How many more subscriptions can customers take?

I didn’t want to miss this review from Protocol.   Focusing on microsubscriptions the piece highlights the growing trend of small payments.  Pulling from the article.

• Monthly payment for the latest SaaS offering is too expensive? Switch to consumption-based pricing and just pay for what you use. 
• Bored of the existing features on Snap? Sign up for the $3.99 per month premium offering. 
• Don’t want to buy a $70 video game? Download one for free and pay for expanded features as you go. 

There are indicators of increasing consumer animosity and evidence that companies may be testing the boundaries of the subscription business model. 

• Software-as-a-service has become the primary method of delivery, creating headaches for some IT leaders who now find themselves with bloated application suites.
• In an instantly classic case of jumping the shark, BMW decided to start charging $18 monthly for a subscription to seat heaters. Rightly so, the move was ridiculed.

Many businesses are used to offering a set of products or services as a bundle, which makes it easier to unbundle and sell as separate subscriptions. Couple that with concerns about an economic slowdown ahead and it’s a low-hanging strategy for businesses to try to both grow and diversify their sales. 

• If done right, subscriptions can provide a more stable revenue stream, one that also gives companies the option to hike prices on consumers as a way to bolster revenues. Slack, for example, just raised the cost on its premium tier.
• And software vendors eager to avoid the central IT office are going directly to users with low introductory pricing options to get them hooked on the product. 

Why do we care?

That last line is what perked my attention.   

Many service providers have been focused on everything as a service for a while… and in particular, bundling.      How much a customer can absorb WILL be a question to face as subscriptions become more and more prevalent.      I’m not advocating blowing up your bundles right away, but I am considering the upper limit, and where there be value in more line item subscriptions versus the whole bundle?

Pricing will matter – getting your bundling right will differentiate and accelerate your adoption.