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In the past decade, subscription-based business models have seen a steep rise. The global subscription business was valued at USD 96.61 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach newer heights at USD 2,419.69 billion by 2028. Everyone wants a piece of the pie which is why in the last few years, the subscription market has become overcrowded and despite its evident benefits, not all businesses are able to thrive in this market.Â
Therefore in our series of articles, we have analysed some of the top Shopify subscription apps so that you could make a prudent decision while choosing the best app for your business. In this article, we will explore the subscription management software- Recurly, and some of its important aspects such as Recurly pricing, features, support system, and reviews.Â
If we talk about pricing it is not just related to the cost but also to factors such as how often you pay and what events trigger charges also plays an important role. Pricing can be a big factor and at times may even determine the success of your subscription business, so it becomes important to take into consideration before choosing a subscription app.
Recurly is one of the many subscription management and billing platforms through which many brands operate their subscription business on Shopify. Recurly, with the help of their software service, provides a platform to many brands enabling them to form deep connections with their subscribers and creating recurring revenue streams that eventually grow the revenue of these brands over time.
It offers a variety of products that help various brands from different industries grow and run their subscription businesses. Despite it being an important consideration, it should not be the only criterion while hunting for the best choice for your business.
Different apps have distinguishing features that set them apart from their competitors, which is why it becomes important to analyze the features of every app you are interested in and then make a decision if it suits your requirement well or not.Â
We understand this, that’s why we have stated some key features of Recurly in this article, that could give you a fair idea of the value it delivers. At the same time, if you want to compare how it fairs in comparison to its competitors, you can click here.
1. Plans, Pricing and Promotions: This Recurly feature facilitates faster subscriber acquisition with the assistance of their easy-to-use tools. The Price feature of Recurly allows brands to configure trial offers, introduce discounts, cross-sell complementary services, and upsell with the help of its integrated promotional tools.Â
On the other hand, the plan feature enables unlimited plans to win more subscribers and customizing based on the results of previous plans. The promotional feature also plays a vital role as it brings in more subscribers for the brands by implementing unique and customised promotional tactics such as discounts to subscribers' families, trail offers, and gift subscriptions.
2. Subscriber management: Recurly’s subscription management feature is a broader feature that covers most aspects of the management software from cohesive subscriber management, automated communications to flexible plan configuration that results in faster revenue growth for the brands.Â
Recurly’s subscription management software provides the complete subscriber dashboard that keeps a track of the entire Recurly history of the customer. It becomes the entry point for working with the customer’s billing information, subscription data, transactions, invoices and many more. It enables connecting your team with the data to ensure the subscribers are always the focus.Â
3. Payments orchestration: According to data, there is a high chance of a transaction not being completed if there is an inconvenience caused to subscribers or they deem the payment method to be unsafe. Here, Recurly saves the day for brands by providing them with an intuitive payment gateway that opens the dams signups, and signouts in a frictionless manner.
From automated payment reminder messages to fraud management to card-not-present transactions, account takeover, and account creation fraud using AI-powered tools, Recurly’s payments features take care of it all.
4) Recurring billing: Recurring revenue is the lifeblood of any subscription business. Recurly takes the responsibility of tackling even complex billing problems with the help of its superior billing software, ability to tackle subscription complexity, and advanced analytics. It enables brands to divert their attention from the complex hassles of recurring payment and shift their focus towards scaling their business locally and abroad.
5) Churn management: Churn is one of the biggest nightmares for any business and Recurly with its advanced churn management strategies and tools aims to minimize churn and maximize revenue along with an emphasis on making the brands scale quicker.Â
Some of the key features of Recurly’s churn management strategies are:Â
6) Reporting and Analytics: Recurly’s subscription management software provides merchants with engaging subscription analytics, KPIs, and graphs to optimize their plans, subscribers, and revenues. Some of the intuitive features of their analytics software are:
A subscription business is not just about providing a valuable product and managing orders but also about providing a smooth and enjoyable experience. As a subscription business is all about recurring orders and maintaining a loyal and ever-growing subscriber base, therefore, having an efficient and proactive customer support team becomes critical for the long-term success of such a business.Â
It's essential to pick an app with reliable and attentive customer support to streamline the process and get the most out of the app. Here is the overview of Recurly’s in-house support services.
It also has a developer hub which provides a comprehensive guide for developers and a customer ticket mechanism to engage with their customer support team.
Like in real life, things that look nice and rosy from the outside might have a different reality from the inside. Therefore, it’s always advisable to go through the reviews of a particular app before integrating it with your brand. Reviews offer valuable insights into the app's effectiveness, reliability, and support, helping you make an informed decision.
Recurly app is not available on Shopify app store, that’s why you won’t be able to check its reviews from there but you can always refer to G2 which is a platform to gauge what others think of a particular subscription app.Â
Reviewers have to go through a verification process before leaving their reviews on the site which makes it a reliable platform on the basis of which you can form a judgement regarding a particular app. It not only provides us with user reviews but also lets us compare multiple products side by side along with highlighting pros and cons of every product itself.Â
Recurly has a 4 star rating on an average on G2 with a total of 160 reviews to its name. Some of the pros of the Recurly highlighted on the G2 are:
Among the pros, some cons regarding Recurly have also been highlighted which are as follows: Â
Here are some of the reviews on Recurly on the G2 app that will give you a clearer picture of the real-life functionality of the app:
Recurly- G2 reviews
However, Recurly hasn’t mentioned its pricing transparently on its official website, it is clear that it offers a ramp price structure which alters in accordance with business’s requirements. Recurly's comprehensive pricing options, including fixed-price plans and quantity/usage-based models, give you the flexibility to set the best pricing for each product you sell.
Recurly has three subscription pricing models according to their website- Free, Professional and Elite. However, to get an exact estimation of their pricing you will have to contact their sales team directly.
Loop Subscriptions, a five-star rated subscription management app on Shopify, has emerged as a top alternative to Recurly in the past few years. It has presented itself as a feature-loaded app aimed at making a complex subscription business an easy affair for Shopify and help them to grow their subscriber base while keeping the already existing base intact.
Loop subscriptions streamline subscription processes, increase average order values, lower churn rates, and enhance customer satisfaction through a customizable customer portal. Let's have a look at some of its features that makes it a better alternative than Recurly:
1. Product Bundle:The bundle builder feature of Loop Subscriptions allows companies to offer customized bundles and portals to their subscribers either as a one-time option or on a subscription basis. Businesses can easily create product bundles with different pricing options and offer tiered discounts.
2. Cancellation flows: With the Loop Subscriptions cancellation flow, which introduces interactive elements like videos and GIFs to your subscription experience, you retain more subscribers who are more engaged. You can also introduce personalized deals and retention offers that may keep subscribers with your brand.
3. Fully-customizable portal: It offers a fully branded customer portal that allows passwordless login, reducing friction and allowing a seamless customer experience. Branding the portal and adding gamification to it will make it a lot more engaging and personal, which will help in building stronger relationships with your subscribers and eventually make them come back for more.
4. Intelligent dunning management system: Failed payment is a major roadblock for any subscription business, therefore a smart dunning management system that tracks and recovers funds from declined cards is the need of the hour. This system should allow you to set the number of retry attempts for cards that are likely to fail, reducing manual intervention.Â
Additionally, you can customize your subscription cancellation policy to automatically cancel or pause subscriptions after a specified number of failed payment attempts. This flexibility ensures that you maintain control over your revenue and customer relationships.
TruHeight is one of the many DTC brands whose subscription growth trajectory took a complete northbound turn after switching to Loop Subscriptions in 2023. With Loop subscriptions’ best-in-class features, TruHeight’s active subscription count soared by a staggering 314% in just 12 months.
Loop Subscriptions proved to be the one-stop solution for all their needs:
At Loop Subscriptions, businesses from small to large can expect pretty affordable pricing. It's thus an excellent choice for both growing DTC brands and established companies. We charge a very low 0.75% transaction fee and have no additional order fees whatsoever.
Emma Johnson is celebrated for her strategic brilliance and innovative flair. By seamlessly blending creativity with data-driven insights, she has propelled Loop’s brand to new heights, establishing it as a formidable force in the Shopify Subscriptions space.
