Robbie Kellman Baxter shares valuable advice for product managers who are ramping up operations to prepare for new subscribers to their subscription-based business.
So you’ve launched your subscription app, and you have some subscribers. You’ve only scratched the surface. Now the real work begins. The key to subscription models is that the benefits keep improving to support the subscriber’s ongoing goal. And at the same time as you’re optimizing for your existing subscribers, you have to continue to stay relevant for tomorrow’s members.
Subscription models are complicated.
If you’re responsible for the product roadmap, how do you prioritize where to invest first, and what can wait til later? Here are 10 tips that might help you focus.
Design for the whole party. Think of your product as a party. Then identify your greatest opportunity for improvement. There might be some people who don’t know the party is happening, or don’t realize that their favorite band is going to be there. That’s an awareness issue–can you build in a way to attract people who might not otherwise know about your product? There might be some people who pass by the party but don’t feel an urge to go inside and check it out–that might mean you lack a headline benefit that will attract them. But just because someone signs up, or enters the party, that doesn’t mean your work as a product manager is done. You need to make them feel welcome, and help them figure out where the fun activities are–the bar, the buffet, the band. This challenge is about surfacing features, and onboarding a new subscriber to create habits. Without good onboarding, you will have a leaky bucket. Even if you engage people and they find their way to the best parts of the party, they might grow tired of what’s familiar. If that’s your issue, you may want to expand the features for the most engaged subscribers, or even just create features to remind subscribers to re-engage. With subscriptions, it’s not enough to just attract new subscribers, it’s critical to engage them.
Tips in this article include:
- Optimizing for customer journey (not subscription journey)
- Understanding where the blockage is
- Investing in onboarding
Read the full article, 10 Tips For Product Managers to Optimize Your Subscription App, on LinkedIn.
