Digital Services Subscription Management

Imagine opening your Netflix, finally finding a movie to watch after suffering through the endless scroll, and then being asked to pay a fee to watch just that one movie. Are you willing to pay an added $1 to watch the latest Marvel movie when it drops on Netflix? Marvel releases 4-5 films per year. Do you want to pay $1 every time you wish to watch or even rewatch a Marvel movie? Sounds like a nightmare, doesn’t it?

That is because digital media companies like Netflix and Spotify have all shifted to the subscription-based billing model and now entirely run on it. To even suggest an alternate billing model – such as the one we just saw above – is to commit digital media subscription suicide—no digital media platform would survive the platform-ending levels of churn as a result of subscribers having to pay individually pay for every film or TV show that they wish to watch.

Tweaking the Subscription-based Billing Model to Suit Your Needs

But if the subscription-based billing model seems like such a done and dusted deal to the point where no one wishes to change or even challenge it, the question then arises how do we best implement this form of billing that is here to stay for good? In other words, if subscription-based billing is not going anywhere any time soon, then how do we reconfigure it to suit our needs?

The simplest answer to this conundrum lies in the following portmanteau: SubscriptionFlow—a cost-effective and highly customizable subscription-management software that is specially equipped to deal with almost all digital media businesses’ subscription-based needs. Want a comprehensive self-service subscription dashboard? Personalized customer service with effective auto-email correspondence, reminders, and notifications? Or automated payment processing while dealing with dunning and proration and freedom to offer a variety of content packages and seasonal promotions? SubscriptionFlow has got you covered as it offers all these features (and many more!)

Also read: Subscription Management Software—An Ultimate Solution for Media Companies

Alternatives to the Subscription-based Billing Model

That said, sometimes digital services require a model of subscription management that demands variations within a fixed subscription model. This applies especially to the broadcasting side of digital services such as e-newspapers and magazines. Oftentimes, these publications charge their subscribers on a per-article basis which results in the subscriber not paying a flat fee in the beginning but rather paying per view/read.

Many times, a tiered billing model works best for digital service providers. Even Netflix, a company that is synonymized with digital subscriptions, offers its subscribers flexibility of pricing by having a basic subscription plan and then having higher tiers that each offer a few more services for an added cost. SubscriptionFlow, known in the market for its customizability, offers its users a myriad of ways in which they can incorporate tiered billing to best cater to their end consumers.

Other Reasons Why SubscriptionFlow Is Well-suited for Digital Service Subscription Management

1. Integration With Multiple Payment Gateways

Unlike many other digital services subscription management software that providers may wish to use, SubscriptionFlow offers integration with a long list of payment gateways such as PayPal, Stripe, Square, etc. This means two things: firstly, the client does not have to worry about the payment gateway they or their clients may already be using not being compatible with the new subscription management platform that they have now shifted to; secondly, it offers a seamless experience to both the client and their end consumer by offering smoother transactions.

2. Multicurrency Payments

Digital services – because the platform upon which they offer a service is not as geography-bound as those of non-digital services – have a stronger tendency of catering to customers from all over the globe who would want to pay in different currencies. Therefore, it is important for digital service providers to not only give their customers the option of paying in the currency that they wish to pay in, but to also have a subscription management software that can process all these different currencies without any issues.

3. Reduction in Customer Churn Rate

One factor that greatly hampers the continued growth of any digital service is an untamably high churn rate. Adding new subscribers to your service is only half the battle; the real test begins when a service has to also retain these new subscribers so that they do not flock to their competitors any time soon. SubscriptionFlow helps its clients achieve that through its detailed reporting on a business’s performance, on the patterns in which its customers subscribe to the service. This is done for both SubscriptionFlow and for the business itself to become aware of how the end consumer spends their resources to subscribe to the digital service so that they are both able to better plan for the future and how to retain their current customers.

Also read: Subscription Management Software—An Ultimate Solution for Media Companies

Conclusion

It is an indisputable fact that subscription-based billing for digital services is here to stay. Keeping that in mind, digital service providers need to then start investing in tailoring existing subscription management services like SubscriptionFlow to suit their digital media needs. Doing this will make sure that these services can efficiently manage their subscriptions and, in return, also provide their end consumers with the best possible product and services.