How do you manage a members subscription? Where does your subscription revenue go? Read on to find out.
This article is designed to guide you through the life cycle of a subscription from how they are set up, to what happens with the revenue generated from subscriptions and In-App purchases through Disciple’s purpose-built monetisation setup.
It’s important to note that Disciple do not handle any member transactions made on your Community and that these are handled by Apple, Google and Stripe.
In this article we will be covering the following four sections:
Understanding Monetisation:
What can Members Purchase in your Community?
Currently there are three things your members are able to purchase in your Community:
- Subscriptions (either monthly or yearly through a hard or soft paywall)
- In-App Purchases (one time purchase for Folders, assets, Articles or links)
- Courses for a one-off fee
Important: All of these are available on Apple and Google, however Stripe only supports Subscriptions and Courses via the Web Platform.
Important: You are able to set free trials for new subscribers on Apple and Google only. This is not available on the Web Platform, but Stripe does support Coupon Codes.
How is Monetisation set up for my Community?
To set up a Subscription in your Community, you will need to complete the following steps:
- Reach out to your Customer Success Manager and let them know your monetisation plan by way of completing this Course in The Collective. They will set this up for both Apple and Google through your Developer Accounts.
- Inside the Console, select Convert and then tap Monetisation. Here you can link your Stripe account and set monthly and yearly subscription prices for your Community. You can also define if it has a hard paywall or a soft paywall. You can find our video guide here. This will only manage your Web Platform subscription.
Important: All changes you make to your Web subscription must be made in the Disciple Console and not on the Stripe dashboard.
To set up an In-App Purchase, you will need to contact your Customer Success Manager directly who will be happy to set this up for you through your Apple and Google Developer Accounts.
To set up a Course with a one-off fee, you can complete the Monetisation section in the Course Settings. This is only available if you are on our Pro package or have Unlimited Courses enabled.
Purchasing a Subscription:
Where do Transactions Take Place?
The way your members make a transaction depends entirely on the platform they using. Simply put:
- If they are making a purchase on the Apple App, the purchase is done through Apple. This is set up on your Apple Developer account.
- If they are making a purchase on the Android App, the purchase is done through Google. This is set up on your Google Developer account.
- If they are making a purchase on the Web Platform, the purchase is done through Stripe. This is set up on the Disciple Console linked to your Stripe account.
Important: When a member makes any purchase, this will be available for them on all platforms. For example, if a member purchases a subscription for premium access via the Apple App, they will still have premium access when they log in with the same account on the Google App or the Web Platform of your Community.
Managing a Subscription:
Where do you Manage your Members Transactions?
When it comes to managing your members transactions, this is different based on which platform the transaction went through.
Apple:
Apple does not allow you to see a list of transactions which have been made via the Apple App. You are also unable to manage cancellations and refunds for these transactions.
Google:
Google, allow you to access the entire order history for all purchases made via the Google App through accessing your Google Developer account.
By navigating to the Order Management section of your Google Play Console, you can search by member email addresses and order IDs to find specific transactions.
It is here that you can cancel and refund members. You will only see the transaction made through the Google App and you can learn more about how to do this here.
Stripe:
Stripe, provide you with entire view of all member transactions from your Stripe Dashboard. You can search for member email addresses and Order IDs to find specific transactions, as well as cancel and refund members. You will only see the transactions made through the Web Platform.
Important: Your Apple and Google Developer accounts have additional Stats, Trends and Reports with extra information on monetisation. We have an explainer video from our Managing Your Developer Account series here.
Managing Subscription Information in the Disciple Console.
There are a number of tools available to you in the Disciple Console to help you manage and be kept informed about your subscribers.
The first area to look at is the Member List. This is a list of all the Members in your Community, and relevant information about them. Amongst a lot of other information, you can easily see which members have premium access to your Community. A green $ icon will appear next to the name of any member who has an active subscription. This also includes those members on a free trial.
You are also able to apply filters to this Member list to show only those who have subscriptions. If you have multiple plans enabled for your Community, you can also filter based on the specific subscription plan a member is on.
Once the filter is applied, you are able to export this entire list in a CSV format which is emailed directly to you. In this export, you have additional information regarding subscriptions for every member in the filtered list. Relevant information in this export includes:
- Whether they have a premium subscription or not.
- The expiry/renewal date of their current subscription.
- Products purchased
- (This will identify whether they purchased via Apple, Google, Web and also whether they have a Monthly or Yearly subscription)
Important: If a member from the export is listed as premium but there is no data under Products Purchased, it will indicate this member has a free subscription gifted to them via the Console.
From the Member List, you are able to click into each Member to find out more information specific to them, and gift them free premium access.
To gift someone premium access, you simply need to click the three dots in the top right corner and select Add Subscription. There are some pre-defined timeframes to choose from here. Once you have pressed Add, the member will then have premium access to the Community and won’t see the paywall until this expires.
At the bottom of the members account page, you will notice a History section. Here you will find any subscription information the member may have for their current or expired subscription:
-
Subscribed/Received premium from… explains which platform this member received their premium access
- iOS = Apple, and they are a paid member or on a free trial.
- Android = Google, and they are a paid member or on a free trial.
- Web = Stripe, and they are a paid member.
- CMS = The Disciple Console, and they are a free member.
- ..expiring on… is the date their premium access will renew if they are a current paying member or on a free trial, or when their premium access ends if they are a free member or have cancelled their subscription.
- The date at the end is the date the subscription began.
You will also notice an Expire now button. This is used for stopping the premium access for free members only. Once this is pressed and confirmed, the member will immediately lose access to all premium content.
Important: The Expire now button does not stop recurring subscription payments made by members through Apple, Google or Stripe. If a paying member has their subscription expired through the Console, they will lose premium access until the renewal date of their subscription. Apple, Google or Stripe will notify our system to regain premium access when they next take payment from the member. DO NOT expire subscriptions for paying members through the Disciple Console.
Finally, the Insights section can be used to find out some more general stats about the subscribers in your Community. Tap the Convert tab on the left hand side of the Console, and select Monetisation and then Insights. You can find out the following:
- Total Subscribers.
- Engaged Subscribers.
- New Subscribers in the last 30 days
- Unsubscribers in the last 30 days
- Churn rate in the last 30 days
- Ratio of Subscription Plans
- Ratio of Billing Periods
- Ratio of Payment Platform
You can learn more about the Insights section here.
How do you Receive Payments?
Depending on the platform which handled your member’s transactions, you will receive your payment in different ways and in different time frames. You can find more information on this here.
Apple and Google will take a 30% cut of all transactions made through their apps, however they do support a Small Business Developer account which will only take 15%. You can find more information and where you’re eligible here.
Ending a Subscription:
How do Members Cancel their Subscriptions?
For Apple and Google, members cancel their subscription through the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Web subscribers, can cancel their subscriptions through the Web Platform itself. You may find the following articles helpful:
- How can a Member Cancel an Apple Subscription?
- How can a Member Cancel a Google Subscription?
- How can a Member Cancel a Web Subscription?
How do Members Request a Refund for a Subscription?
Occasionally, you may find that a member is looking for a refund to a paid subscription. Both Google and Stripe allow you to action this yourself, however, Apple does not. Here are some helpful guides on this:
- How to Refund an Apple Subscription
- How to Refund a Google Subscription
- How to Refund a Stripe Subscription