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For Immediate Release - August 28, 2007
eSellerate Releases Subscription-Based Licensing Options
(LINCOLN, NE - USA) – For software publishers wanting to provide their customers with alternatives to paying a lump sum for products and services, eSellerate now offers a full-featured subscriptions model. This major new, end-to-end addition to the eSellerate suite of technologies is designed to complement and work seamlessly with our existing sales options, including Custom Layouts, Embedded Web Stores, Product Activation and Native Currency Pricing.
Some advantages of using eSellerate’s new subscription-based licensing include:
- It is an emerging business model and a competitive offering for licensing and purchasing.
- It can be an advantage over competitors that offer one-time payments only.
- It provides end users with another option to pay for a product, so they have a better chance of finding an option that fits their needs.
- It provides a potential increase in closed sales and revenue to the publisher, as people may more easily afford a fraction of the cost (such as monthly payments for a year) rather than the entire amount at once.
- It better supports selling certain types of products, such as Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings, or non-software deliverables such as access to web sites or a newsletter.
- Publishers could possibly charge more -- resulting in more revenue and a higher margin -- for the option to pay over time. For example, the choices might be to buy now for $100 or pay $10 per month for $12 months, in which case the subscription nets the publisher $20 more after a year.
- It provides great potential for selling higher priced products that otherwise might not fit the budgets of end users. An example is a customer buying a three-month subscription for software to be used during a specific project.
Business rules
You can set up your subscriptions with durations of 1-12 months and billing frequencies of annual, semiannual, quarterly, every other month, or monthly. You also set the renewal policy, which can be automatic so that the subscription automatically renews at the end of the set duration unless the customer cancels, or manual so that the customer must take action to renew. Another option is adding your own text to accompany the subscription terms and conditions that your online stores will display for the subscription.
By default, eSellerate sends renewal reminders to the customer seven days before expiration, and expiration notices seven days after expiration. If you choose, additional copies of these notifications can be sent 30 days before, 15 days before, and 15 days after expiration. All e-mail notifications have been reviewed to ensure:
- Compliance with applicable laws
- Adherence to best practices
- High deliverability
Customer support
Customers manage their subscriptions through the eSellerate After-Purchase Services web site (http://store.esellerate.net/support), where they can update their billing information, cancel active subscriptions, and renew subscriptions that have a manual renewal policy.
Licensing
We recommend using Product Activation to enforce your subscription licensing. Canceling a subscription deactivates the serial number associated with that subscription, when applicable.
You can set up your subscriptions so that eSellerate generates a new serial number for renewals. The new serial number is not required for activation purposes, but the option is available to help you identify renewals if needed.
eSellerate system updates
The following automated notifications have been updated to include subscription information:
- Order Confirmation e-mail sent to customers after the purchase
- Order Notice e-mail sent to the primary contact for your account
Other notable updates include:
- When a subscription is canceled, eSellerate sends an e-mail notification to the publisher and the customer.
- The SKU Sales by Date Range report can filter results by subscription.
- The SKU Sales Summary Report shows the number of new subscriptions, frequency billings and renewals for the selected SKU.
- The Order Detail page lists subscription information when applicable.
Getting started
To get started with subscriptions, go to the Advanced Sales Options section of the Sales Manager home page and click About Subscriptions. (This link will change after you click through the introductory text.) The page that displays will provide important information on the benefits and considerations of this option. Please read the information carefully and contact us with any questions. When you finish reading the information, click Continue. You will then be able to access the subscription management features.
As always, our support team is available to answer any questions you may have about this release. You can direct your inquiries to support@esellerate.net.
Regards,
The eSellerate Team
About eSellerate
eSellerate is a leading software commerce provider focused on providing the tools and solutions for software publishers and other digital goods providers engaging in digital distribution and sales strategies. The company's comprehensive platforms offer groundbreaking solutions to thousands of software companies throughout the world. For more details about eSellerate, visit the web site at www.esellerate.net.
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PR Contact:
press@esellerate.net
www.esellerate.net
eSellerate is a registered trademark of MindVision, Inc. - a Digital River company. All other brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and are hereby acknowledged.
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