Do you want to create a subscription website? Subscription websites are a great source of recurring income. WooCommerce subscription plugins on CodeCanyon and Envato Elements convert your WooCommerce store into a subscription website.
Think of subscriptions as agreements in which a customer pays a recurring amount to access a product or service. The subscription amount is usually automatically until the customer cancels the subscription. To cancel a subscription means losing access to the product or service.
The quick way to understand how subscription websites work is to look at these three subscription business models:
access to digital products
replenishment
curating
Access to Digital Products
Users can pay weekly, monthly, or annually to access audio, books, software, courses, and so on. A good example of this type of subscription services is Envato Elements where for a monthly payment you can gain access to unlimited, royalty-free digital resources like stock video, website templates, and more.
Replenishment
This model is perfect if you sell restockable products: for example if you are an organic food farmer with customers subscribe to a food box. You can offer a subscription that will allow customers to replenish their weekly stock.
Curating
Maybe you run a beauty products business and you want to curate beauty boxes that your customers can subscribe to receive periodically.
Make great subcription websites with BeautyBox!
Why Subscription Websites?
You can predict the amount of income you’ll have monthly based on the number of subscriptions.
You get to build an email list that can be used for targeted marketing.
Subscriptions are a great advantage for customers because individual payments can be very affordable.
Customers don’t have to deal with the headache that comes with ownership.
Subscriptions encourage brand loyalty.
While we’re on the topic of subscriptions, why don’t look briefly at how your subscription with Envato Elements will benefit you! Unlimited downloads of 54+ million creative assets under one no-strings-attached subscription covered by a lifetime commercial license.
The Best Subscription Plugins For WooCommerce
1. Subscriptio—WooCommerce Subscriptions
Subscriptio adds recurring payment capabilities to your WooCommerce so you can sell subscriptions for all sorts of tangible and digital products. Subscriptions are purchased as regular WooCommerce products.
Simple and variable products can be turned into subscriptions to which you can set payment cycles, free trial length, subscription length and so on. You can create semi-automatic or fully automatic billing.
In addition, you can pause, resume subscriptions, and cancel them. The customer can also do the same.
Other features of this best-selling subscription plugin include:
powerful admin subscription management area
subscription list and subscription management tools for customers
purchase subscription and non-subscription products during single checkout
purchase multiple subscriptions and any quantity of each subscription
supports Stripe and PayPal for automatic subscription payments
For a detailed look on how to create subscriptions with this plugin take a look at this post by Sajal Soni:
2. SUMO Subscriptions—WooCommerce Subscription System
SUMO Subscriptions will help you create and sell subscription products from your WooCommerce store. You can sell simple subscriptions, variable subscriptions, and grouped product subscriptions. Users can pay for multiple subscriptions in a single checkout.
Additional features of this subscription plugin for WooCommerce include:
multiple subscriptions in a single checkout
support for free and paid trials
subscribers can switch from automatic renewal to manual renewal
bulk update of subscription products
supports PayPal and Stripe
The plugin is translation-ready and compatible with WPML.
3. Um-Switcher—Subscriptions for Ultimate Member
This subscription addon for Ultimate Member plugin takes away the auto-recurring payment option and allows members the choice to renew their own subscriptions. The thinking behind it is happy subscribers will always return. Secondly, subscribers won’t feel forced to signup for longer than they want to.
The add-on comes with a robust email template from where you can send re-subscription reminders by email. It also integrates with email newsletter platforms like MailChimp.
The plugin is perfect for selling subscriptions that give access to products and services. Some good examples would be:
freelancer websites: sell subscriptions to access contact details
jobsites: sell access to contact details and more
video websites: give access to video’s for a limited time (even 15 minutes!)
model website: sell subscriptions for access to portfolios and contact details
4. Jeg PayPal Paywall and Content Subscriptions System
Jeg PayPal Paywall is a content subscription plugin that allows your customers to pay using PayPal in order to access your content. This plugin is available on Envato Elements and you can use it with themes that work with WooCommerce.
Some features include:
restrict content and offer a summary of what your premium content contains
pay per post feature so users can try your content before signing up for real
you choose what kind of content you want to restrict
5. BeautyBox—Subscription Box Elementor Template Kit
If you use Elementor to build subscription websites then the BeautyBox template kit is a perfect addition. Beauty boxes are a great source of subscription income. They are perfect for those who sell cosmetics and want to offer they customers a regular curated subscription experience.
This BeautyBox kit is has ten pages for Elementor Pro and WooCommerce: home, pricing, previous box, support and FAQ, pricing, shop, contact, single product, and more.
BeautyBox also comes with two pop-ups: a discount popup and a side menu popup. The discount popup appears after an unregistered user scrolls through the homepage. The side-menu popup becomes the mobile menu when the user accesses the site from a mobile device. This kit is available on Envato Elements.
Free WooCommerce Subscription Plugins
YITH WooCommerce Subscription
YITH WooCommerce Subscription is the perfect solution if you want to earn and manage recurring payments on your WooCommerce store for selling products and services with a subscription.
Some features of this plugin include:
create a subscription plan for simple, virtual or downloadable products
choose the recurring payment type: daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly
set an optional end time for the subscription
set different subscriptions plans and pricing using variations
users can pay subscriptions with PayPal
Subscriptions For WooCommerce
With this plugin you can manage subscriptions for your online WooCommerce store or your offline store. You’ll be able to earn recurring income whether you’re selling online courses, gym services, milk or so on.
S2 Subscription for WooCommerce
S2 Subscription for WooCommerce allows sell subscriptions for simple and variable products. Users can subscribe for years, months, weeks or days. You can even add a signup fee, trial period, and more. You can receive payment for products in installments. The plugin supports payment gateways like Paypal, Stripe, and cash on delivery.
Things to Consider When Running a Subscription Website
1. Subscriptions Create Predictable Revenue
Too much effort goes into selling to one customer. Once you’ve sold that one item, you have to start all over again: spending money, time, and energy finding the next customer. But there is no guarantee you will sell your product again.
This income is never consistent or predictable. The question is, would you rather earn money selling one item or do you want to earn each month, for years to come, from many loyal customers.
2. Focus on Building Relationships With the Customers You Have
It costs more to find a new customer than to keep one. The customers you have are already a source of reliable income for your subscription business. Many businesses invest a lot of money, time and energy in getting customers. But then once they have customers they stop investing in building customer relationships.
3. Use Blogs and Newsletters to Keep in Touch
There are many ways to attend to these relationships but the best ones are still blogs and newsletters. This is where you provide consistent value to your customer base through solid content that has something to offer. You can automate your communication processes in order to deliver.
4. Build an Excellent Product
Your product should be consistently reliable and of very high quality. You can’t afford to be complacent in this area!
On Envato Tuts+ you will find more posts on subscription themes and plugins. Here are a few: