Southern Fried eCommerce #29 Recap: Subscription

Southern Fried eCommerce Episode 29 Recap

‘Hey, y’all and welcome back to episode 29 of the Southern Fried eCommerce podcast. Our co-host Emily Faulkner is calling this episode the “existential crisis” numbered episode referring to her own age. Our other co-host Jay Brimberry asks when her 30th birthday is and if she’s taking off the whole month. Emily says no she only plans on taking the day off maybe but she wants to do something big when it does get to August. Jay then brags about how he spent his 30th birthday on Good Morning America, in New York City where he stood outside with a sign and got called out on air for having a sign saying “It’s My Dirty Thirty from the Dirty South”.

On that note, we introduce our special guest of the episode — Casey Coughlin a subscription expert from Recharge and EYStudios’ partner manager. Recharge is the leading subscription payments platform designed for merchants to set up and manage dynamic recurring billing across web and mobile. When asked about her big weekend plans, Casey responded with “a Taco Bell bean burrito,” which we should all be jealous of. Casey is joining us from New York City where she tells Jay that, no, she has not been to a taping of Good Morning America but she has seen a taping of The Maury Show, which we think gives her a pass. She also says she moved to the Upper East Side this year and is enjoying it much more than her previous digs downtown. Her favorite part is Central Park where you can completely forget you’re living in this huge city for a minute. 

Jay then jumps into asking Casey a few more questions about herself:

  • What’s your least favorite business jargon?
    I think I use a lot of the ones that I absolutely hate. I’m going to have to say things like circling back or hope all is well. I need someone to come up with a different opener because I use this a lot and I do hope all is well but it seems…I don’t know.
  • Are you a gamer? If so, what games do you play?
    Mind games, if anything. I played some Wordle too.
  • Are you reading any books right now?
    I’m actually reading The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene.
  • Have you ever seen the 1980s masterpiece starring Warwick Davis and Val Kilmer, Willow?
    I have not…is it on Netflix?
    (It is not, but it is on Disney+. This fact is still not enough to get Emily to watch it.)

The last question we have for Casey is to tell us a little bit more about Recharge: 

“Recharge powers subscriptions for over 16,000 merchants. We help them grow, launch, and scale their subscription businesses. So whether it’s a curated box, a recurring necessity like your contact lenses recurring order, or even access to additional perks on more of a membership model. We have about 50 million subscribers, which as I said is spread over 16,000 merchants. We also have made over $10 billion in processing but the number that I’m most excited about is that we have a 97% customer retention rate. I think that speaks really highly of the product.

I’ve been with Recharge for about a year now on the partner management team so I work with our east coast agency partners — EYStudios being one. So yeah, Recharge is just an awesome place. I think above all our company mantra is taking care of our merchants, taking care of our agency partners, and taking care of each other. So not only is the product amazing the company just has an awesome ethos.”

She continues on to say that Recharge technology is available on BigCommerce and Shopify as well as headless platforms like WooCommerce or Magento. It is easy to install out-of-the-box functionality as well as custom features you may need for your eCommerce site. She points out that Recharge really works for any size merchant with the ability to customize and really go all out with APIs with larger enterprise websites. Most importantly, Recharge really gives end-users the ability to take control of their subscriptions. Casey says that allowing the customer to skip their subscription or take a break easily actually leads to more customer satisfaction and longer customer relationships. 

Helpful links from Recharge mentioned By Casey:

New From EYStudios

As always we then jump into what has been going on at EYStudios. Here are some recent blog posts from our eCommerce experts:

This month is Omnichannel Month at EYStudios and in addition to a whole host of informative content being posted throughout the month we’ll also be hosting a webinar on May 24th at 1 p.m. called, “Make it Make Sense: eCommerce Omnichannel – Strategically Sell Your Products Via Multiple Channels.”

eCommerce Trends to Watch

The first article we dove into in this episode was 3 Trends to Understand to Stay On Top of E-Commerce from Inc. This article delves into the increasing popularity of influencer marketing, personalized, tailored web experiences, and artificial intelligence. 

We start off by discussing influencers and Jay asks Casey how much influence influencers have on her buying patterns. Casey says actually quite a bit but mainly because of the current shift in what it means to be an influencer. She mentions that particularly on TikTok people with small followings can now be influencers and promote products they simply like. It’s a virtual customer review, in a way. 

Casey also says that some micro-influencers just connect their Amazon storefront to their TikTok and she bought two products through that functionality just today. “Like I said before, I’m the ultimate consumer — so getting someone else to endorse a brand usually gives me a lot more trust.” She admits that she feels this way even knowing that some of these influencers are paid for their opinion. 

Emily says her experience with influencer marketing is hit-or-miss. On one hand, she says, she recently bought a weight hula hoop workout tool called an Infinity Hoop. She had seen countless ads and didn’t make the purchase until she saw a real person recommending it on TikTok. However, she feels as though influencers on Instagram portray a “picture perfect” aesthetic about everything including products. She feels as though TikTok still has room for authenticity concerning subscriptions. 

Jay points out that the word “influencer” in general can have a negative connotation and can also lead to a heightened sense of importance amongst people who consider themselves influencers. He urges small businesses to be careful when “influencers” come asking for free products in exchange for a post. 

We then moved on to talking about the personalization trend in eCommerce. Jay says he’s very passionate about this subject and feels as though as eCommerce progresses templates and WYSIWYG functionality will fall by the wayside. He says that the ability to have a website designed specifically for your product is what’s going to set you apart from the competition. He says that templates are designed to sell everything from shoes to candy bars to widgets, but customized websites are aimed directly at your customer base and to showcase your products in the best light. 

Casey agrees and says that ultimately people are wanting more from brands in general but specifically they want to know that they’re going to be taken care of. Personalized product offerings, curated sections for you, etc. are all ways to really reach out as a business directly to the customer and say “we’ve got you covered.” 

Emily gives the example of Barnes & Noble where when you walk in there are displays set up to match your interests. You’re able to narrow down your browsing and it should be the same feel on a website. “Oh, this is the table for me to look at.”

Jay then briefly talks about the third point: artificial intelligence. He points out that the article makes it seem as though you can take your hands off the wheel once you institute artificial intelligence. He disagrees with that premise and says that with AI you need to have a real understanding of the data and how to correctly implement the AI to be efficient and that can require more hands on the wheel. 

Subscription Numbers Heading Back to Pre-Pandemic Levels

The second and last article we discussed during this week’s episode is The Great Unsubscribe from Forbes. The article delves into the change in subscription model numbers as brick and mortar stores begin to reopen and inflation ravages consumers’ spending habits. The article includes statistics indicating that the average consumer currently has 5 retail subscriptions totaling about $200 per month. Kearney Consumer Institute reports that over 40% of consumers think they have too many subscriptions and more than half of all consumers want to reduce their subscriptions to about $50 per month. 

Jay directs the discussion to the subscription expert amongst us and asks Casey what she thinks about these projected numbers and if she thinks this is something to worry about. Casey says that at Recharge they’re always looking toward the future and they have started talking to their customers and agencies about this upcoming change. However, she says that brands that are differentiating themselves and offering their customers what they need, need not worry about this fallback. She argues, actually, that since the pandemic she actually has less time to worry about shopping for necessities and falls back on subscriptions to make her life easier. 

Emily agrees but also says that she has canceled all of her subscriptions primarily because they weren’t actual “needs” so much as they were events. For instance, she subscribed to Hunt a Killer which is a monthly murder mystery in a box. She and her boyfriend enjoyed it, however, the company has started making one-off boxes that don’t require a subscription. Emily prefers this method of buying because of her preference for instant gratification. She likes that she can solve the mystery in one go without having to wait for the next box. 

Jay, however, plans on adding more subscriptions, especially for his daughter. He does say, as he has said in many previous episodes, that if you weren’t preparing for the end of the pandemic as a business it’s because you “were resting on your laurels.” He says that companies need to prepare for this change and strategize about how to retain their customers. He also points out that you should do this without manipulating your customer base i.e. making it hard to cancel their subscription or just hoping that they’ll forget they’re paying you every month. 

Now as we approach almost an hour and a half Jay wraps up today’s episode by mentioning a few of the articles we didn’t get to discuss:

We hope you’ll subscribe and join us next week as we discuss the latest in eCommerce news all over again. 

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