Subscription products are booming among customers and businesses. It is advantageous to both sides. Customers benefit from the convenience of auto-renewals and have access to a high-value offer for a low ongoing investment. Companies offering subscription services can scale with confidence, with predictable revenue and more in-depth relationships with their customer base.
Sales Cloud provides a subscription management feature that automates processes for selling, invoicing, and collecting payments for subscription products and one-time sales. Before we explore these opportunities, we take a brief look at customer loyalty, which is crucial for every subscription product.
Subscription products rely on customer loyalty
Customers can easily switch to another service because many businesses offer similar solutions. In such circumstances, customer loyalty becomes a big asset for any XaaS.
71% of consumers switched brands at least once in the past year. Here are the reasons:
Source: State of the Connected Customer, Fifth Edition, Salesforce, 2022
So why is loyalty so important? What are the main reasons for understanding customer lifecycle management and implementing it into business?
Loyal customers are more likely to renew their subscriptions, resulting in a stable and predictable revenue stream. This steady income allows XaaS companies to plan for long-term growth and invest in product improvements.
Loyal customersact as brand advocates, recommending the service to others and potentially expanding the customer base through word-of-mouth marketing. This organic growth can significantly reduce customer acquisition costs.
Loyal customers are less likely to switch to a competitor’s service. Reduced churn not only saves on the cost of acquiring new customers but also minimizes the potential loss of recurring revenue.
Pain points in subscription products and how Salesforce solves them
No.1: Your customer data is disorganized
Subscription data is fragmented and spread across multiple locations. Customer information is scattered across sticky notes, Excel spreadsheets, and emails. The worst scenario: The only source of knowledge are sales reps, who store the information in their… heads.
83% of customers say they’re more loyal to companies that provide consistency across departments
Source: State of the Connected Customer, Fifth Edition, Salesforce, 2022
Salesforce centralizes customer data, storing it in one unified platform:
- All essential information, from contact details to purchase history, is housed in a single location, eliminating the chaos of scattered data across various tools and spreadsheets.
- Businesses can track every call, email, meeting, or touchpoint with a customer. This historical perspective enables teams to understand customer preferences, anticipate needs, and offer a highly personalized experience.
- As customer interactions occur, the platform continuously updates, offering the latest information at your fingertips.
- It provides more intelligent approaches to categorize leads and direct them to the most suitable rep, resulting in a more robust pipeline and increased subscriptions.
- The platform ensures that customer data is readily accessible for all employees involved in the customer journey, from sales and marketing to customer support.
No.2: Your scaling lacks a defined approach
What happens if you get 4 new subscriptions every month? How to manage them? Are you prepared to manage large numbers of different subscriptions?
75% of business buyers say sales conversations are more asynchronous than they used to be. In these conversations, business buyers expect reps to get to know their business goals and work with them as an advisor.
Source: State of the Connected Customer, Fifth Edition, Salesforce, 2022
Salesforce organizes the product management and helps with scaling:
- Sales Cloud empowers you to efficiently manage workflows and processes through simple point-and-click tools. Automating your sales process eliminates repetitive tasks, enabling your sales representatives to focus on critical actions.
- Effortless email tracking thanks to seamless email integration with Salesforce. Your reps can update records and send one-to-many messages with a single click.
- At Salesforce, Sales Path gives sales reps the information they need to move their deals closer to being closed.
- Your subscription sales have a goal and are tracked against it in Sales Cloud. With custom home pages, reps can see their key opportunities, next steps, and dashboards at a glance.
No.3: You find creating reports is time-consuming
Analyzing your sales teams’ monthly performance against their target can take a lot of time. You may have questions about the efficiency of your sales process but do not have the necessary tools to uncover insights.
Positive support experiences make customers more likely to re-purchase. Additionally, over four-fifths of customers have gone further by recommending a company to others based on a great support experience.
Source: State of the Connected Customer, Fifth Edition, Salesforce, 2022
Sales Cloud provides real-time insights into your sales team’s performance. It offers a user-friendly Pipeline Inspection tool that allows you to effortlessly monitor changes and swiftly assess which deals will influence sales forecasts:
- To be successful in the subscription space, you must know where your revenue is coming from. Salesforce’s reporting capabilities help identify which subscription plans, products, or services are the most profitable, allowing you to optimize your strategy.
- Beyond revenue, it’s crucial to understand what works and what doesn’t in your subscription model. Reports identify unprofitable elements or bottlenecks in your process, enabling you to make informed adjustments.
- Subscription businesses thrive by finding new avenues for revenue. Salesforce reporting can highlight untapped opportunities and help you discover new ways to monetize your customer base.
- To effectively scale in subscription models, you must allocate resources and assets where they matter most. Real-time forecasting provides information to make data-driven decisions about resource allocation.
- Salesforce offers dashboards, which are a great way to visualize your most important reports and share them with anyone.
No.4: Your sales are not mobile
It should be obvious that sales are going mobile. Modern salespeople use their phones to share information, get approval, and move forward with deals.
In the modern business landscape, mobile capabilities are not merely a nice-to-have but a must-have, ensuring that sales representatives can remain productive and responsive:
- Sales teams can access crucial information from anywhere using just their smartphones.
- Sales Cloud guides sales teams through the entire sales cycle and helps them prioritize tasks by automating repetitive work and eliminating data entry, freeing up valuable time for meaningful customer interactions.
- Seamless integration of mobile technology and CRM enhances productivity, customer service, and ultimately, sales success.
Perfect synergy between Salesforce Clouds to manage subscription products
Sales and service function separately within organizations far too often. Sales brings in new customers and then passes them to the service teams. The two departments do not communicate or follow up.
This way of doing business is not only old-fashioned, it is also expensive.
Technology can help. Salesforce is designed to bring together sales and service organizations with Service Cloud and Sales Cloud. The two platforms are integrated, thereby providing sales, service, and the entire organization with a comprehensive overview of each customer.
