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A stream of revenue that goes on and on is certainly worth looking for. After all, why have to re-fight the good fight every time you try to make a sale? In the old—before you were born days—they did it with record (round black things with a groove) clubs, and the “something” of the month clubs.
Today it is done most often, I suppose, with magazine and newspaper subscriptions. But, when you think about it, the DVR recording option for a “season pass” to your favorite TV shows is a subscription. Then there are the wine, flowers and coffee automatic delivery plans. Heck, when my agency has a retainer relationship with a client that is in a sense a subscription model.
Nowadays, there are websites that enable you to subscribe to products that you would never think you would need to receive on a regular basis. I mean, how much of a bother is it to purchase razor blades or socks as you need them? Yet, there are sites that seem to be able to monetize what I would describe as silly ideas. (Silly in the sense of why didn’t I think of it?)
(And I just came across this, as an example of the kind of automatically renewing subscriptions that I really hate. They obviously trust you will not remember, or bother to un-enroll. "This subscription will automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period, your account will be charged for renewal within 24-hours prior to the end of the current period.")
One subscription that is getting a lot of (not literally) ink these days is the Dollar Shave Club. For one dollar a month (actually, three dollars with shipping and handling) you get five twin-blade cartridges a month. Sixty cents a cartridge…for the rest of your shaving life! (Entertaining video is below.)
O.K., you may be tempted. But how about socks on line? Blacksocks claims to have sold three million socks since 1999. Even if that actually means a million and a half pairs, it seems like a real (though strange) business.
What are you selling that you might create a subscription to? It doesn’t seem that you should discard any idea, no matter how bizarre it might seem at first. So, go for the toothpaste of the week, tablecloth of the month, air filter of the season.
Got the idea?
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