Best Practices for Targeting Subscription Leads

Subscription services are a lucrative, stable source of income because people pay month after month for the same service. However, without finding people to subscribe to the service–including new subscribers to replace any that decide a service is not for them–service owners can’t make any money at all. As 2016 gets into gear, business owners should make sure to follow these best practices to target leads for subscription services.

Use a Social Media Sales Funnel

Social media is a great source of leads, but it isn’t meant to be used to directly sell services. Some businesses make the mistake of trying to get social media users to purchase from their social media page, but this can be jarring to social users. Instead, social media services should be the opening to a sales funnel. The business’ social media page should be used to get people to subscribe to a free service such as an email newsletter. From there, subscribers should be offered the opportunity to get a discounted or trial service so that they can consider subscribing.

This process works well to target leads because people who are interested in the business will follow the social media page, and a percentage of those users will sign up for the free newsletter. These newsletter subscribers are an ideal audience that is eager to learn more about the service; thus it is appropriate to sell to them.

Prioritize Content Over Promotion

When targeting leads, it’s important to not oversaturate them with promotions. A much better method of attracting the leads that may ultimately subscribe is to offer a lot of quality, relevant content.

Consider the primary problems and issues facing the business’ target audience. By writing content geared towards customers’ major needs, businesses can attract a larger audience; many of these readers may become subscribers. This type of content can be repurposed to fit on blogs as well as on social media pages, thus giving additional exposure to the business and attracting additional leads. The sales funnel can then be used to gradually convert some of these readers to paying subscribers.

Consider Offering Free Trials

The end goal of any subscription campaign is to convert leads into subscribers. One way to do that is to offer a free trial. Two to four weeks of service prior to the first payment often allows would-be subscribers who are on the fence to try out the service; these subscribers may choose to cancel, but many continue using the service after the free trial has ended. Businesses should offer free trials to people who subscribe to their free newsletter in order to continue moving readers towards signing up for services.

Targeting subscription leads is important to move them from onlookers to paid subscribers. Following these best practices can help facilitate that movement and help businesses gain new subscribers.

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