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Cutting my revenue on purpose

I run multiple profitable software products in parallel, and I just passed $6k MRR last month.

But, I’m starting 2021 by unsubscribing some of my users.

These “users” were currently paying but they were not regularly using my products. All and all, I cut around $3-400 worth of subscriptions.

When I shared this on Twitter, I got controversial replies. Some people said they sign up for a SaaS tool, and intend to start using it in the future. They might be kind of upset when they login and find they don’t have a subscription anymore.

Some said this is a non-consensual move and an unethical one.

Some other said they would love to receive reminders about their inactivity from Datacamp, Notion and other tools.

Here is why I decided to cut my users subs:

  • I have nothing to lose. I’ll always make more money.
  • I think it’s better to handle a customer who is upset for having their subscription on pause, rather than have a customer who is upset for having a subscription on auto charge for months.
  • I don’t want users who pay for my products and that’s it. I want users who use my products, and then paying for them is a consequence of using the products.

For context, I also do have emails going out regularly to get users to use the products again. I call them “activation” emails. Also, canceling is a one or two-click flow in any of my SaaS.

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There are some secrets nobody talks about.

For courses, the secret is that people buy them, and then they never get to actually take them.

For SaaS, the secret is people forget about their subscriptions.

Transparency and honesty are some of my core values, so I decided to act accordingly.

What are you going to do about it?

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