Good morning and welcome to a new episode of Marketing Online, the program in which we talk about all the techniques and strategies that we can use to improve our Internet marketing, our digital marketing, our online marketing.
As always, here I am, Joan , yours truly and online marketing consultant. You already know that you can hire my services at and that you can contact me by mail by sending an email to joan@
Today is Monday and we start the week with strength and energy. That is why today we will talk about one of the most important inventions of heat. Today we will talk about recurring income. The fees, the subscriptions. Whatever you want to call it. The idea is that your customers pay you an amount periodically in exchange for something. And what is that something? Today we will see. So… let’s get started!
recurring income
The idea of recurring income is not new, it has been invented for as long as commerce has existed. To achieve some stability in your income, there is nothing like ensuring a certain level of monthly income through a subscription model. There are some services that by their very nature are recurring, such as a gym.
Can you imagine that a gym is only financed by the people who use it? If you had to pay every time you go to the gym, the industry would collapse. Be careful, I am not saying that there are no gyms that offer this option through bonuses and packs, but I am already telling you that they live thanks to the monthly fees. The same goes for health mutuals, schools, rentals, and even with my online marketing services or those that are paid through monthly installments.
But of course, all these are services. Not products. And some of you will tell me “Ah, it’s because I sell wine”, for example. And of course, that is not a service that is paid monthly. And the question is how can you offer a monthly fee for a product? Easy. Turning it into a service.
Turn your product into a service
And how do I turn my product into a service? Well, this is the most complex part, where you should use your imagination, because although it is true that all products are “convertible”, sometimes you have to change the chip completely to find the formula. There are several approaches to do it, and today I will talk about the one that is most applicable in most cases. This is the emerging “boxes” system.
A box is nothing more and nothing less than a “pack” or selection of your products that you offer at a lower price than the sum of the separate prices, which you send to the customer’s home on a regular basis, normally monthly. A “box” can be public or secret, depending on the product and the approach to the strategy.
Let’s give an example, which always helps. Returning to the case of wines. Let’s imagine you sell wine online. Or craft beers, which has been so fashionable lately. Well, one option (which should not be missing, of course) is to sell the product as usual. You have the online catalog, people choose, fill the cart and buy it. That client will come if and only if they need your product, or if they carry out some commercial action such as a mailing so that they return.
But another interesting option is to create what would be the “Wine Box”, for example. A monthly selection of bottles of wine. A special pack with wines from different vintages chosen by experts or those who control the subject. To opt for that special pack, you simply have to sign up as a “member”, or “subscriber” or “member of the wine club”, paying a monthly fee. And every month you will receive that selection at home without you having to worry about anything.
Once again, this system is not new. It’s already invented. Do you remember the Circle of Readers? Well, it still exists. You paid a monthly amount and in exchange you could order a certain number of books from their catalogue. For a while it became very fashionable. What they did was turn their product into a service. Instead of buying books, you are a member of a club. That gives them periodic and regular billing.
Thanks to this system, the client will be able to discover new types of wine, new tastes, artisan wines, wine brands, wines from foreign countries, etc. And the strategy is totally winning, because there is a win-win situation. In other words, the client gains value, because he discovers new wines that he might never have tried, and you win twice. Firstly, because on the one hand you ensure a fixed monthly recurring income, and on the other hand, that customer will discover a new type of wine that they may like so much that they may place new orders only for that particular one.
This product discovery system works wonderfully. It is similar to what we said on Friday about coupons to give away products in eCommerce. You give away product not because you are a charitable soul, but because you want them to try it, so that they come to buy more later. In this case, you do not give it away, but rather offer a closed pack with certain products for them to try. In other words, find out.
This obviously applies to everything. That you have a pastry shop. Ditto, a selection of cakes. What do you sell trips? Same thing, a weekend getaway pack every month. That you sell sports supplements, the same. A free sample pack of supplements. Coffee, tea, fruit, fish… the idea is the same.
more possibilities
However, the boxes are not the only solution. We have many more options, depending on the nature of our service, but in most cases it is necessary to analyze the situation, develop a strategy, make a diagnosis, and have an action plan. I will comment on some cases of my clients, so that you can see what I mean.
For example, a corporate image designer. You know, people to whom you order logos, advertisements, banners, in short… all the Photoshop theme. Well instead of paying for service, we prepare a strategy based on monthly fees. The client paid a monthly fee that entitles you to certain modifications throughout the year. In this way the designer has a regular income each month, and the client can control his spending perfectly, knowing that he will not have to pay more if he asks for more work during a month.
A client of mine who has a dressmaking workshop has started to offer the rental of space in her shop for those people who want to sew themselves but don’t have space at home, in exchange for a monthly fee. In this way, she ensures a fixed monthly income.
With a cafeteria we have prepared a membership card that in exchange for a monthly fee you have breakfast every day. You can order what you want every day, without having to bring money, since it is paid monthly at the end of the month.
As we can see, the possibilities are endless. The idea is to find something that is always a win-win strategy, as I have already said. In other words, that both the client and the provider of that product or service get it.
How do I do it?
Regarding the implementation of this technique, if it is true that the approach is quite complex and a lot of work needs to be done to arrive at a good solution, the good news is that the implementation part is very easy.
And even more if you have a website made in WordPress, because you only have to install WooCommerce, and the plugin, and you will automatically be prepared so that any client can register and the monthly fee will be charged on a recurring and automatic basis.
This extension not only allows you to do that, but also to create multiple subscription types, so you can have multiple subscription levels or partner levels. For example, you can create the “Wine box plus”, the “International wine box” or the “Spain wine box”, each with its price depending on the cost of each wine pack and the number of bottles you want to put in the pack :
I leave the plugin link in the program notes. If you take a look you can see that the system is very easy. You simply have to create a new product with WooCommerce, and in the product information section, we give the subscription a name, a price with a periodicity (in this case monthly), optionally we can indicate a registration price, and even a trial period or offer price, if you want to promote it. And that’s it!
The moment someone buys the service from you, they will be charged for the first month. And from there, each month the quota of that client will be received automatically.
In the event that you do not have WordPress, you should talk to your webmaster so that they can program it in some way based on the eCommerce manager you have. In the case of Prestashop, Opencart, Magento and some Joomla eCommerce you have extensions or modules that also do it.
As for the payment gateways, you can currently do it with both PayPal and Stripe. And in the event that you do not want to do it with these, you can always do it through your bank, direct debiting receipts. You must register with the TIR, to be able to issue receipts, and you will be able to automatically charge these installments directly to the checking accounts of your clients.
You should bear in mind that if you finally do so, the process will not be as automatic as it would be with PayPal or Stripe, since in the case of direct debit, you will have to manually enter your client’s current account data through from your bank’s online banking platform, or in any case by delivering a Q43 notebook in which all installments are charged.
Summary
Okay, time for the recap. Today is easy. If you sell a product online, you can easily convert it to a subscription model and receive a monthly fee. That will give you monthly financial security that will perfectly complement your conventional sales income and the customer will have a discount, which will make them happy. Arriving at the idea is not easy, but once the implementation is clear, it is quick and painless. Final verdict: Forced to do it.
If, due to your type of product, you have no idea how to propose the creation of a “box” or subscription model, no problem. Contact me and we’ll talk about it.
Anyway, this is all for today. I hope you liked it and that you have learned something, even if only a little. If so, you already know that I will be eternally grateful if you go to iTunes, rate the podcast with five stars and leave a comment, which always helps.
Anyway, I hope you have a very good week, thank you very much for being on the other side, and see you tomorrow!
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