Subscriber
Gist
Customer who pays a regular fee to get access to a product or service.
Full definition
Subscriber (or subscription customer) is a person who opted to subscribe for a product or service and is charged periodically to get or retain access to it. A customer becomes a subscriber, once they have placed their first subscription order and ceases to be a subscriber once they cancel their subscription.
How is subscriber different from customer
Customer is a person who purchases a product from the merchant one time. For subscribers, one-time orders are replaced with recurring subscription orders, based on a merchant-specified schedule.
From the business perspective, subscribers are much more valuable than customers, as customer-brand relationships have fewer opportunities to grow loyalty and are less predictable when it comes to cash flow and profit projections.
Subscribers, on the other hand, show higher degree of commitment from the start and increase the brand’s revenue repeatedly over a period of time thanks to recurring purchases. Subscribers also engage in a closer relationship with the brand, making it more likely for them to become brand advocates.