How to Make Retainer Products with WooCommerce: A Beginner’s Guide
Want to offer your customers ongoing value and recurring revenue for your business? Think about retainer products! In simple terms, a retainer product is something a customer pays for regularly (weekly, monthly, yearly) in exchange for consistent access to a service, product, or expert advice.
Think of it like your gym membership or your Netflix subscription. You pay a regular fee and get access to the gym or movies and shows. For your business, it could be anything from ongoing website support to regular shipments of beauty products.
This guide will walk you through how to create retainer products using WooCommerce, even if you’re a complete newbie. We’ll focus on keeping it easy, practical, and full of real-world examples.
Why Offer Retainer Products?
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Before diving into the “how,” let’s quickly cover the “why.” Retainer products offer significant advantages for both you and your customers:
* Predictable Revenue: Know roughly how much income you’ll generate each month or year. This makes planning and investing much easier.
* Customer Loyalty: Retainers encourage long-term relationships. Customers are less likely to switch when they’re already invested in a recurring service.
* Improved Cash Flow: Regular payments keep your cash flow consistent.
* Easier Planning: Knowing you have a base of recurring revenue allows you to more easily plan your services and staffing needs.
* Customer Convenience: Customers don’t need to remember to re-order or re-hire you constantly.
Real-Life Example: Imagine you run a small marketing agency. Instead of just offering one-off social media audits, you could offer a “Social Media Management Retainer” for $500/month. This includes daily post scheduling, engagement monitoring, and monthly analytics reports. This guarantees you consistent income, and your client gets consistent support without having to constantly find someone new.
What You Need
* WordPress Website: You’ll need a website built with WordPress.
* WooCommerce Plugin: The free WooCommerce plugin is essential for e-commerce functionality. Make sure it’s installed and set up.
* WooCommerce Subscriptions Plugin (or Alternative): While WooCommerce itself doesn’t natively support subscriptions, the official WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin is the gold standard. It’s a paid plugin, but the features and support are usually worth it. Alternatively, you can find free or less expensive Discover insights on Woocommerce How To Show Only Certain Categories In Shop subscription plugins in the WordPress repository, but always check their ratings, reviews, and compatibility with your version of WooCommerce before installing.
Step-by-Step: Creating a Retainer Product with WooCommerce Subscriptions
We’ll assume you’ve installed and activated the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin. Here’s how to create your first retainer product:
1. Create a New Product: In your WordPress dashboard, go to Products -> Add New.
2. Give Your Product a Title and Description: Be clear about what the customer is getting. For example: “Website Maintenance Retainer – Monthly.” The description should detail exactly what the retainer includes (e.g., weekly backups, security updates, priority support). Use keywords like “website maintenance,” “security updates,” “WordPress support” to help customers find your offering through search engines.
3. Select “Simple Subscription” as Product Type: In the “Product data” section, change the dropdown from “Simple Product” to “Simple Subscription” (or “Variable Subscription” if you offer different tiers of service).
4. Configure Subscription Settings: This is the heart of setting up your retainer. You’ll find options like:
* Regular Price: The monthly (or weekly, yearly) price. Let’s say $200/month.
* Subscription Length: How long the subscription lasts. You can set a fixed length (e.g., 12 months) or allow it to continue indefinitely until cancelled.
* Billing Interval: How often the customer is billed (e.g., every month, every week, every year).
* Trial Period: Offer a free trial (e.g., 7 days) to let customers test out your services before committing.
* Sign-up Fee: Charge a one-time fee upfront, in addition to the recurring price. This is useful for covering initial setup costs.
Example: Let’s say you’re offering a monthly SEO retainer. You might set the Regular Price to $300, the Billing Interval to “every month,” and the Subscription Length to “Forever (until cancelled).” You could also add a Sign-up Fee of $50 to cover the initial keyword research and website analysis you’ll perform.
//Example settings:
//Regular Price: $300
//Billing Interval: every month
//Subscription Length: Forever (until cancelled)
//Sign-up Fee: $50
5. Set Product Image and Category: Add a relevant image to your product and assign it to a suitable category. This helps with visual appeal and organization.
6. Publish Your Product: Click the “Publish” button! Your retainer product is now live and ready for customers to purchase.
Variable Subscriptions (Offering Different Tiers)
If you want to offer different tiers of service within your retainer product (e.g., Basic, Standard, Premium), you’ll use the “Variable Subscription” product type.
1. Create Attributes: Go to the “Attributes” tab in the Product data section. Add an attribute like “Tier” with values like “Basic,” “Standard,” and “Premium.” Make sure to check the “Used for variations” box.
2. Create Variations: Go to the “Variations” tab. Select “Create variations from all attributes” from the dropdown and click “Go.” This will create a variation for each tier.
3. Configure Each Variation: For each variation (Basic, Standard, Premium), you can set a different Regular Price, Subscription Length, Billing Interval, and other settings. You can also add specific descriptions for each tier, highlighting the unique benefits.
Real-Life Example: A virtual assistant service might offer these tiers:
* Basic: 10 hours of virtual assistant work per month – $100/month
* Standard: 20 hours of virtual assistant work per month – $180/month
* Premium: 40 hours of virtual assistant work per month – $350/month
Managing Subscriptions
The WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin provides tools for managing active subscriptions, including:
* Viewing Subscription Details: See when subscriptions were created, when they’re scheduled to renew, and their current status.
* Manually Renewing Subscriptions: In cases of payment issues, you can manually renew a subscription.
* Cancelling Subscriptions: You or your customer can cancel subscriptions.
* Switching Subscriptions: Allow customers to upgrade or downgrade their subscription tiers.
Important Considerations
* Terms of Service: Clearly outline the terms of your retainer agreement, including cancellation policies, scope of services, and payment terms. Make sure your terms are visible on your website!
* Communication: Maintain regular communication with your retainer clients. Provide updates on your progress, answer their questions promptly, and be proactive in addressing any concerns.
* Value Proposition: Continuously deliver value to your retainer clients. If they feel they’re not getting their money’s worth, they’ll likely cancel. Ask for feedback and adapt as necessary.
* Marketing: Promote your retainer offerings on your website, social media, and email marketing campaigns. Highlight the benefits of having ongoing support and predictable costs.
* Payment Gateways: Ensure you’re using a payment gateway that supports recurring billing (e.g., Stripe, PayPal).
By following these steps and focusing on delivering excellent value, you can successfully create and manage retainer products with WooCommerce and build a stable, recurring revenue stream for your business. Good luck!
