Five killer strategies to sell more subscriptions on Shopify

When offering subscriptions on Shopify, there are limitless options for how you can set them up on your store.

Finding the right subscription model is only the first step though.

Next, you’ll have to focus on gaining subscribers. With Recurring Orders, we offer many different features which can help you grow your subscriber base and boost your recurring income. In this post, we’ll dive into some of them.

Here are five strategies you can implement to sell more subscriptions online:

1. Use a Discount Code to offer a discount on the first order of a subscription

This is the most common type of discount we see on subscriptions, because it works!

When you’re creating a discount code in Recurring Orders, it’s easy to specify how many orders it can be applied to:

Providing a discount on the first order reduces the initial barrier you need to overcome to convince someone to subscribe, which leads us to our next strategy:

2. Use the Convertible Subscriptions feature to offer a promotion on the first product of a subscription

If you’re selling a product that needs to be tried to be appreciated, such as a new coffee blend or skincare product, using our convertible subscriptions feature is a great way to convince someone to subscribe.

Here’s how you can use this feature to sell more subscriptions.

Offer a subscription where the first order is cheap (or free) and contains a trial-sized version of your product. This is an easy sell for your customers, because they get to try your product before they commit.

The best part is, with Convertible Subscriptions, this trial-sized product can automatically convert to a full-sized and regular-priced product subscription on the second order.

That means if your customers love the product, they will be automatically subscribed without having to lift a finger.

Like magic, right?

Here's another way you could offer a promotion using a Convertible Subscription. Instead of offering a discount on subscriptions, toss in a free gift for subscribers.

With this feature, it's possible to set up a promotion where a new subscriber would receive a limited-edition coffee mug with their coffee subscription. Our system would automatically include that mug on the first order, but not on future orders.

Read more about convertible subscriptions here. 

3. Use Dynamic Discounting to allow customers to get reduced pricing for the first few orders

Offering a discount on the first order is great, but what if you want to offer an extended discount for, let's say, Black Friday.

With dynamic discounting, you can automatically offer discounts like: 10% off for the first 5 orders OR 10% off after your first 5 orders.

By offering a discount after a set number of orders, it incentivizes customers to subscribe, and stayed subscribed, for a while.

Learn more about convertible subscriptions and the other six models in our ebook!

4. Offer Gift Subscriptions so your customers can buy a subscription for their friends or family

A lot of subscription purchases are used as gifts, especially around the holiday season. Who wouldn't love getting a magazine subscription, or a "insert your favourite product" of the month membership!

To nab these customers, it’s imperative you allow your customers to buy subscriptions for their friends and family.

The main difference between a gift subscription and a normal subscription is that a gift subscription is set to recur for a short period of time and then expire.

This allows customers to buy a prepaid period of time without having to worry about getting charged at a future date.

5. Reduce pricing on existing subscription offerings

If you’re already offering subscriptions, it’s easy to offer discounts to new subscribers.

Simply open up your subscription group and change the subscription discount. Alternatively, you can change the price of the product directly within Shopify.

With Bold's Shopify Subscriptions app, you’ll be given the option to keep all existing subscribers at the same price, meaning, you won’t miss out on revenue you’re currently making.

We can help!

If you're looking to grow your subscribers, we'd love to help. Our support team can help you set up one of these strategies, and offer personalized recommendations for your store. 

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And if you're currently not offering subscriptions on your store, check out this post on 5 Shopify stores crushing it with subscription boxes & products for some inspiration.