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Penetration Pricing: How to Use It to Grow Your Business
Penetration pricing is an incredibly captivating business tool and arguably the most powerful way to boost your growth. It is a strategy commonly...
9 min read
Shanzae Solangi •
Published:
January 17, 2023
Everything seems to evolve and change so quickly these days. Just as you have settled on a particular business strategy, a new one gives you pause for thought.
But let's not get distracted. Stick to the main, tried, and tested practices through your startup process, and have a solid foundation to build on. Revenue models are a great example of getting the basics right.
The best, most popular, and most common revenue models for startups in 2022 are not hugely different from the old ones, and there is a reason for that; they work! Let's take a look at what they are, explore the pros and cons, and help determine the best fit for you.
A revenue model is an important concept in business that can make or break your startup's success. An efficient revenue model is basically just a solid monetization system for your startup, allowing you to build and manage your company's revenue streams that are both sustainable and profitable. In simple terms, a revenue model describes the method you employ to bring in revenue for the business.
But just how important is it? Well, let's use a simple analogy to nail the point home; If your business's product or service is the heart of the company, the revenue model would be the circulatory system. The lifeblood. You can't have one without the other.
Without a proper revenue model in place, you will obviously find it quite a challenge to sustain healthy revenue streams, affecting key aspects of the business such as; sales, finance, marketing, and operations
A successful startup revenue model addresses
A sub-genre of the transactional revenue model, perfect for startups looking to generate revenue by offering services based on their expertise and time. Startups who use this business model charge customers on a project or retained basis.
Customer relationships are an important aspect of this model. The revenue you generate solely depends on your level of expertise and how well you can meet your client's needs.
This model is perfect if you're a startup offering graphic design or consultation services. It's a great way to start, but this model alone will not be enough for your startup to grow in the long run.
The markup model is one of the oldest yet most reliable revenue models. It is commonly used by companies who act as mediators for example Amazon or Ali Baba resellers and vendors etc. Businesses using this model purchase goods or services from a supplier, sell for a higher price, and generates revenue from the profit.
For example, a product sold by your company for $150 would return a 50% margin, if purchased for $100.
This model can be grouped into 2 sub-genres,
If your startup gets a large number of visitors on your digital channels, then you can use an ad-based revenue model. Businesses pay to advertise their products and services on high-traffic sites. Provided you have a reasonable amount of traffic, you might be able to monetize through advertising space. It is commonly paired with a service-based and affiliate revenue model.
The 2 most common forms of this model are,
You can either work directly with businesses or through third parties like Google Adsense, AdThrive, and Amazon Native Shopping Ads. Blogs and media companies with a huge following profit the most from the advertising revenue model.
PPU is a revenue model from which a startup can benefit and can also seem attractive to potential customers.
77% of customers face difficulty in their purchasing decision. The main reason for this is uncertainty about whether the features of the product/service will satisfy their needs. A PPU-based model will remove purchasing doubt from the equation. Because rather than buying the product, the customers are leasing it.
Under this model, the business has ownership, and customers only pay for the usage. A simple example of this model can be laundromats. It is commonly used by cloud-based, telecom, and credit card services.
To utilize its full potential, your startup needs to have,
Also called the recurring revenue model. The subscription model breaks the cost of a startup's service/product into fixed weekly, monthly, or yearly payments. When a customer subscribes, the revenue is deferred and paid in installments. Revenue accumulates with every new subscriber. Revenue is grown exponentially as long as you gain more customers than lose them.
A simple example of this model can be a gym. While people can opt for a Day Pass, most of them have a fixed monthly or yearly subscription.
By introducing personalized offers, you can make your product/service seem even more attractive to the customer using this model. Unlike advertising and PPU, the revenue stream for this model is more predictable and stable.
Netflix, Hull, and Amazon Prime are good examples of well-known subscription-based revenue models.
This model is one of the easiest ways to make a passive income stream. You can use this model in two ways to generate revenue,
When a consumer purchases the product/service you are endorsing, you receive a commission - either a percentage or a fixed amount. Many e-commerce marketplaces like Etsy and Amazon offer an affiliate program. But your digital platform would need high traffic to be eligible for them.
When you find individuals or other brands to promote your website, they use your link on their digital platform, providing a great way to market your startup. This is a great way to market your startup. When consumers buy your product/service, a percentage is given as a commission to the promoters. Your business should have high traffic to generate a good amount of revenue.
You might wonder how platforms such as Spotify, LinkedIn, or Evernote make a profit, given that their standard features are free.
Through a ‘Freemium’ model, a service is offered free of charge - but the more appealing, popular features are subscription only. It's an age old model, actually; bring in potential customers without charge, then upsell with better features.
You must have stumbled upon a person asking how platforms like Spotify, LinkedIn, or Evernote earn when almost all of their features are free. They run on the Freemium revenue model, where most of their product's features are free, but their upgrades and premium features are paid.
The main idea behind the Freemium model is to hook customers to their products and services by offering them for free and then converting them to premium paying customers.
This is a great model for startup companies looking to attract instant volume and gain quick market penetration. Pair with an affiliate or ad-based revenue model for enhanced profits.
If your startup has a patented product, you can use that to your advantage through the license revenue model. Income is generated by licensing your product to individuals or companies for a fixed term while retaining full copyright control of your product.
Media and software companies commonly exploit this revenue model. Good examples of this model can be seen through TV adverts, when an advertiser has to pay a fee for using an artist's music, in a commercial. Licensing software like Adobe is another good example. Franchises such as Starbucks are a form of licensing as well. Having to give confidential information and committing to a long term partnership makes customer interactions quite personal.
This revenue model has become quite common among ICT and IT startups. It is a delivery method used by software companies in which they host the application and all of the data on a cloud. Using this model, focus on delivering cost-effective customer value.
It is often paired up with the subscription model or licensing model. Using the SaaS subscription model, you can bill your subscribers periodically. Once billed, subscribers can use your software through an app, web browser, or one-time download.
Last on our list is pay-per-seat. When using this model, customers are charged based on the number of seats they want to buy. You can see this model being implemented in Upscope and most startups' famous communication platform, Slack.
Pay per seat models usually only target a small market segment. But to take it to the next level and attract more businesses, including startups, you can charge based on the number of seats being used. For example, if you have a client with 200 employees, instead of paying for them all, the client can pay for only the active ones. If you're a B2B startup, then this model is perfect for you!
By now, you probably have gained insights into all the types of revenue models. The next step is identifying the right model for your startup. Choosing the wrong one can result in a waste of your resources. Here's a quick guide to help you choose the right one,
KPI metrics are milestones that give you a real-time view of how your startup is progressing. There is no 'one size fits all' approach to this - a successful model elsewhere might be the perfect fit for your startup. Let's take a look at the 7 essential KPIs that you need to track,
This highlight’s how much time your startup can survive at a loss before you run out of money. This can be calculated by
Available Cash Balance / Monthly Burn Rate
If the cash inflow is less than the outflow, that’s a clear sign your current revenue model isn’t working.
CPA is an important metric that estimates how much one customer costs to win that particular end result of a sale. It helps measure the revenue impact of your marketing campaign. You can calculate CPA by
Total Campaign Cost / Conversions
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) and Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) are important metrics used in the subscription revenue model. These two metrics tell us how much recurring revenue comes in, yearly and monthly.
MRR = Revenue Per Unit x Number of Subscribers
ARR = 12 x MRR
This metric is similar to CPA but applies to leads that are further down the sales funnel. CPL is the amount of money your marketing campaign has got to pay when a user (lead) takes action i.e. fills out a form or gives contact details.
For example, a prospect will click on your lead magnet and provide valuable data for you to chase down and convert. It is commonly used with subscription revenue models.
CPC measures the price for your startup’s marketing campaign. As a startup looking to increase its customer base using ads, this metric can help you determine how much you would need to pay based on the number of clicks your ads will receive.
Your goal is to maintain a low CPC while still pursuing high-quality clicks. This will allow more clicks on your budget, leading to more potential leads.
This is a solid baseline metric that you can use to measure your marketing efforts. It will tell you whether your marketing plan is working or not.
This KPI indicator will tell you customer satisfaction, loyalty, and excitement. It is generally measured by asking customers questions like 'On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this company/product to a friend or colleague?'
Reports how many visitors visited a website through organic search results. Organic Search Reach helps to keep track of your SEO performance.
Revenue model templates can complement any presentation or report that analyzes the sources of cash flows. It helps present the current revenue model's effects on your startup growth and various sources of income and devise which sources to follow. Following are some great revenue model templates used by thousands of successful startups.
When combining one of these with a seamless financial projection template, you can easily verify business models and figure out which one to choose based on your future revenue forecasts.
Before choosing a revenue model, remember to do your research and study your startup's financial data. It will help you understand which revenue models are best for your startup. We didn't cover every revenue model, but we have highlighted the most popular, tried, and tested revenue models that will get your business generating revenue and reaching the big leagues in no time!
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