There are many ways to collect customer information, and subscription businesses have it easier than most businesses because of the nature of the business model. Subscription commerce can easily ask customers more personal questions depending on the product – this is especially true for beauty and grooming-related products due to the business model. Even though you're offering your consumers identical products, you can add a lot of personalization to your retention marketing techniques by asking for personal comments during the sign-up process.

Deploy a Welcome Survey

Consider capturing more than the customer's name, email, and address to better serve them. An interactive welcome survey can be a terrific way to learn more about your customers and provide a more personalized product experience.

Don't complicate things, make the welcome survey as seamless as possible for prospective customers. With a long and difficult sign-up form, you risk losing customers. The survey should accurately capture important customer data and convey to the customer that providing their information is essential to a better customer experience. Maintain transparency in the process by making it clear to customers what information is required and how it will be used.

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e-BeautyBay is a subscription business that delivers bespoke hair color products straight to consumers' homes. e-BeautyBay is an excellent example because their Welcome Survey procedure is interactive, instructive, and seeks response to relevant information that can help build a personalized style for the customers. e-BeautyBay provides information about numerous sorts of dye colors that would suit the customer's hair, skin tone, and lifestyle when they choose their preferred hair color. e-BeautyBay manages to make the procedure feel like a partnership between the customer and an e-BeautyBay colorist while attempting to create a unique, personalized hair color for customers.

Customers who aren't sure about their recommendation can take a photo of their existing hair color and have an e-Beautybay colorist offer their professional opinion at the end of the sign-up. The welcome survey becomes pleasant and valuable rather than monotonous as a result of this personal touch.

Get Feedback from Customers

Customers are willing to trade information for rewards like access to exclusive deals (64 %), discounts (61%), or special offers(61%), according to the 2015 Accenture Personalization Survey. To reward loyalty, encourage a social community, and motivate returning and long-term customers.

Barkbox has a simple sign-up process. Customers choose their dog's size and breed, subscribe to the service, provide their shipping and payment information, and then wait for their curated box of treats to be delivered.  However, when the subscription service first launched, certain features such as specifying dog breeds were not available.

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Barkbox initially relied on feedbacks from in-network testing dogs and in-house office dogs for the treats they included in the boxes but quickly began inviting consumers to submit feedback about what their pets liked and didn't like. They then used this information to improve the whole experience for each monthly package, ensuring that their clients were satisfied.

Barkbox is also using social media to build a community to better understand which dog breeds love which products. Barkbox can offer unique dog toys and treats that delight the subscribers and their pups by harnessing client feedback about their services.

The welcome survey is an important tool for subscription businesses to collect additional data, but it shouldn't be the only one. Find a technique to receive feedback from your customers regularly. There are various ways to encourage customers to contribute more information, whether it's persuading them to update their account information, reply to customer satisfaction surveys, or submit product reviews. The idea is to add value so that supplying information becomes a pleasure rather than a work.

The Honest Co. sells subscription bundles for newborns and toddlers, prenatal wellness, and cleaning supplies. Parents can also purchase individual items such as toys, in addition to the subscription bundles.

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The major challenge for a subscription service like Honest Co. is that the subscription packages must change as the baby grows. Diaper bundles are provided based on the size requested on each customer's account page. Every time the infant requires a larger size, the customer must manually update the account.

The Honest Co. provides parents the Honest Baby app, which tracks information like the baby's weight, diaper size, and how often they need to be changed, to help parents know when to go up a size. The app allows parents to manage their subscriptions, track orders, and earn referral credits.

The application is an engaging tool for ensuring that subscribers remain active members, but it's the additional aspects that make it so brilliant. The application keeps track of important baby milestones, doctor visits, and eating and sleeping patterns. Not all of this data is used to personalize marketing messages, but that is the objective. While decreasing communication friction between the customer and the business, the software also gives parents vital perks as they grow with their infant. It's a method to keep the conversation going in a natural, non-sales way.

The ideal customer for successful subscription businesses is one who keeps subscribing and acquiring the correct customer information from such customers is the first step. And that's why I recommend Chargezen all the time for subscription merchants regardless of their business stage; it allows for capturing the much needed customer information and gives room for customer profile customization. If you need help getting started, write the Chargezen support team or leave me a message at success@trychargezen.com.