We make no secret of our love for our partner, ReCharge.
They offer an unparalleled solution for subscription-based businesses looking to scale while providing an easy, delightful experience to the end user. But ReCharge is more than just good people, running a successful company with a killer product -- they, like us, also consider merchant education a cornerstone of good business.
Case in point: their 2021 Powerful & Profitable Subscriptions Playbooks: a value-packed series of guides on everything from building a brand community to properly leveraging analytics, customizing the shopping experience, scaling, and more.
We were honored and thrilled to be asked to contribute to the Playbooks. Here’s a taste from the section Tako Creative Director, Grace, penned on cross-sells and upsells:
Depending on the nature of the product and/or type of subscription model, there’s a chance that the relationship between customer and product may become stale over time. It is predictable and perhaps useful, but not exciting or particularly noteworthy. When the customer relationship stagnates like this, the risk for cancellation is high.
Replenishment models face this challenge more often than curation or access models, but it can be countered! Just as with any relationship, you gotta work to keep things spicy.
Create cross-sells and upsells within the customer portal or on the cart page that change frequently and offer something:
- unique (exclusive products)
- highly valuable (deeper discounts)
- limited (in quantity or availability duration) and/or
- personalized
Personalized recommendations are key. You wouldn’t want to recommend meat products to a customer that’s subscribed to your vegan box, would you?
To return to our relationship metaphor, in this way, cross-sells and upsells can function as love notes: I know you, I’m thinking of you, and I want you to have all the things. They keep customers engaged with your brand, making them less likely to want to quit you.
(Grace did a deeper dive on cross-sells and upsells on ReCharge’s blog here, if you’re interested.)
It’s not just all about subscriptions, either. These playbooks are jam-packed with insights and tips to grow your brand, authentically connect with your audience, and love what you do--regardless of your business model.
Check out Tako’s contributions to the ReCharge Playbooks right here.
(Curious to see the full series, informed by 11 additional eCommerce experts? Find it here!)
