Modern Monetization’s Best of 2024
Modern Monetization launched this year with the aim to support your strategic planning with a wealth of expert insights. Whether you're deeply embedded in the B2C subscription world, navigating the complexities of B2B landscapes, or keen to stay ahead of industry trends and Zuora announcements, there's something here for everyone.
Let’s take a look back at some of our top articles from this year.
1. Harnessing Real-Time Events to Amplify Your Subscription Business
Maintaining a leading edge in subscription-based businesses is about more than just offering quality products or services—it's about dynamically engaging with the world as it changes, minute by minute.
The ability to leverage real-time events and trends is not just a strategy but a necessity for those looking to cultivate a service that meets and anticipates the needs of its customers, creating a resonant and deeply engaging user experience.
From adjusting offerings on the fly to tailoring user journeys and marketing strategies to the moment, the goal is to illustrate how real-time responsiveness can transform a subscription service from a static offering into a dynamic force that moves in lockstep with the consumer.
2. Monetizing GenAI: Navigating Towards Value-Oriented Success
AI was one of the hottest topics of 2024. As generative AI (GenAI) moves from emerging technology to mainstream innovation, companies are rapidly integrating these capabilities into their offerings. While the pace of product development is unprecedented, with three-quarters of SaaS companies launching GenAI solutions, the real challenge lies in effective monetization—but only 15% have mastered this.
The rush to market often precedes a solid monetization plan, placing long-term sustainability at risk. For companies developing and launching GenAI solutions, landing on the right monetization strategy for GenAI will require an ongoing balancing exercise.
3. How Subscription Pause and Flex Options Can Transform B2C Businesses
As the market becomes increasingly saturated, retaining customers has emerged as a critical challenge. It's here that the concept of subscription pause and flex options play a pivotal role.
By allowing customers the flexibility to pause their subscriptions or change their plans, businesses can significantly reduce churn and build a more loyal customer base. This newsletter explores why offering such flexibility is not only beneficial but essential for subscription businesses to thrive.
4. The Ugly Truth About SaaS Pricing
Pricing a product or feature is complicated. There's no code to crack to find the perfect price or one-size-fits-all answer to choosing a pricing model for your business.
Pricing is an ongoing, continuous process that requires flexibility, and even a seemingly simple pricing adjustment can have broader implications. See what pricing experts had to say about recent trends and some common pitfalls to avoid when it comes to crafting pricing models for the enterprise.
5. Reducing Friction in Payment Systems: The Key to Seamless Transactions
The need for flexible and frictionless payment systems has never been more critical for subscription businesses. Traditional payment processes often introduce unnecessary friction, leading to abandoned transactions and customer frustration.
The future of payments lies in continuous innovation and a deep understanding of customer needs, ensuring a seamless and satisfying transaction experience.
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6. Essential Steps for Building a Flexible Pricing Strategy
If you’ve been a product leader in the B2B software as a service (SaaS) world for any amount of time, you know that pricing can be hard. But today, with increasing customer acquisition costs, additional pressure from boards and analysts to drive growth and profitability—not to mention the uncertainty about the best way to monetize AI—things are only getting more complicated.
One thing is clear, companies need to deploy a flexible pricing strategy in order to keep pace with all the change.
7. The Perils of Dollar Down Deals in Subscriptions
“Dollar down deals” have emerged as a popular marketing tactic in the subscription space, where customers pay as little as $1 upfront to access a trial or even a full-service product. Examples of these deals exist throughout various industries, especially digital subscriptions like The Wall Street Journal.
While these deals can seem like a clever way to attract new customers, they carry significant risks that can overshadow their initial appeal. For many companies, the drawbacks can outweigh the benefits, leading to challenges in profitability, brand perception, and customer retention.
Understand the potential perils of dollar down deals and why businesses should approach them with caution.
8. Exploring Micro-Subscriptions: A New Revenue Stream for B2C Businesses
A new trend emerged within the B2C subscription business space: micro-subscriptions. This innovative approach to monetization is reshaping how companies package and sell their products and services, offering a fresh perspective on customer relationships and value delivery.
Micro-subscriptions represent a paradigm shift in how businesses think about pricing and access to their offerings, potentially opening up new markets and revenue streams that were previously untapped.
This newsletter explores the potential benefits for B2C businesses, examining successful implementation strategies, and considering the challenges and future prospects of this emerging model.
9. Should You Build or Buy Billing Software?
As your recurring billing business model grows and scales, your IT team will inevitably have to choose whether to build or buy billing software. Budget restrictions and other factors lead many businesses to develop their own homegrown solution, but this could actually be much more costly in the long run.
With the right recurring billing solution, your IT team can quickly adapt to new pricing, billing, payments, accounting, and integration requirements—becoming integral to business strategy and enabling continuous innovation.
Here’s what you should consider to decide if building or buying billing software is right for your business.
10. Avoiding Common Monetization Mistakes
Monetization strategies are at the heart of any successful B2C business. Yet, even the most innovative companies can stumble, often falling into the same traps. Understanding these common mistakes is crucial to building a sustainable and profitable business model.
There are two critical areas where businesses frequently falter: misunderstanding market needs and charging for features that should be free. This newsletter explores those key areas and discusses how companies can create more effective monetization strategies.
What topics would you like to see covered in 2025? Let us know!
Senior Manager Financial Platforms @ MHP - A Porsche Company
3wJonas Heindorf Jens Hofmann Madeleine Taglinger