Subscription services have been around a long time.  As a junior high student I can remember how Columbia House Records got their claws into you to be a customer.  Remember, pick 10 albums for $2 and then subscribe to buy one per month – at the regular price – for the next 24 months?

Columbia House was ahead of the current trend.  They cleaned out unwanted inventory and then had a guaranteed revenue stream and purchase from you each month for the next 24 months.  A big secret in business is that you can do real well if you know exactly what your revenues are going to be.  You can manage your expenses.

Well, subscription services are in the business news now and Wall Street just loves companies that can operate with them.  Just think about that — knowing your recurring monthly revenue in advance.  If that is possible, then you can “fix” your expenses to a multiple of that and know that you are going to make money – month after month after month.

If you have a deliverable service that the public wants it can be one that can be sold on a subscription service where a fee can be automatically taken out of a consumer’s account and transferred to the service provider monthly.  Think of Netflix – the darling of the subscription service.  Pay your $10 monthly and you are able to access as many movies and shows as you want for that amount.  Think of Spotify — doing the same thing in the music industry.

The model is so powerful that even Microsoft has changed its sales channels to be able to operate under a subscription basis.  Remember, not so long ago you purchased a computer with Microsoft software inside.  The computer company paid Microsoft to be able to offer their suite of products in the computer.  Microsoft sold to the computer company on a per computer basis but had no more revenue until you decided to upgrade computers.  It is not that way anymore — the Microsoft Office 365 model is a recurring revenue model that the consumer purchases direct.  It works for one year in your computer, but if you want to continue using it, you must re-pay the subscription base at the end of one year.

Subscriptions have changed the way American consumers consume.  Think about it. . . television, movies, music, software, fitness clubs, and there are even subscriptions for clothing. . where you pay a monthly fee and they send new clothes each month to you.

So, with all of that preamble, it makes me wonder, “Is there a place for subscription based sales in the death care industry?”  Could a funeral home in a large city charge say $50 per month for a couple to join an affinity program where the members get, among other things, low priced theatre tickets, sports event tickets, a monthly newsletter, health and finance questions answered by hospital and bank partners and the like.  The funeral home could pay a monthly fee to its vendor helpers (thus giving them a recurring revenue stream), bring in their own recurring revenue and offer something like free cremation services to its members.   Are the numbers there?

Or, could a virtually national company like Neptune Society offer that type of service which would include restaurant discounts to Neptune Society subscription members?

An idea that is far off and way out in left field?  I don’t think so.  Most companies (one exception is Movie Pass) have found that the subscriptions people pay far exceeds the amount of times they use the service.  It is the thought and convenience of having the service available for tickets, movies, etc. whenever they please that consumers pay for.

I don’t think we are too far off from someone in our industry trying something on a subscription basis.  The key will be what services can they make money on over time, prior to death, that will allow them to give discounts on death care services.  That is an elusive answer that someone will figure out.