Team PB+J Talks 2023 Subscription Program Priorities

Q: What are the biggest retention challenges for DTC brands in 2023? 

PB+J: Staying focused first on the value you bring to your customers. Everyone has retention goals right now, which is great and an important focus, but remember: your customers don’t buy to move your metrics. People buy to add value to their lives, and the byproduct of that value exchange is that your metrics move. It’s easy to lose sight of this (particularly if your brand is feeling the impacts of a gloomy market forecast.)

Q: How should brands be approaching turning a one-time buyer into a subscriber?  

PB+J: Three things. 1) Really – no, but actually – define and understand your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). 2) Nail the post-purchase fundamentals (flows, customer support, etc.) in a way that feels like you’ve read your ICP’s personal notebook and then went and designed the entire customer experience (CX) just for them. 3) Focus on the long term value, for them. Why should they hand over their credit card to be auto-charged each month? What sort of irresistible value are you providing to be included in their monthly budgets?

Q: What are some examples of compelling subscription offers or incentives to entice potential customers to subscribe?

PB+J: Porsche Drive, multi-vehicle subscription: At pb+j we love looking outside ecomm for inspiration. There’s loads to learn in ecomm for great fundamentals (just ask Stay). But if you want something that challenges your thinking of what it means to understand your ICP, to solve for service and pain points that go beyond conventional thinking, go learn about Porsche’s multi-car subscription program. And while we’re all trying to convince people to subscribe for $45/mth, they’re nailing it at $4500/mth.

Q: Could you tell us about the role of customer experience, and what you think are some best practices for enhancing the overall customer experience?

PB+J: “People buy emotionally and rationalize intellectually” — how many times have you heard this? CX is the driver of how people feel, how they associate, and ultimately why they chose to Stay (see what I did there?). Enhancing your CX? Start and end with your ICP. Don’t overcomplicate it: focus on doing the core things they need and value really well. Then, add in just a few memorable moments, and you’re on your way to designing like Disney. (Also a great CX exercise: how might Disney approach this moment?)

Tom Collver and Kyle Dutka are the co-founders of pb+j, a full-service ecommerce agency built by industry experts and focused on your unique customers. They help ecomm brands with everything from business, content, and growth strategy, multi-channel creative, tech stack planning and builds, and so much more.