Growing your subscriber database is one of the most important things you can do as a publisher, so we often deep dive into strategies for success. However, Alan Leech from crmSubscribe says that avoiding a few common mistakes is more valuable than any acquisition strategy. It all comes down to how your subscribers sign-up.
TMSN chatted with crmSubscribe’s Alan Leech about the importance of sign-up in your customers’ journey, its impact when you get it right, and just how bad things can go if you get it wrong.
Customers don’t have time to waste on complicated systems or lengthy sign-up forms.
Putting hard work into your acquisition strategy to get in front of subscribers isn’t worth anything if your sign-up journey is a roadblock. We have an overwhelming amount of data that tells us that customers are time-poor. They expect their journey from being aware of your publication to having the content in their hands to be fast and seamless every time.
A sound subscription management system should include an intuitive and fast sign-up form — bonus points for utilising auto-fill technology via renewal emails.
Signing up for a subscription has to be easy and secure.
It pays to stay up-to-date with the industry and on the pulse of the latest trends and technologies. But too many publishers are using sign up systems that may as well be from the dark ages.
If your sign up system asks your customer to create an account before they can purchase, then this could be a potential roadblock causing them to spend more time on their purchase journey.
The cost of data security could be a lot more than you realise.
Cybercriminals have become sophisticated, making it essential to protect your customers’ data with a robust system. Investing in a secure subscription management system can seem like a significant cost up front, but the amount it could save you in money, time and reputation is staggering.
A breach of customer data has a significant impact on all areas of your business. The Government doesn’t take too kindly to businesses who have not gone to appropriate lengths to secure private information.
And while money can be earned back, it’s harder to build trust and loyalty with customers if a data breach is looming over your reputation as a business.
Save time by systemising sign-ups.
Signing up for a subscription should be easy and painless for your customer, and automated for your business.. If you’re locked into manually updating your database by using forms with no automation then you’re placing an undue burden on your back office team.
So, how can you improve your sign-up system to keep your customers happy? We can measure most things, but you may never know how many people DIDN’T sign up for your publication because of the barriers in place.
