How to Increase Subscription Revenue: A Step-by-Step Guide

Does this feel like a problem that is complicated and maybe even impossible? Well, if your goal is to grow your abonnementsomzet (and why wouldn’t it be?), you can’t just think that by tweaking one thing it will fix all your problems. So while it is complex, we can help. First, look at the big picture view—pricing, how people find you, and how you keep them around (and trust us, slipping up in any of these spots is where money gets lost).

This guide will help founders and developers figure it out without losing their minds. Read the entire guide, and you’ll be able to see where you are losing money, how to get more out of your existing accounts, and what the real cost of gaining new users is.

Divide your user base into groups based on their specific requirements and anything that limits their budget. By doing this, you will make sure that any marketing efforts will be relevant to the specific targeted user. Consider individual developers or corporate managers for instance. Determining the high-value segments will help you accurately direct engineering resources toward features that specific users are prepared to fund.

To accomplish this, take the last 100 signups and group them by size and usage frequency because about 77% of people want services that they feel goes with their buyerpersona. You may also want to consider the Jobs to be Done (JTBD) framework to help you figure out the main pain point users are trying to resolve.

Monitor specific high-value actions. For example, if a user in a “Basic” tier integrates three different APIs or exports data more than five times a week, they have a higher willingness to pay for an automated “Pro” workflow.

Identify the other tools your users use. If a lead uses Salesforce or Enterprise-grade ERPs, they likely have a budget for higher-tier enterprise SaaS plans that offer native integrations.

This is where a model of tier pricing can really make a lot of sense; if you think about it, both your heavy users and your light ones can really benefit from this strategy. Here are three little words for you – Basic, Pro, and Enterprise – that can change everything for you and your shoppers.

Keep it simple and try to make everyone happy by giving them exactly what they need without any of the confusion. This also leaves room for customers to move up to the next tier when they need to. So forget about the one size fits most and start letting your users match value for demand.

Differentiation is achieved by mapping specific features to the pain points of each segment. Starter focuses on core utility (e.g., time tracking), while Grow adds efficiency features (e.g., automated payroll, scheduling). Enterprise focuses on compliance and risk (e.g., SSO, audit logs, concierge support).

Include a high-priced tier even if it is not your primary seller because this makes the middle tier appear more valuable and reasonably priced by comparison. Explore other SaaS pricing strategies too.

Place your most popular plan in the center of your prijspagina. This attracts the eye first and serves as a baseline for the user’s decision-making process.

Moving to a paid subscription from a gratis proefversie is a huge part of the whole revenue cycle! The first thing you need to decide is whether you want to put your customer through the process of putting in their card details at the start. Or… offer a cardless trial. It’s true that cardless trials are for sure going to increase the number of signups, it’s also true that trials that require a credit card up front are more likely to result in higher conversion rates. This is because it organically filters for users with a sincere intent to purchase.

Research across thousands of businesses shows an average trial conversion rate of 42%. But if the conversion rate is below 25%, use an automated email sequence that entices a user to complete a specific task.

Those milestones matter. Identify the famous “Aha!” moment—the specific action that actually correlates with long-term retention. As an example, for a communication tool, this might be something like “sending the first 10 messages.”

Making things appear urgent is a common strategy. Send a “Trial Expiring” notification 48 hours before the end date. Offer a one-time Early Bird discount (10% off the first year) if they upgrade before the trial officially ends. Learn more about trial strategy.

Use an onboarding checklist. Use progress bars. Users are more likely to finish a setup if they see they are already “60% complete” based on initial signup steps. Improve your customer onboarding experience.

Expansion revenue is just income that was generated from existing customers but it’s measured through Upselling and cross-selling. It’s usually five times more cost-effective to generate revenue from an existing user than to gain a new one. You’re going to want to jump on this bandwagon – offer add-ons or higher-tier plans to current users and you can increase the Lifetime Value (LTV) without any additional money spent on marketing!

Reminders are key. Implement an automatic trigger within you in-app notifications whenever a user reaches 80% of their current plan’s limit (e.g., “You have used 8 of your 10 GB so upgrade now to avoid any interruptions in your work”).  

Don’t make people jump to a whole new plan just to get one extra thing. Sometimes a small add-on does the job. Something simple, like five bucks a month for extra historical data or custom branding, is often an easier yes. For example, a $5/month add-on for “Extra Historical Data” or “Custom Branding.”

Don’t forget about upgrades!  Offer two months free if a monthly subscriber switches to an annual plan. This increases immediate cash flow and locks in the user for a longer period.

Great idea –  If expansion revenue is low, your pricing metric may be wrong. Switch from “per user” to a “value metric” (e.g., number of messages sent, amount of storage used) that naturally grows as the customer finds more value in your product.

Churn management is the process of reducing the rate at which subscribers cancel their service. High churn rates can offset the gains made from new user acquisition. Focusing on service uptime and customer service ensures that users continue their subscriptions long enough for the company to recoup acquisition costs.

To manage Involuntary churn which occurs due to expired cards or bank declines, use an geautomatiseerd dunning management planning:

Day 0: First notification for failed transaction (soft tone).

Day 3: Second one asking to update billing info.

Day 7: Last notice to inform account suspension.

Have you considered using exit surveys? When a user clicks “Cancel,” present a 1-question survey. If they choose “Too expensive,” immediately offer a “Pause Subscription” or a 2-month discount. Bekijk onze exit-enquête best practices.

Participating in platforms like Reddit or technical forums allows you to find users searching for solutions to specific problems. This method reduces the klantverwervingskosten (CAC) by utilizing direct interaction instead of paid advertising.

One of the easiest ways to find potential customers without throwing money at ads is to just listen. Keep an eye on what people are saying in online—forums, Reddit threads, and niche communities. Tools like f5bot can help you track phrases like “alternative to [Competitor]” or “how to automate [Specific Task],” so you know who’s actively looking for a solution. Once you find those conversations, writing a detailed guide on how to solve the problem in your niche can be very effective —something like “How to secure a React App” for developers, for example.

But don’t think you can just drop your product in there blindly; instead, mention it at the end as a helpful way to simplify the process. And transparantie matters—if someone complains that a competitor is missing a feature, be sure to own it. Something like, “I’m the founder of [Product], we built this feature because we saw people struggling with it,” is usually received much better than marketing fluff. It’s no surprise that people respond to honesty. It builds trust while also proving that you’re actually paying attention to their needs and really want to help.

To increase subscription revenue, the payment process must be seamless. A major hurdle for international SaaS companies is the high decline rate of credit cards due to cross-border fraud filters and bank limitations. Localizing Betaalmethoden is often more effective than relying solely on traditional cards.

So what about the local payment method (LPM) impact?

So here’s the thing—if you’re selling in the Nederland and you don’t offer iDEAL, you’re basically leaving money on the table. Over 60% of transactions there go through iDEAL, so skipping it can tank your checkout completion by, like, 30%. It’s wild how much difference one local payment option can make.

Now, jump over to Duitsland and it’s a different story. People there love SEPA Direct Debit and Sofort. Honestly, these methods convert 15 to 25% better than regular credit cards. So yeah, if you’re serious about global sales, just assuming everyone wants to use a card… well, that’s not gonna cut it.

Whereas, in Brazilië Pix is necessary because international cards often see decline rates as high as 50% due to local banking restrictions.

And in China Alipay and WeChat Pay rule for market penetration.

Those high decline rates on International transactions often trigger “Do Not Honor” codes. But using local acquiring banks en multi-currency processing can increase authorization rates by 10% to 15%.