Has Your Autoship Come In?

by Michael L. Sheffield

Startups and expanding companies frequently ask if they should institute an Autoship program. The answer is invariably “Yes.”

Automatic shipments of your products provide a residual income and somewhat predictable cash flow. Customers and distributors on Autoship are less likely to cancel their monthly order if they like the products or services unless they have some kind of major financial burden. Therefore the retention rate of people subscribing to Autoship is as high as 90%. Retention is as low as 30% for companies whose customers or distributors must call or go online every time they want to reorder their favorite products. So if your company doesn’t have Autoship you may have to recruit three times as many distributors and three times as many customers just to stay even with your competitors.

Autoship also provides huge economic advantages in forecasting and distribution. The company can spread their shipment times over a period of a month. It frees the call center and shipping department from being deluged by distributors trying to place orders at the last minute to meet their monthly sales qualifications. It also minimizes long waits on the phone, shipping delays, the dreaded “back order”, and allows greater predictability for staffing and supply chain management.
The Autoship requirement can be coupled with the company’s minimum monthly qualification for downline commissions and bonuses. This acts as an incentive for distributors to keep ordering the products love to sell or use personally, even if they may have become a passive participant in the recruiting process of their business building activities.

So, whether you are a brand new company just launching, an emerging company or a well established industry icon, the Autoship concept is a tremendous asset to your business making life easier for your staff, sales leaders and growing distributor network and for your customers. Once they understand the many benefits they’ll receive, they’ll agree it’s a win-win way to make sure their Auto-ship comes in.