Simply Nutrients increases active subscribers and decreases churn
About
Simply Nutrients is a 14-year-old nutraceutical company that sells medical-grade products that require a doctor's referral. With 2500 SKUs and over 36,000 orders in the $70 range, they only sell directly to consumers through their website. The company implemented subscriptions in September 2022 with the help of Recharge.
Poster showing a bottle of Simply Nutrients and the active ingredients in their formula
Before implementing subscriptions, Simply Nutrients experienced a significant increase in demand for their products due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company recognized that subscription revenue provides the stickiest revenue because customers trust the brand enough to purchase products regularly. They revamped their entire online presence and launched a new website on BigCommerce in May 2020.
“Customers couldn't use discount codes in self-service [with our previous subscription platform]. They couldn't add products to their subscription. They couldn't remove products from their subscription, so it was very rigid. Very much like you can subscribe, but don't you dare do anything else. Otherwise, we won't work.”
Chris Bowman
Co-Founder and CEO, Simply Nutrients
Challenge
Simply Nutrients recognized that they were missing out on an opportunity to generate recurring revenue and foster loyalty among their customers through subscription-based offerings.
However, finding the right subscription provider proved challenging. There was a lot of misinformation in the merchant world about which providers were effective, and they found that there was a lack of clarity on the best options.
In March 2021, Simply Nutrients implemented subscriptions with MiniBC, a subscription provider that they selected after conducting extensive research and holding consultations with the BigCommerce team, Google, and industry peers.
Their previous solution allowed Simply Nutrients to provide subscriptions and various payment methods, which were essential for them. However, the platform was rigid, lacking easy visibility into their analytics and data and customers could not add or remove products, add discounts, or self-serve in any way.
A bottle of Simply Nutrients and callouts of benefits of using the formula
Solution
Simply Nutrients wanted a more robust solution that provided customers with self-service capabilities. They chose to migrate to Recharge's unified checkout platform where their customers could add discount codes, add or remove products, and manage their subscriptions entirely on their own.
They were also able to leverage Recharge's enhanced analytics and reporting, customizable customer portals, and credit card dunning systems that allowed them to retry failed payments multiple times in a day—which became key components in their churn prevention strategy.
Results
After migrating to Recharge's unified checkout platform on BigCommerce, Simply Nutrients saw an increase in subscribers that correlated with the subscribe-and-save discount, reflected in a 44% increase in subscribers since making the change. The company has found that customer self-service capabilities are vital to their success, as they help foster customer loyalty and retention. Simply Nutrients currently generates approximately 21% of its revenue through subscriptions and hopes to continue growing that percentage in the future.
“There were no nice little analytics reports [on our previous subscription platform]. I can [with] Recharge. It says here's how many subscribers you have,’ and ‘here's how many cancellations you had.’ And here's a nice little graph to show you.”
Chris Bowman
Co-Founder and CEO, Simply Nutrients
