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How to set up campaigns to acquire paid subscriptions to increase revenue

 

Objective

Implement a campaign using Segment to engage customers at the right time to drive conversions from trial to paid subscriptions by demonstrating the value of the product or service during the trial period.

 

Desired Outcome

Acquiring paid subscriptions drives revenue growth through a steady income stream, essential for scaling and sustainability. Activating this use case can increase revenue while boosting customer loyalty, enhancing lifetime value, and expanding market share, positioning the business as an industry leader. 

 

 

Step 1: Add the required Sources

 

In your workspace, add a new dev or prod source for your website or toptional] another for your server-side source. 

These sources will be responsible for collecting the required Track Events and sending them to Segment.

 

Sign Up or Log In to Segment

First, access the Segment platform by signing up or logging into your existing account.

 

Create a Source for Your Website

A source in Segment acts as the origin of data you collect, such as user interactions on your website.

  1. In your Segment workspace, navigate to the Sources section.
  2. Click the Add Source button.
  3. From the catalog of sources, select JavaScript (for websites) and then click Add Source.
  4. Provide a name for your source, e.g., "Company Website - Prod or Dev".
  5. Optionally, add labels for organization.
  6. Enter your website URL.
  7. Click the Create Source button.

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Install the Segment Snippet

After creating your source, Segment will provide you with a JavaScript snippet.

  1. Copy the JavaScript snippet provided by Segment.
  2. Paste the snippet into the <head> tag of your site to install Segment.

If you need to add a source for your server, mobile app, or any other touchpoint, please refer to the documentation for easy setup. 

 

Step 2: Track your events 

 

In order to build the funnels needed to acquire paid subscriptions, you'll need to track two key events: 'Trial Started' and 'Subscription Started'. 

  • Trial Started: Manually add this event to your site (See Spec: Track documentation).
  • Subscription Started: Manually add this event to your site (See Spec: Track documentation).

 

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When a user starts a trial with your business they typically provide information like first_name or email which should trigger an Identify call. 

In this example, we're not only tracking the event 'Trial Started' but also sending the 'category' property, which provides important context about the event and can be extremely valuable in your analysis. Learn more about properties.

 

Step 3: Add Destinations

 

Choose where you want to send the collected data—for this use case we recommend using SMS, push notifications, or an email platform like SendGrid to send personalized emails with compelling incentives to encourage paid subscriptions.

  1. In your Segment workspace, add a new destination.
  2. Select your preferred tool from the catalog. This destination will receive the data collected by your source and use it according to your needs.

 

Step 4: Test your setup

 

Ensure your data collection is configured correctly:

  1. Perform the actions you’re tracking on your development website.
  2. Check if the events are correctly recorded in your Segment debugger and analytics tool.

 

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The Source Debugger is a tool that helps you confirm that API calls made from your website, mobile app, or servers arrive to your Segment Source, so you can troubleshoot your Segment setup even quicker. 

Your data may not show up instantaneously and there may be a delay, but once the data is flowing, you are ready to move to the next step. 

 

Step 5: Analyze and activate

 

With accurate setup and data flow:

  1. Analyze the data to understand user behavior throughout the subscription process.
  2. Identify trial users who haven’t converted to a paid subscription in the past 30 days.
  3. Address potential conversion barriers such as pricing concerns or feature limitations. 

To activate your email campaign, you can use a platform like SendGrid to send personalized emails with compelling incentives to encourage paid subscriptions.

Below is an example of an acquisition campaign that uses a personalized message to encourage trial users to upgrade to a paid subscription, ensuring they don’t miss out on valuable features. By leveraging the events and properties you’re already tracking, you can take a similar approach to deliver targeted messages to trial members, boosting conversions to paid subscriptions.

 

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Final thoughts

 

Getting paid subscriptions is key to boosting revenue and keeping the business sustainable for the long haul. It strengthens customer loyalty, increases lifetime value, and helps grow market share, putting the business ahead of the competition. With steady cash flow and valuable customer insights, it's easier to plan finances and improve products. Plus, there are great chances to upsell and cross-sell, and happy subscribers often become brand advocates, driving organic growth and ensuring long-term success.

 

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