Subscription Ecommerce Live

What's your delay retention rate? 

It's the percentage of subscription customers who delay a subscription then go on to have a successful charge. This metric helps sellers understand how powerful offering easy delays can be. 

Subscribers want the flexibility to delay, either because they have too much, need a little break, or will be away during the next scheduled delivery. It's easier to keep them as a subscriber if they can simply delay (vs cancelling then needing to be won back). 

At ARPU, we're obsessed with delivering subscriber experiences that extend LTV. Easy peasy delays are a big part of that. 

During this session, Ashley Guttuso from ARPU unpacked

How Delay Retention Rate is calculated

Industry benchmarks from our merchant data (in 2021, ARPU merchants saw an average DRR of 63%) 

How one company added delays and saw a 50% drop in "too much product" churn 

If you learn something from this discussion, we'd love to have you join us next time. Learn more about this series here: https://liveseries.getarpu.com/  

This series is brought to you by GetARPU.com, which helps subscription sellers make more money and retain more customers with upcoming shipment notifications that offer 2-click upsells and delays. Check us out if you want to provide an amazing experience for your subscription customers. (Syncs with ReCharge (Shopify + BigCommerce)). 

Timestamps

• 0:00 Intro
• 2:04 Why you should offer your subscribers the option to delay their order
• 4:42 How offering a delay option can influence your subscribers’ LTV
• 6:35 How to calculate Delay Retention Rate (?)
• 9:33 How Jimmy Joy used delays to cut “too much product” churn in half
• 13:29 Sneak peak of what’s coming to the Merchant dashboard in ARPU
• 21:12 Why ARPU is invested in Delay Retention Rate
• 23:47 The future of Subscription Ecommerce Live

In this episode, Brandon Amoroso, founder and president of Electriq, delved into his years of experience in subscription ecommerce and discussed how to improve retention and increase LTV in your subscription program.

What he covered:

• Why it's critical to audit your subscription experience
• Actions you can take to improve that experience that directly impact retention and LTV
• What brands get wrong with loyalty programs 

About Brandon: 

Brandon is the Founder & President of Electriq, a 40+ person Shopify Retention-as-a-Service Agency acquired in April, 2022 by DRINKS. As a Klaviyo Elite, Attentive Pioneer, and Recharge Innovation Partner of the year, Electriq is at the forefront of creating best-in-class retention experiences.

If you learn something from this discussion, we'd love to have you join us next time. Learn more about this series here: https://liveseries.getarpu.com/ 

This series is brought to you by GetARPU.com, which helps subscription sellers make more money and retain more customers with upcoming shipment notifications that offer 2-click upsells and delays. Check us out if you want to provide an amazing experience for your subscription customers. (Syncs with ReCharge (Shopify + BigCommerce)).

Timestamps 

0:00 Subscription Ecommerce Live Intro

1:52 Brandon’s journey to founding to Electriq

4:47 3 Reasons why the need for retention services have increased

6:27 Subscription Ecommerce Live is brought to you by ARPU

7:51 Why it's critical to audit your subscription experience

10:09 Should you hire outside your company to audit your subscription experience?

14:14 Actions you can take to improve that experience that directly impact retention and LTV

24:33 Common problems found in subscription sellers' subscription experience

31:30 Low-hanging fruit for increasing retention and LTV: post-purchase offers

34:41 What brands get wrong with loyalty programs

39:09 What to include on a loyalty page

42:15 How to stagger SMS and email messaging for your subscribers

49:06 Where to find Brandon

In this episode of Subscription Ecommerce Live, VP of Communications and Public Relations Lauren Nolan talked to us about how an engaged community can drive results for subscription businesses.

We discussed:

• How subscription brands can cultivate an engaging community
• How community impacts a number of other marketing and sales areas for the business
• The evolution of DTC from "Direct to Consumer" to "Direct to Community"  

About Lauren:  

Lauren is the VP of Communications and Public Relations at House of Wise, a luxury wellness and CBD brand that offers subscription services. There, she leads consumer marketing, brand strategy, and brand identity. Previously, she ran a freelance consulting business that focused on building strong brand identities, growing brand awareness, and driving community engagement. 

If you learn something from this discussion, we'd love to have you join us next time. Learn more about this series here: https://liveseries.getarpu.com/  

This series is brought to you by GetARPU.com, which helps subscription sellers make more money and retain more customers with upcoming shipment notifications that offer 2-click upsells and delays. Check us out if you want to provide an amazing experience for your subscription customers. (Syncs with ReCharge (Shopify + BigCommerce). 

Timestamps 

0:00 Subscription Ecommerce Live intro

2:14 Lauren’s journey to House of Wise

6:53 How the House of Wise community grew to where it is today

13:11 The evolution of DTC from "direct to consumer" to "direct to community"

15:10 The dynamics of House of Wise’s community

20:29 How to cultivate an engaged community

27:45 How community impacts a number of other marketing and sales areas for the business

37:54 How House of Wise rewards engaged community members and brand ambassadors

46:38 How to interact with your community

51:16 Where to find Lauren

In this episode of Subscription Ecommerce Live, co-founder of Churn Buster Joelle Goldman taught us why you need a subscription retention strategy and how to implement one that achieves results.  

We discussed:   

- What the lowest-churn companies do to extend subscriber lifetimes (and LTVs) 

- Common misconceptions about passive churn, and a better way to think about retention

- What's the lowest-hanging fruit in churn reduction (what you can do to immediately reduce churn) 

- What you can do to optimize retention over time  

About Joelle:

Joelle is co-founder of Churn Buster, a SaaS company that helps subscription ecommerce brands reduce churn. Specifically, Churn Buster manages the retention process after a recurring payment fails to go through. After nearly 10 years and over $5 billion in subscription revenue under management, Joelle has seen a thing or two about what makes a solid subscription program, and the key differences between high-churn and low-churn companies.  

If you learn something from this discussion, we'd love to have you join us next time. Learn more about this series here: https://liveseries.getarpu.com/   

This series is brought to you by GetARPU.com, which helps subscription sellers make more money and retain more customers with upcoming shipment notifications that offer 2-click upsells and delays. Check us out if you want to provide an amazing experience for your subscription customers. (Syncs with ReCharge (Shopify + BigCommerce).  

Timestamps  

0:00 Subscription Ecommerce Live Intro 

3:25 Joelle’s experience with retention at Churn Buster 

6:06 What Churn Buster does 

8:37 What the lowest-churn companies do to extend LTVs

11:40 The most photographed slide at ChargeX: Company A VS Company B 

18:55 Why defaulting to Subscription isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution 

23:05 Common misconceptions about passive churn, and a better way to think about retention 

26:28 What's the lowest-hanging fruit in churn reduction? (Aka what you can do to immediately reduce churn)

28:35 Best practices for dunning 

35:05 What you can do to optimize retention over time 

41:05 What’s the biggest reason that your subscribers should stay? 

44:41 Where to find Joelle (and start busting churn)

This week, Ashley from ARPU walked through our Top Performer research results and broke down what makes up a strong shipping soon email.

We discussed:

• What makes an upcoming shipment notification good?
• Are there benchmarks for how these should perform?
• What should you include in these emails?

If you learn something from this discussion, we'd love to have you join us next time. Learn more about this series here: https://liveseries.getarpu.com/ 

This series is brought to you by GetARPU.com, which helps subscription sellers make more money and retain more customers with upcoming shipment notifications that offer 2-click upsells and delays. Check us out if you want to provide an amazing experience for your subscription customers. (Syncs with ReCharge (Shopify + BigCommerce).

Timestamps

• 0:00 Subscription Ecommerce Live Intro
• 0:05 Ashley Guttuso Intro
• 2:51 What makes a good upcoming shipment notification?
• 3:08 A good upcoming shipment notification delivers critical information first
• 3:55 A good upcoming notification is well-timed
• 6:15 A good upcoming shipment notification should offer subscriber flexibility
• 12:09 Your upcoming shipment notification should remove friction
• 13:56 Benchmarks from ARPU merchants
• 19:28 What to include in your upcoming shipment notifications based on Top ROI ARPU Merchants
• 36:38 Examples from Top Delay Retention Rate ARPU Merchants
• 43:05 Additional tactics to steal from top performing merchants
• 47:35 Outro

In this episode of Subscription Ecommerce Live, we talked with Derric Haynie, Chief Ecommerce Technologist at EcommerceTech.io, about his favorite tactics and tech for subscription selling.

We discussed: 

• One simple tactic that led to 15,000 new customers a month, every month, for BoxyCharm 
• Understanding on/off customers and temporary churn 
• Tools that help you better manage your customer relationships  

About Derric:  

Derric Haynie is the Chief Ecommerce Technologist at EcommerceTech.io, an invaluable resource for researching, discovering, and buying ecommerce tools. He and his team help merchants track and manage their tools, build their tech roadmap, and hold providers accountable for performance.  

If you learn something from this discussion, we'd love to have you join us next time. Learn more about this series here: https://liveseries.getarpu.com/ 

This series is brought to you by GetARPU.com, which helps subscription sellers make more money and retain more customers with upcoming shipment notifications that offer 2-click upsells and delays. Check us out if you want to provide an amazing experience for your subscription customers. (Syncs with ReCharge (Shopify + BigCommerce).

Timestamps

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:03 Derric Intro
• 5:34 Derric’s journey to launching EcommerceTech.io
• 10:46 The one simple tactic that led to 15,000 new customers a month, every month, for BoxyCharm
• 22:30 Why you should get your customers excited before offering your referral program
• 28:25 Understanding how referral products can affect your supply chain
• 34:25 Understanding temporary churn and on/off customers
• 45:10 Tools and best practices for managing customer relationships
• 49:05 EcommerceTech.io resources
• 53:37 Outro

In this episode of Subscription Ecommerce Live, email copywriting expert Nikki Elbaz taught us how to write emails that increase AOV, CLV, CTR, and all the other good acronyms.

We discussed: 

• The #1 (really easy!) email opportunity every subscription business needs to take advantage of
• The difference between subscriptions and memberships – and how they’ll affect your email planning
• Promos, perks, and pauses – the emails to send within each of the 3 subscriber cycle stages
• Dos and don’ts of subscription emails – using examples from the wild

About Nikki:

Dubbed “the Queen of Emails” by too many people to count, Nikki is the copywriter behind emails for Shopify Plus, Resident Home, Four Sigmatic, and more. Previously the Head of Email for the Copyhackers Agency, her micro-agency helps SaaS and ecomm brands hit that elusive $1:$40 ROI.

If you learn something from this discussion, we'd love to have you join us next time. Learn more about this series here: https://liveseries.getarpu.com/ 

This series is brought to you by GetARPU.com, which helps subscription sellers make more money and retain more customers with upcoming shipment notifications that offer 2-click upsells and delays. Check us out if you want to provide an amazing experience for your subscription customers. (Syncs with ReCharge (Shopify + BigCommerce).

Timestamps:

0:00 - ARPU Intro

4:16 - Nikki's journey to becoming email royalty

5:55 - Why subscription emails are so critical

8:04 - Why you shouldn’t reuse VIP email for subscription emails

12:41 - Emails to send your subscribers and when

15:02 - Emails to send to non-subscribers

18:34 - Types of one-off campaigns to send

22:17 - What to send to product subscribers

26:52 - What to send to churned subscribers

29:35 - Auditing emails you send to not yet subscribers

29:40 - Not yet subscriber: Post purchase nurture email audit

32:38 - Not yet subscriber: Replenishment email audit

36:21 - Not yet subscriber: One-off campaign email audit

40:25 - Auditing current subscriber emails

40:26 - Current subscriber: Initial order confirmation email audit

41:56 - Current subscriber: Upcoming orders email audit

50:34 - Tip: Don’t send an email with a dead-end

50:54 - Current subscriber: Shipping confirmation email audit

53:53 - Current subscriber: Delivery confirmation email audit

57:42 - Current subscriber: Perk email audit

59:25 - Churned subscribers: Cancellation email audit

1:02:45 - Churned subscribers: Feedback email audit

1:05:56 - Churned subscriber: Winback email audit
1:07:49 - Recap

1:10:24 - How to approach subscribers who continually delay subscription

1:13:04 - The difference between subscription and memberships and how that affects your email planning

1:15:20 - Audit your own email flows

1:22:24 - Where to find Nikki

In this episode of Subscription Ecommerce Live, we talked with Brad Hoose, CEO of The Outloud Group, about the potential of using influencers to increase LTV.

We discussed:

• How subscription brands are uniquely poised to benefit from influencer marketing
• How finding the right influencers can help drive long-term subscriptions
• What subscription brands really need to do to make the most of influencer marketing    

Brad is CEO of The Outloud Group, a leading influencer marketing agency that has helped innovative consumer brands like Athletic Greens, Grubhub, and KiwiCo grow through partnerships with highly trusted influencers to deliver measurable results.

If you learn something from this discussion, we'd love to have you join us next time. Learn more about this series here: https://liveseries.getarpu.com/

This series is brought to you by GetARPU.com, which helps subscription sellers make more money and retain more customers with upcoming shipment notifications that offer 2-click upsells and delays. Check us out if you want to provide an amazing experience for your subscription customers. (Syncs with ReCharge (Shopify + BigCommerce).

Timestamps 

0:00 - Intro

1:31 - Brad's journey to founding The Outloud Group

3:20 - What does it mean to be an influencer?

8:37 - People trust people (and influencers) more than brands

11:35 - How subscription brands are uniquely poised to benefit from influencer marketing 

16:24 - The potential result of influencers working with brands long-term

21:02 - Finding the right influencer

26:17 - Brand voice vs. brand advocacy

30:10 - Why you should look for influencers who are excited about what you sell

32:38 - How influencers can target segments

34:31 - What subscription brands really need to do to make the most of influencer marketing    

40:58 - Different ad setups for influencers

44:41 - Potential ARPU project: Subscription Life of Pets... Can we leverage TikTok? Can you?

In this episode of Subscription Ecommerce Live, we talked with Andrew Forman, CEO & Co-founder of Givz, about dumping discounts for donations to increase your social good and customer LTV. 

We discussed: 

• How discounts on the first order can decrease overall LTV, and how to avoid this phenomenon
• Why customer agency is so important in today's landscape
• How social good can be woven in authentically overnight
• The math behind donation incentives and how they work in the real world 

About Andrew:  Andrew is on a mission to help companies drive sales and avoid discounts while building their brand image. He is CEO & Co-Founder of Givz, an ecommerce marketing platform that helps Shopify sellers give shoppers the option to donate to charity with their purchase.

If you learn something from this discussion, we'd love to have you join us next time. Learn more about this series here: https://liveseries.getarpu.com/ 

This series is brought to you by GetARPU.com, which helps subscription sellers make more money and retain more customers with upcoming shipment notifications that offer 2-click upsells and delays. Check us out if you want to provide an amazing experience for your subscription customers. (Syncs with ReCharge (Shopify + BigCommerce).

Timestamps

1:31 - Andrew's journey to founding Givz, the company's values, and how it helps ecommerce businesses stop running discounts, build goodwill with customers, and increase profits

9:41 - How social good can be woven into your company authentically 

13:21 - How brands can leverage donations without coming across as opportunistic

18:02 - How discounts on the first order can decrease overall LTV

21:51 - Quick math breakdown of how the option to donate to a charity works

23:24 - Why customer agency is so important in today's landscape

30:03 - How a donation service can fit in to subscription selling

39:29 - The math you'll want to do if you’re considering adding donations 

48:21 - Building customer segments based on what they’ve donated to previously

49:23 - How Recharge sellers can get setup with Givz (and possibly use both Givz and ARPU together)

52:21 - Where to find Andrew and Givz

In this episode of Subscription Ecommerce Live, we talked with Gen Furukawa, Co-founder of Prehook.  

We discussed: 

- Why brands that prioritize zero party data collection have an advantage over those that don’t

- How to create a high-quality, enjoyable quiz experience your customers will love

- How to use quiz data to personalize a subscriber’s experience as you market to them across channels  

About Gen:  Gen is Co-Founder of Prehook, a quiz platform that helps DTC brands accelerate list growth, improve sales, and capture zero party data. Brands like Brevitē, Spikeball, and Teelixir use Prehook quizzes to improve marketing and personalization across channels. Gen is also host of the weekly ecommerce marketing podcast, Cart Overflow.  

If you learn something from this discussion, we'd love to have you join us next time. Learn more about this series here: https://liveseries.getarpu.com/ 

This series is brought to you by GetARPU.com, which helps subscription sellers make more money and retain more customers with upcoming shipment notifications that offer 2-click upsells and delays. Check us out if you want to provide an amazing experience for your subscription customers. (Syncs with ReCharge (Shopify + BigCommerce)

Timestamps:

0:44 - Intro

2:53 - Gen's journey to founding Prehook, the company's values, and how it helps ecommerce businesses collect data and serve customers

6:46 - Defining data types (zero, first, third, etc.)

11:38 - What makes a quiz good  

13:16 - Examples of brands with good quizzes

16:03 - Setting expectations for quizzes

17:03 - Number of questions to ask in a quiz

19:47 - The curiosity gap effect on quizzes

21:18 - What makes bad quizzes bad

22:50 - The results brands that do well with quizzes achieve

23:56 - Completion benchmarks and tips for building quizzes customers finish

29:04 - When to introduce a quiz

32:40 - Ways to use quiz data: building customer messaging and relationships

38:30 - Using quiz data to fuel info emails between renewals

44:25 - Prehook's mission and future plans

52:34 - Why you should reverse engineer quiz flows to the data you want to gather and use in serving customers

54:08 - Where to find Gen and Prehook if you have questions

Katharine McKee is founder of Morphology Consulting, a digital commerce consultancy that creates long term profitable growth for clients by helping them understand and adhere to algorithmic systems online. She helps ecommerce brands focus on building clean processes.

In her career, she's built out digital commerce for companies in CPG, Luxury, Beauty and Apparel. To date, Katharine has overhauled the digital go-to-market for more than 50 brands (including Fortune 500s like Coty, Luxottica, and IPG Media Brands), and has sustainably increased client revenue up to 600% YoY.

Topics we covered:

• Why creating the right environment can get you clean data and help you gain long-term subscriptions
• How subscription brands can improve margins with a strong go-to-market strategy
• Mistakes she sees almost everyone make with Shopify templates + how to fix them to build a profitability flywheel

If you learn something from this discussion, we'd love to have you join us next time. Learn more about this series here: https://liveseries.getarpu.com/

This series is brought to you by GetARPU.com, which helps subscription sellers make more money and retain more customers with upcoming shipment notifications that offer 2-click upsells and delays. Check us out if you want to provide an amazing experience for your subscription customers. (Syncs with ReCharge (Shopify + BigCommerce)

Timestamps  

0:00 Intro

0:19 Katharine's journey to founding Morphology Consulting, and how she helps ecommerce businesses clean up systems to improve margins

4:28 Shopify template mistakes you might be making + how they impact your expenses and revenue

11:58 How do you fix these sorts of mistakes to help Google recognize you as credible, which should result in less expensive ads?

14:19 When you set up your template in Shopify, make it scrapeable and indexable (not necessarily "pretty")

19:52 When you buy Google ads, "you're buying up the difference between what you said you do and what Google confirmed you do"

21:36 Discount popups aren't worth the hit you take from Google 

25:12 Common product page mistakes that decrease your quality score

30:58 Katharine's preferred subscription vs one-time purchase customer journey

33:49 How Morphology works with merchants to improve site performance and improve margins

41:44 Why recommending the best-fit products to subscription customers can be powerful

48:46 Advice on launching a new product line

59:12 Why you should stop trying to sell people things they don't want and get clean data that tells you what they would actually consider buying

For the last episode of 2021, we talked with Jamie Levy of Shopify Plus.  We discussed: 

• How to build and foster connections with your biggest fans - Why your brand should create a mission that’s bigger than your product
• What community really means (broadly and in terms of subscription ecommerce)
• How to involve your subscribers in the decision-making process

About Jamie:  

Jamie is the Head of Engagement at Shopify Plus (North America). Her career has spanned both ecommerce and supply chain logistics. She is passionate about ecommerce strategy, storytelling, and relationship development. At Shopify Plus, she works to find ways to connect merchants with each other. 

If you learn something from this discussion, we'd love to have you join us next time. Learn more about this series here: https://liveseries.getarpu.com/ 

We're taking a break for the Holidays, but we'll be back in January with more amazing guests and discussions.

This series is brought to you by GetARPU.com, which helps subscription sellers make more money and retain more customers with upcoming shipment notifications that offer 2-click upsells and delays. Check us out if you want to provide an amazing experience for your subscription customers. (Syncs with ReCharge (Shopify + BigCommerce)

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro: Jamie's journey to Shopify Plus

8:59 The value of providing ways for customers to connect

12:15 Why brands should have a mission that goes beyond selling products

16:08 Don't punctuate your sentences: How brands can be more human and open lines of communication

25:35 How Jamie connects customers and the product team to ensure roadmap decisions are made with them in mind (Great idea to borrow, y'all)

27:49 What happens when brands create reactions and connections

37:26 What community really means (spoiler: Jamie thinks it's a buzz word and I like her reasoning)

47:47 Connecting isn't for everyone, and that's ok!

53:26 Why brands should be generous 

59:07 Reconsider how you reward subscribers: try letting them tell you what they'd like those rewards to be