirational if it’s sourced from local farmers and thus environmentally friendly and healthier.
The same goes for meal prep kits that motivate customers to cook more and learn more about different ingredients, cooking styles and methods.
If you can find out whether and what your service or product can do to help your customers better their lives, you can create incredibly effective messaging.
Why do customers switch their subscription provider?
According to Deloitte, the biggest two reasons are simple: a better price and special discounts or promotions.
Most subscription customers might get bored by their products or services or thought of switching but were not quite sure if it was worth the effort. An attractive discount and better pricing options can easily sway customers.
Additionally, recommendations from family and friends as well as customer reviews have a huge impact on buying decisions.
Other reasons: advanced functionalities, special products, premium services. In short: Deliver more for less and make sure that the customer experience for your current customers is just as positive as it is for new customers, so your recommendation network is strong.
Billwerk+ provides subscription management solutions that support you with the right setup, templates, hosted product pages and functionalities (discounts, add-ons, coupons) to let your subscription plans shine and drive conversions.
Set up a demo meeting with our experts today to get to know our products and find out how we can help your subscription business grow and scale.
