Over the past year, I’ve been involved with supporting a number of organisations which have recurring revenue, subscription, and/or membership models. Whilst these organisations aren’t connected by sector, focus, or geography, I’ve seen a number of issues and opportunities which cross them all in some way or another.

Here are three key thoughts:

1️⃣ Lifetime Value: It’s not just about the initial sign-up; it’s about grasping the full scope of your customers’ value over time. How long are they likely to stick around? Plotting revenue forecasts over 1, 3, 5, or even 10 years helps put acquisition costs into perspective, as well as underscoring the critical nature of retention strategies.

2️⃣ Optimising Onboarding: There’s that critical moment where prospects morph into customers. In today’s tech-savvy landscape, redundant data requests during onboarding are friction – unforgivable! This process can be streamlined utilising technology to gather essential details, to avoid having to ask the customer to fill out basic data that you should already have, or could get from APIs. Every interaction with your new customer matters; make the questions you ask be high-value ones!

3️⃣ Transparent Communication & Engagement: Setting clear expectations regarding frequency of communication and activity with new customers is paramount. There’s nothing worse than signing up to something with the expectation of lots of ‘activity’, only for there to be tumbleweed. Even worse – the tumbleweed continues until – guess when – four weeks before renewal. Not a great experience.

Further reading: For those hungry for deeper insights into mastering recurring revenue strategies, I recommend diving into these two enlightening reads:

Subscribed: Why the Subscription Model Will Be Your Company’s Future—and What to Do About It by by Tien Tzuo and Gabe Weisert 

Retention Point: The Single Biggest Secret to Membership and Subscription Growth for Associations, SAAS, Publishers, Digital Access, Subscription Boxes and all Membership and Subscription Businesses by Robert Skrob