Last Updated on March 27, 2024
Sewing is a worthwhile creative hobby, but who says you can’t turn it into a business endeavor? In fact, a previous post entitled ‘How to Start a Sewing Business’ guides you through turning your sewing skills and passion into a profitable business.
After establishing a distinct business identity to set yourself apart in the industry, the essential steps include setting up legal requirements like a business license or permit, organizing financial aspects through bookkeeping, accounting, and insurance, and choosing a platform for advertising and selling your sewing products.
However, if you truly want to carve a niche for your sewing business, it’s worth looking into offering sewing classes and subscription kits online. Below, we highlight the benefits of running a subscription-based sewing business and tips on deploying this specific business model.
The benefits of a subscription-based sewing business
Instead of simply selling video lessons and sewing kits online for a one-time fee, applying a subscription-based model for your business allows you to create a stable revenue stream. When customers sign up for your service and agree to pay on a regular basis (usually monthly), your recurring revenue is more predictable compared to the fluctuations associated with generating new leads and converting them into sales.
Since sewing is not just a one-time hobby but a skill worth developing and investing time in, having a subscription service for classes and kits also enables you to support customers in improving their skills and fostering their creativity. In other words, you boost customer retention rates and lifetime value as customers transition from beginners to intermediate and advanced seamstresses and garment makers.
However, these benefits of a sewing subscription service for cash flow and customer loyalty can only be realized once you incorporate the following tips into your business strategy.
Tips on Running Your Sewing Subscription Service
Consider the pricing and platform
Before anything else, you must identify how to package your sewing classes and subscription kits based on pricing tiers. For instance, the first tier can include beginner sewing courses on the different types of seams and stitching, while more premium tiers can include advanced sewing projects accompanied by a monthly kit of supplies like threads, needles, and fabrics.
Meanwhile, the subscription platform Patreon can host your tiered packages, as it helps connect creators like you to subscribers and members who want to support your products and services. Patreon creators from various creative fields, including sewing and textiles, have earned more than $2 billion since the platform’s inception, encouraging you to monetize your craft and release exclusive video content and sewing kits for your loyal customers.
Use billing software
After deciding on subscription packages and a platform, it’s time to think about how to organize your finances. While the previously mentioned post about starting a sewing business recommends creating a spreadsheet to track your expenses and receipts, it also helps to use digital billing software to save time and enhance operational efficiency.
In this case, the subscription billing software Softrax can help deploy simple to complex billing scenarios and ensure your customers are billed accurately and on time. Besides recording and managing subscription bills, business owners like you can take advantage of Softrax’s revenue recognition, legal compliance, and data reporting capabilities to keep your cash flow in order.
Build customer relationships
It has already been established that a subscription model contributes to stable revenue and customer retention rates, but this requires considerable effort in building and maintaining customer relationships. In this case, a Business News Daily article outlines the benefits of using a customer relationship management (CRM) system to reach out to customers, interact with them meaningfully, and provide overall better service.
Similar to automating subscription billing, using CRM software can help increase your efficiency in contacting customers, responding to queries like subscription tiers and payment processing, and keeping them in the loop for business promotions. A popular CRM tool small businesses can leverage is HubSpot, as it stores sales activity and contact information in one place.
Overall, running a subscription-based sewing business and maintaining loyal customers can be possible when you utilize digital tools at your disposal.
“I like to turn a piece of string into something that I can wear.” I am dedicated to sharing knowledge on the necessary sewing equipment in The Sewing Stuffs.
