In addition to being highly successful, innovative subscription businesses, what is another thing that BarkBox, FabFitFun, and Speedo all have in common? Answer: they all combine subscriptions with one-time offerings.

Software as a Service—also known as the SaaS model—was one of the earliest adopters of the subscription model concept. There are, of course, a multitude of compelling, strategic reasons to adopt a subscription model based on access rather than ownership: more predictable recurring revenue streams (and compounding revenue); improved subscriber experience and greater subscriber loyalty; access to more consistent data from the confluence of marketing, customer, and billing events; and easier inventory management. 

Has this ever happened to you? You’re shopping online and want to make a purchase. But when you try to pay for your item, the payment method that you want to use isn’t available, and so you abandon the purchase. This can happen particularly in international e-commerce, where shoppers prefer to use a payment method that’s not commonly used in the merchant’s location.

The new year is a time of new beginnings, and subscription businesses should take this opportunity to reexamine their strategies for combating CNP fraud.  Whether accepting orders that are fraudulent (which often results in chargebacks) or denying legitimate orders on the mistaken belief that they may be fraudulent, merchants stand to lose a lot of money if they aren’t able to effectively mitigate fraud.  

We all know that the holidays are a time of gift-giving—with Black Friday and Cyber Monday being two of the busiest days of the year for both brick-and-mortar and online sales. But there’s another kind of giving that’s promoted during the holidays, one that doesn’t have anything to do with shopping.

Recently, we wrote about the trends expected this holiday shopping season. We discussed tips and best practices related to gift subscriptions, coupons, and free trials which can be very effective tactics that subscription businesses can use to acquire new subscribers during this most wonderful time of the year. 

There comes a time when a subscriber may consider canceling a subscription. In fact, nearly 40% of subscribers of any service type​ cancel. More than a third cancel in less than three months, and over half cancel within six, according to a study by McKinsey and Co. So, how can you get subscribers to stick around? Instead of allowing subscribers to churn, you can retain them by enabling them to pause their subscription. 

According to McKinsey, subscription e-commerce has grown 100% a year over the last five years. Savvy e-commerce companies are taking full advantage of the subscription model—predictable revenue and deep customer relationships—to gain a competitive advantage and accelerate growth.

We’ve all been there: waiting in line at the grocery store with one item behind someone with twenty. It’s frustrating. The checkout process in e-commerce can be frustrating too, and subscription businesses should do all they can to optimize and streamline this process for their subscribers. Why? Because eliminating friction from the checkout experience is a best practice and can increase conversions. What are some ways to do this?

Subscription businesses that want to optimize their payment process and gain an edge over their competition should consider integrating with a second payment gateway. A second gateway can offer increased operational efficiencies along with a variety of other benefits.