How to urgently increase bookings for your subscription business? – Part 1

I run a subscription business. Based on current trends, projections are below target. 📉 However, I need to reach my financial goal. 💪

What are my options to urgently increase my bookings? And how should I go about finding those opportunities?

1. Check the Objective 🎯

The first step is to clarify your objective and determine the KPIs you want to act on.

For example, you need to decide whether your focus is on increasing bookings or revenue. The difference is significant, as I explained in the article “What is the difference between bookings and revenue?”.

• Bookings = All sales signed between two dates.
• Revenue = Bookings recognized over a subscription period.

2. Where Should You Look for Growth? 🔍

A subscription business is made up of two engines: acquisition and retention. Step two is to properly allocate your focus between the two.

• If your business is early-stage and retention accounts for less than 20% of total bookings, don’t spread yourself too thin. Focus entirely on acquisition. 🚀
• If your business is mature and has little or no growth, the acquisition/retention split mirrors your churn/retention rate. (See my article “Acquisition & Retention: Which Comes First?”.)

For example, if your retention rate (RR%) is 75%, then it makes sense to find 75% of the booking shortfall in retention, and 25% in acquisition. 📊

If you’re seeing some growth, but still in a mature stage, the split may tilt slightly more toward acquisition — but the principle remains.

3. Speed of Execution ⏱️

Next, understand the timeframe needed for bookings to materialize: immediate, short-term, or long-term. This will help you prioritize projects with the right speed-to-impact.

For example:

• Offering a new payment method might generate more bookings… eventually. But it may take weeks to implement, and the revenue might only show up a year from now, on renewals. 🔧🕰️
• Creating a new product line? Forget it if you need bookings this week — you’re already too late. ❌

Build a list of initiatives based on past execution timelines, ranked from fastest to slowest. This helps you avoid wasting time on low-impact, long-term plays when time is critical.

4. Special Considerations for Retention 🔁

For retention actions, keep in mind:

• The subscription expiration date and next billing date. ⏳ Ensure your actions target the right audience and the opportunity is suffisant to reach the booking goal.
• The billing frequency. Monthly subs can show impact faster (but smaller); annual subs take longer (but can move the needle more significantly).

🧠 Example: If you inform customers of a price increase two weeks before their billing attempt, and your billing window is also two weeks, you must communicate the change four weeks before the renewal. The minimum lead time between action and increased bookings = the reflection period.

📌 In Part 2, I’ll dive into concrete solutions you can use to increase bookings — quickly and effectively.

👉 Key takeaways 👈

1. Clarify the objective and the targeted KPIs. Remove any ambiguity regarding bookings and revenue.
2. Focus only on initiatives that can deliver results within the required timeframe.
3. Every action affects the retention rate. Always assess the risk vs reward before launching anything. A CLV analysis will help.