When you start a subscription business, your main goal should be to satisfy a need in the marketplace. To be successful at this task, you need two things: high-quality services or products and a solid pricing model.

 

Unsurprisingly, many business owners struggle with the second part. Determining the optimal subscription price for your offerings requires you to strike a delicate balance between covering your business costs and maximizing what your customers are willing to pay. If you can’t find the right subscription pricing strategy, these four tips can help.

 

1. Leave the Tiers for Later

 

One common mistake business owners make when setting up their subscription model is that they try to do too much right from the get-go. Their pricing grid is likely to be complex and include multiple offerings optimized by features, usage, service level, and so on. The goal is to have something for everyone, but this approach is more likely to confuse the market.

 

In most cases, you’re better off launching with a single subscription offer that’s optimized for a very specific group. As you get more information about your target audience, you can start refining your pricing to include multiple tiers or pricing layers.

 

2. Consider Customer Value

 

If your customers don’t think a service is worth their money, they simply won’t pay for it. This is why you should always ask your customers what your subscription service is worth to them. They’re likely to underestimate what you should actually charge, but this can be a good starting point when developing a subscription strategy.

 

You can also A/B test multiple price points and go with the one that has a higher conversion rate. That said, keep your customer lifetime value (CLV) in mind as well. If the higher price point has a lower conversion rate but a higher CLV, it will be the better choice.

 

3. Upsell as Needed

 

As your business grows, so should your subscription model. One way to do that is to give your customers an option to upgrade their accounts, which helps grow your customer lifetime value. Look for upgrades that increase either your retention or revenue while satisfying the upgrade needs of at least 30% of the customer base.

 

Keep in mind that upselling doesn’t have to be automatic. If your customers hit a wall in their basic plan, consider sending them a personal email to let them know your premium offerings may present more value for their money.

 

4. Don’t Hide the Cancel Button

 

Many companies try to expand their customer lifetime value by making it harder for customers to cancel their subscriptions. For example, they may require a phone call to cancel or refuse to let subscribers keep their data. This approach can reap some short-term benefits, but in the long run, it’s only going to hurt your business.

 

Why? Simple: hiding the cancel button reduces trust, allows customers to share “horror stories” online, and burns all bridges with lapsed subscribers. You’re better off following Netflix’s example and encouraging subscribers to cancel anytime.

How You Can Get Involved

 

Now that you know why dog rescue is important, you may be interested in how you can help. Fortunately, there are plenty of things you can do. Here’s a quick list:

 

• Adopt a dog. If you have room in your home, adopting a dog from a shelter is the best thing you can do for these animals. As mentioned above, there are millions of dogs without homes, and each one you adopt makes more room in the shelter for another dog.

 

• Donate to trusted organizations. All dog shelters could use money, supplies, and donations. These operations tend to depend on the kindness of others, so consider doing your part in ensuring they continue to fight the good fight.

 

• Volunteer at a local shelter. Other than money, dog shelters need help with cleaning, intake, exercising dogs, and so on. Some shelters have gift shops you can work in from time to time, while others need help introducing dogs to prospective families.

 

• Share information about shelters. Your local dog shelter likely has a website that contains information on incoming dogs. Share that information on social media to raise awareness of pets in need of a home.

 

• Foster dogs until they find a home. Fostering is a key part of any dog rescue program. With shelters filling up so fast, foster homes can expand their capacity and prevent needless euthanization. You can foster a dog for a day, a month, or even longer.

 

If you would like to learn more about the Downtown Dog Rescue organization or volunteer opportunities, please get in touch with our office and we can connect you with one of their team members.

 

 

Downtown Dog Rescue – https://downtowndogrescue.org/

 

Donate to Downtown Dog Rescue – https://downtowndogrescue.org/donate/

 

 

Downtown Dog Rescue Contact Information:

Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 90035 Pasadena, CA  91109

Adoptions: 818.407.4145
Pet Support Space: 213.403.0129
Fax: 213.402.5064