Encouraging Subscription Pauses for Customer Retention

If you had a little more time, there would have been a chance to stop the customer from cancelling the subscription. Do you think the same way?

If yes, then we have something extremely relevant to share with you—the pause subscription option.

Yes, one of the very effective ways to stop leaving customers is to buy some time and bring them back on board with strategies of customer engagement. In this article, we are going to tell you how to make it possible.

Also Read: AI Can Predict Churn—Harness the Power of Data-Driven Technology to Identify Reasons behind Subscription Cancellations

Pause Subscriptions Vs Cancel

The pause of subscription means the billing and other services are stopped for a limited duration of time. While the cancellation of the subscription means that the subscriber is severing ties with the retailer for good. Also, whether it is because of voluntary churn or involuntary churn, it is almost impossible to bring the customers back.

There are many people ready to facilitate such customers who have unresolved issues and pain points. So, bring your customers to subscription cancellation rather than cancellation of the subscription plan altogether.

Identify the Reason for the Pause SaaS Subscription

At this point, it is important to consider the opinion of the customer side. Why would they want to cancel the subscriptions? Here are some plausible reasons:

• The customer is not going to be available for some time at the location where you are offering services.
• For some time, the customer cannot afford the revised prices of your SaaS product.
• The customer will not need your product or service subscriptions for some time.

How Does Pause Subscription Work?

By now, you will be curious to know how the pause of subscriptions does its magic to increase the customer retention rate and decrease subscription cancellations or churn. So, there you go!

Customer Segmentation for Pause Subscription Option

Now, if you are convinced that pausing of subscription can be a better option than the cancellation of subscriptions, then the point of concern is how to find the customers whom you need to offer the pause subscription option.

Platforms like SubscriptionFlow allow you to monitor the customer data at the earliest stage of your interaction with the potential customer. Possibly, you do not find any issues when you onboard customers, but later, many customers cancel subscriptions.

However, the complete track of the activities of the customers can be very helpful in segregating the customers who can churn in the future. When you know the clique of people who can churn, it is easier to implement a pause subscription strategy.

Also Read: How To Segment Your Recurring Customers & Unlock The Door To The Success

Offering Discounts & Coupons

The best thing that you can do for such customers whose subscriptions are paused is to offer them discounts and coupons. In most cases, customers leave SaaS platforms because they want comparatively affordable solutions. You can even offer time-limited coupons and discounts exclusively for paused subscriptions. It is the quick way to bring your customers back on board. Though offering discounts is also a tactic for customer retention, it works fine when it comes to paused subscriptions.

Impacts of the Paused Subscriptions

We are here to bust the myth that the pause of subscriptions leaves a negative impact on SaaS businesses. Nonetheless, paused subscriptions are far better than subscription cancellations. Paused subscriptions are just like having subscribers on board, yet they are not active. And to activate an inactive user is comparatively easier than bringing the gone subscriber back on board.

Communication with the Customers

Another effective strategy to convince customers to reengage is to consistently communicate with them. You can either go for emails, notifications, messages, or even customer care calls. This communication will provide you with insights regarding the status of the customer i.g. what can be lucrative enough to bring a certain customer back on board, what to offer, and when to offer.

Also Read: Subscription Retention Analytics: Optimize the Visibility In Your Customer Behaviors and Business Health

What Is the Right Time to Offer Pause Subscription Option

There can be two ways to offer your customers this option. You can either make this part of your principles and policies to make it clear from the beginning for all customers or you can offer the pause of the subscription plan for the customers who are about to churn. There is this third option that we suggest.

Offer the option of pausing subscriptions whenever you improvise pricing plans so that you can retain the customers who cancel subscriptions because of their affordability.

It is hoped that the conundrum regarding pause vs cancel subscription will be resolved by now. However, if you want to offer your customers this option and improve your customer retention rate, then you can consult with SubscriptionFlow experts.

SubscriptionFlow—a subscription billing and retention management software that can help you offer customers the option to pause subscriptions and retain them for a longer time. Schedule a demo now!