In Part 1 I talked about how there’s nothing new about subscription services since they’ve been around for generations.
Now I’ll relent a little and admit that there is something new about many of the subscription services out there. What’s new is what is no longer there. Traditionally, the whole point of subscription services was to create a two-way commitment in which both the service provider and the customer benefits.
The commitment benefits the customer by providing discounts, rewards, exclusive products, price stability and service guaranteed in return for a promise to pay money regularly for a period of time.
The commitment benefits the service provider by establishing a more predictable and reliable forecast of revenues for some time into the future, which facilitates both resource planning and financial planning.