Subscriptions
Why get a sale, when you can get a subscriber?
A subscription model gives you the opportunity to convert one-time purchases into repeat customers.
In recent years we have seen a massive uptick in brands offering subscription services online. For DTC businesses, a subscription model allows you to create recurring revenue streams, perfect for building long-term growth and stability.
Whether you’re talking about VIP memberships or repeat deliveries of consumable goods, many companies are waking up to the idea that securing a guaranteed, returning customer is worth a lot more than chasing after one sale at a time.
So today we want to talk about how to sell subscriptions on Shopify.
Shopify comes packed with tools to effectively sell your subscription memberships or products.
The good news: Shopify comes packed with all the tools you will need to effectively sell your subscription services or products.
In this article, we are going to detail a number of the built-in Shopify tools and apps (plus some third party extras) that’ll be essential for any subscription store. We’ll also highlight some examples of these tools being put to best use – and for anything not covered in this guide, just get in touch.
Inspira is a well-established and extensively-experienced Shopify Development Agency, and if you’re looking to set up a Shopify subscription store we’ll be only too happy to help.
Let’s dive right into that powerful Shopify tool box.
Key Features for Selling Subscriptions on Shopify
Product Subscriptions
Brands offering subscription products and services will be able to make fantastic use of Shopify’s powerful subscription options.
Let’s start with the first and most obvious tool you’ll want to be familiar with. Brands offering subscription products and services will be able to make fantastic use of Shopify’s powerful subscription options. For example, food retailers can offer regular delivery boxes, sent automatically on a certain date (just look at the hugely popular Hello Fresh model). Beverage retailers might want to offer a monthly wine club, or curated beer collections.
Product subscription tools can be useful for all retailers of consumable goods – for example, we recently worked with the pet store brand My Family Pets, to set up a fully customised subscription service for their pet foods, using the Recharge app in Shopify.
Membership Benefits
How do you get your customers coming back to you, time and again?
If your brand is looking to capture subscriptions, then we recommend using Shopify’s features to build a community around your loyal and returning customers.
How do you get your customers coming back to you, time and again? Creating a VIP memberships program and rewarding members with exclusive discounting or early access to new products and collections can go a long way to increasing longtime customer value.
Your Shopify subscription store will ultimately be more successful when you give people reasons to come back – and Shopify has all the tools you need to do this.
Subscription Apps
Selecting the right subscription app for your store can be overwhelming but we're happy to talk you through the pros and cons of each option
Before we continue, it’s worth pointing out that there are many different ways to set up your subscription services on Shopify. Recharge is a popular and powerful app, and we’ve installed it for clients in the past – but really there are dozens of third party subscription apps you could look at, many of them specialised for particular types of products, or membership models. Their features and pricing models are just as varied.
For example, you could consider: Recharge, PayWhirl, Recurpay, Smartrr, Seal, Shopify Subscriptions, Appstle, SubBox
Or you can think outside the box - on Careline365 we allowed customers to sign up to direct debit payments directly within the Shopify Checkout.
As you can see you’ll have plenty to choose from, but there’s no need to feel overwhelmed – we would be only too happy to talk you through your options, and help find the best model for your Shopify subscription store.
Subscription Brands and Services Already Using Shopify
When you research the top-selling brands on Shopify, you’ll probably start to notice how many are already using subscription tools to capture those recurring revenue streams.
For any product that your customer is likely to purchase again in future, subscriptions are the smartest way to go!
Check out our recent Case Study to learn how we set up subscription services for our clients at My Family Vets, using the Recharge app in Shopify. Alternatively, you can browse the list below to see some more examples of subscription tools being used to excellent effect in successful ecommerce businesses.
- Dollar Shave Club (https://uk.dollarshaveclub.com)
- Oatly (https://us.oatly.com/collections/subscriptions)
- Huel (https://uk.huel.com)
- Who Gives a Crap (https://uk.whogivesacrap.org)
- Brew Tea Co. (https://www.brewteacompany.co.uk)
Let’s Build You a Powerful Subscription Store on Shopify
No matter whether you’re offering food and drinks, health products and supplements, pet food, or even software services – selling subscriptions can be a very smart way to go, and Shopify gives you all the tools you’ll need for success.
Here at Inspira, we can help you to put Shopify’s tools to the best possible use. From store design and implementation, to migration services, to custom app development, we do it all… And we’ll be delighted to get you set up with your own powerful Shopify subscription store.
Just get in touch today – for your no-obligation chat with our expert Shopify advisors.
