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Choosing and migrating to a new subscription fulfilment provider

Subscription fulfilment

Moving to a new subscription fulfilment provider is a great opportunity to review how you run your subscription service and what you’d like a new provider to offer.

Things to consider include:

  1. Can your subscribers sign up, renew and review their account automatically?
  2. Are their sites secure?
  3. Can the website be tailored to suit your needs? Is the provider flexible?
  4. Is it easy and quick to set up offer codes?
  5. Are they able to offer the quality of customer care you want your subscribers to experience?
  6. Do they provide the payment mechanics you want? If necessary, can they handle payments in multiple currencies?
  7. Does the account team inspire confidence; are they a good fit with your brand and your circulation and marketing teams?
  8. Do they give you access to your own data free or charge?
  9. Can they integrate with your digital issue provider?
  10. Do they provide the types of reports you want? Can they create additional automated reports to meet your requirements? Is there a reporting suite you can access online?
  11. What, if any, strategic marketing expertise do they have that will add value to your business?
  12. Do they have social media and digital marketing expertise?
  13. Are they able to manage marketing campaigns on your behalf?
  14. Do they have additional products they can offer that aren’t standard for your industry – for example, retail voucher subscriptions to sell to infrequent magazine readers?
  15. Can they provide a loyalty platform for your subscribers? Can they source the offers and promotions on your behalf?
  16. Do they have other, non-subscription, services you can access if you want to?
  17. Do they offer value for money?

Once you’ve made the decision, your new supplier will put together a plan and timeline for the migration.  The key is meticulous planning and attention to detail.  As the client, it’s advisable to have a weekly catch up with the supplier to ensure they’re on track and to make sure you’ve supplied everything they need.  Teamwork between publisher and supplier is key.

Expect the transfer to take up to three months.

Their plan will cover:

  • Data transfer – they’ll need test extracts of data from your previous supplier, and they’ll spend a long time interrogating the data to ensure there are no anomalies; writing a script to load the data and then checking that all is correct in a test environment. When the final transfer happens, expect the subscription service to be down for a couple of days to allow the previous supplier to close their system, transfer the data and the new supplier to load it into the live system and run final checks.  Make sure you work with them to schedule the transfer at a time which will have the least impact on your business.
  • Web services – you’ll need to supply logos, magazine covers (if relevant), agree copy etc. Expect to agree a brief and business rules in advance and to sign off the system all elements of the system before it goes live.  You also need to think about what offer codes are still live and will need to be used on the new system.
  • Finance – transferring direct debits and regular payments are critical. If you’re changing the bank account, the direct debits are paid into and/or the card processor that handles the regular payments you will need to write to your customers.  If the details remain the same, your new fulfilment company will organise the transfers with the BACS Bureau taking the direct debit.  However, those paying by regular payment will still need to be contacted to set up a new continuous payment authority on their credit card as, to ensure PCI compliance, the subscriber’s card details shouldn’t be part of the transfer and will have to be supplied again.
  • Digital integration – ensure that your new supplier has established the APIs required to integrate with your paywalls and apps ensuring subscribers continue to have the right access levels.
  • Reporting – spend some time with your new provider going through the reports they offer and adding any regular reports you would like. It’s important to do this during the build and transfer process as it will be much more cost effective than trying to add something later.  Don’t forget to make sure your finance department is happy with what’s available too.
  • Customer care transfer – are you transferring the customer care telephone number? What will the new customer care email address be? Remember to include these on new carrier sheets, vouchers and all customer correspondence.  Have you signed off all the copy for the standard customer care letters and emails, e.g. welcome letters, renewals, failed direct debits etc.  Agree helpline opening hours and the copy for FAQs, Ts & Cs and the Privacy Policy.
  • Fulfilment – if you’re continuing to use an existing supplier to send out your magazines or vouchers, ensure the new company has all their details so they can liaise re data extracts. If you’re moving fulfilment house with the new supplier, they will need details of your postal provider, the printer of your magazine etc. If they’re printing vouchers on your behalf, agree the copy, format and confirm details of the postal provider.
  • Partner integration – if you sell subscriptions through third parties, make sure they know where to send the data, from when and in what format.
  • Agreement – you should make sure a contract is in place with agreed costs and SLAs before you go live. This often takes a long time to get through company lawyers so start early.

As you go live, make sure the subscription link from your own website goes to your page on your new supplier’s site.

It’s hard work, but if you’ve chosen the right supplier for you and your brand, it shouldn’t be too painful, and the benefits will be worth it!

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