Dose #42: Add Post-Purchase Surveys to Scale Subscriptions

Matt here with your weekly Subscription Prescription ??

Dose #42: Add Post-Purchase Surveys to Scale Subscriptions

I preach data all the time, and not just as a buzzword. Knowing what customers want, expect, or dislike gives you the ammunition you need to pivot and grow your brand.

One of the most powerful and underused tools in the data collection arsenal is a post-purchase survey. This is not just a great opportunity to learn more about your customer, but what they think about your subscription!

Let’s dive into how you can leverage this tool to scale subscriptions.

When done right, post-purchase surveys can help you learn how to get more people to try the subscription option right away, instead of choosing the one-time option first. That’s critical for real growth.

First, some recommendations. Depending on the e-commerce platform you’re using, there are different tools available. WooCommerce has a few options, but you can’t miss with the tried and tested WPForms. I like this how-to tutorial that shows how to set them up.

Shopify has a few good options too, but there’s a newcomer in the space that I’m a big fan of, Bestie. I know their team and they built this for their own customers, as performance marketers. It’s definitely worth a look, with how easy it is to use their drag-and-drop builder.

What should you be asking in these forms?

Post-purchase surveys are commonly used for attribution. Questions like “where did you first hear about us? (FB Ad, TikTok, etc.)” can help you better understand what ads or content pieces are driving sales for your business. However, the insight can still be a bit limited. (Bestie, interestingly enough, lets you show actual ads to see what someone clicked on.)

I’m biased towards subscriptions, so I love the idea of using post-purchase surveys to find things out like:

• Did you purchase a subscription?
• What are you most excited about from this product?
• What problems are you trying to solve with this product?
• What are you expecting to get from this product?

Depending on your product and customer type, you can branch out from these questions and get into the heart of why someone did or didn’t purchase a subscription.

For anyone that did purchase a subscription:

• Have you tried this product before?
• What are you expecting from this product?

What more can you learn from customers that are trying a subscription for the first time?

For anyone that did NOT purchase a subscription:

• Why not?
• What would make a subscription more appealing?

Go deep into what is keeping customers from trying the subscription option. The goal is to uncover friction points or reasons why customers hesitated on the subscription, so you can address those things in your messaging.

Post-purchase surveys can also be a great upsell opportunity.

If someone walks through a few questions and is demonstrating interest in your brand, you can always ask if they’d like other product recommendations. Yes = link to another product.

You can even use gifts to incentivize people to take the survey in the first place.

Remember that deeper engagement is at the core of a subscription. This is another step in that journey. Yes, I’ve heard the arguments that surveys can be biased on who takes them, but don’t you want more customers that are willing to engage with you?

Uncover the reasons why people subscribe (or not) and find new keys to unlock more subscription growth.

That’s it for this week’s dose! If you have any questions or want to bounce ideas off of me, just hit reply and ask away.

If this dose helped, please forward it to a friend, and stay tuned for Dose #43 next Tuesday!

- Matt Holman ??

Head of Growth, QPilot