The rise of subscription delivery services – maintaining success post-pandemic
By Keith Povey, Director of Marketing, Feefo
The United Kingdom has become a nation of subscribers.
From content streaming and fitness apps to meal kits and razors – we’re hooked. Deloitte estimates that 16% of 25 to 34-year-olds in the UK now have three or more subscriptions. This has only accelerated during Covid-19.
Subscription delivery services are among the few areas of retail to have really thrived in the past year.
One of our customers, The Vegan Kind, saw the volume of business their website processes increase by an incredible 125% since the start of the coronavirus pandemic with revenues increasing from £2.6 million to £5.6 million year-on-year.
A combination of suddenly narrowed choice for locked down consumers, and new subscription options entering the market as businesses needed to pivot, has fuelled an accelerated shift in spending behaviours.
That being said, it is estimated that 44% of those who signed up for a subscription service in the last year are actually using it.
So, the big question is, will all these newly acquired customers actually remain when restrictions are lifted?
And how do these currently booming subscription brands ensure they hold onto their gains, and continue to grow in a post-pandemic world? This is the challenge as life begins to return to normal.
What is for certain, with such an abundance of choice readily available, your product offering, and customer experience have to be impeccable to stand out in a now even more crowded market.
Customer expectations have been raised significantly, and they will demand no less that the best customer experience from home delivery services.
There are a number of key steps that these businesses must take to ensure they remain as prosperous in the coming year as they did in the last.
Getting the fundamentals right – insights and actions
Crafting a service to satisfy the current consumer demand starts with granular understanding of the customer journey, their pain points, purchase triggers and all the rest, and using this insight to deliver an experience that delights and converts.
By taking the time to understand the underlying trends, you are one step closer to identifying what your customers really care about and taking action to address their concerns.
Tools which enable a view of overarching customer sentiment via AI, the discovery of themes in customer review data and targeted, persona specific surveys are critical.
By understanding sentiment and, crucially, gleaning actionable insights from your analysis you put yourself in a stronger position to make decisions which feed into a compelling user experience.
Putting in place the technology infrastructure to deliver an exceptional service
Some of our customers have invested in making their website custom-coded or headless so that, rather than relying on third party providers, they support their website functions via their own platform.
Having these structures in place means you can deliver the hyper-personalised journey to satisfy even the most demanding customer.
Providing a holistic experience
One route to attracting discerning new customers to your service is to make your website a more holistic digital offering.
This could be via a news or an advice section. You reach those who might not be looking to purchase your products but who, by engaging with your website, might eventually become part of your customer base.
The importance of social proof
Of course, as the experts in reviews we would say this but ignore reviews and feedback at your peril – once you invest in showcasing your reviews, they can become a powerful customer acquisition tool.
The modern consumer almost invariably gages reviews received when considering a new service - an incredible 88% of consumers trust user reviews as much as personal recommendations.
In conclusion
The cumulative effect is to craft a service which reflects the demand your customer base presents and one which makes your company the obvious choice for even the most astute purchaser.
