A subscription business isn’t just about how customers pay you for your product or service. It’s about what you offer the customer and what unique USPs you empower your subscription offering with. Success in subscription services depends on prioritizing your relationship with your customers, much more so than in traditional brick-and-mortar retail. So from the very beginning, we doubled down on this aspect of our business at every level—from the executive team on down. We make sure we do everything we can to serve our customers’ needs, not just for today, but for years to come. For example, we made our offering really flexible, so our customers can easily modify their subscription as their needs and prescriptions change, which is a fundamental change in our industry.

Like many traditional businesses, we used to be fully focused on driving transactions, so it’s been a journey for the whole organization to really grasp the CLV concept. Because in subscriptions, it’s really about what we’re going to get from a customer over many years, not in a single transaction. We’ve had to shift our focus to put existing customers first in all situations, and then we add new customers on top. This is really about culture. The most effective growth strategy is to keep the customers you’ve already acquired.

We don’t have usage-based pricing right now, but we are looking into it. In fact, we are kind of obsessed with usage data right now, trying to understand how our customers are using our service to make sure every single subscriber gets the benefits they’re paying for. Our exploration of this is an extension, really, of our transition to getting into subscription services. We’re making sure our entire team understands this isn’t a “one-and-done” world anymore. What’s working really well for a customer now may not work for them next month or next year—this has been made abundantly clear during the pandemic where the flexibility in our subscription services has been highly appreciated by our customers.

With the pandemic, our subscription service is playing an even more vital role in helping our 200,000 customers get the care and the products they need. But we also see a stronger inflow of new customers signing up for the subscription model. The reason behind this is quite obvious—in uncertain times, you choose the safe solution. With our subscription, there are no surprises. Whatever happens, the solution is already included in the subscription.

Start with the customer, understand what unique features the customer would appreciate, and make sure the USPs in your offering are highly valued. Too many companies look at subscriptions as a down payment, but to slice your payment is nothing revolutionary and won’t do the trick without the true USPs that will make the customer stay with you forever. Then launch simple, track data and behavior, and never stop innovating your offering. You are never done!