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3 Fulfillment Mistakes that Can Kill a Subscription Business

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You have a great product with great marketing and PR. You also have decided to add a subscription model to your offerings, so that you can have an ongoing revenue stream from your customers. But beware … if you don’t avoid these three errors at fulfillment, you and your company will suffer:

1. Poor Timing

If you sell a tangible product, shipping on certain days can wreak havoc on your ability to keep promises made to customers who buy them. Mondays — especially the first two of each month — are the highest volume shipping days of each month. Consider shipping on other days to avoid “competing” with UPS, FedEx, USPS, etc.

2. Less than Perfect Tracking

Recurring sales equal higher sales volume and higher shipping volume too. Logistics tracking is key. Don’t rely on automated notification of tracking numbers. Keep good records of each shipment in your own computer system. If a customer calls with a problem, they’re likely irritated. Don’t make it worse by taking too much time to track down their order.

3. Waste

A good recurring billing system and a good fulfillment software should work hand in hand. Real-time notification of credit card declines, sent to fulfillment teams in time to stop shipments that haven’t been paid for, will save you from a hemorrhaging margin with wasted product, payroll and time.

Bonus: The Little Stuff

When you have a recurring model, the normal headaches become exponential unless you plan ahead. A PR piece creates a spike in demand and you suddenly find yourself out of shipping supplies or understaffed. Unfortunately the best way to catch up is to turn off your site for a week! But if sales are flooding in, you can’t turn off the faucet!

If you’d like more guidance on fulfillment best practices for your subscription business, give me a call at 267.287.1035 or send me an email at rellis@membersolutions.com. I’d be happy to have a quick chat to learn more about your business and your goals.

Rick Ellis is a Business Development Executive with over 20 years of experience operating a membership-based company. Rick has experienced firsthand the types of unique challenges present when using a recurring billing business model. Rick enjoys working through complex business models to find and leverage every opportunity to optimize profit and reduce risk.

 

Reduce Attrition & Risk, Gain More Recurring Revenue …

Enjoy lower delinquency and more payments for your subscription business through our recurring billing and servicing platform. Automated processing and reprocessing of scheduled recurring payments keeps attrition at a minimum and gets you more payments. Our solution also ensures you have payment before you ship your product or fulfill a service, so you know you’re getting paid for what you’re delivering.

Call 267.287.1035 to Learn More Today!

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