Just when you thought buying supplements online can’t get more complicated, comes the monthly subscriptions or membership-based programs offering better value for your supplement purchases. If you’ve searched for supplements outside of the major e-commerce websites, you’d quickly learn that most supplement companies now offer monthly subscriptions to their customers.
This isn’t new by any means. Subscription-based products have been around for decades, but the negative experiences many have had with these subscriptions made it increasingly difficult for Americans to trust products offered in a subscription model. In this article, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about subscriptions, and why it’s the next best thing in the world of supplements.
With supplement memberships, you get to purchase a supplement at a discounted price by agreeing to a membership, which will charge you in set intervals. This way, you can be sure that you won’t forget to order the supplement before you run out of pills, and you also get the best prices available.
The Good: Taking Supplements Is a Long-Term Commitment
Having a subscription makes sense in the supplement market because no one buys a supplement thinking that they would only take the supplement for a month. We’ve reviewed hundreds of supplements in the last 7 years, and we’ve yet to find a supplement that completely changed a person’s health in just 30 days. That’s just not possible.
Think about it this way – a dietary supplement, is essentially a diet. It’s not a drug, but a form of nutritional focus.
It takes time for your body to adapt to a diet, and that takes anywhere from 3 months to a year. Even when you get the results you want, you’d still want to continue taking supplements to maintain the results you’ve just gained. It’s a long-term commitment, and having a membership that will consistently supply you with a product at a discounted price isn’t too bad. Getting a membership from a high-quality supplement is the best option you have if you’re planning to take supplements for a long time.
The Bad: Shady Supplement Companies Take Advantage of Gullible Customers
Everyone learns about the fine print the hard way. I’ve learned my lesson once when I signed up for a supplement membership more than 10 years ago. I was too excited about the pricing and didn’t read the fine print where I gave them the authority to charge my card whenever they please. I ended up getting $300 charged to my card in one month, and I don’t recall having to spend that much on any supplement ever again.
Reading the fine print is important, and you’ll know that the business is shady if they aren’t too clear about their monthly membership charges. However, it’s a good sign when the company is upfront with its monthly subscription. We all know how negatively membership-based products are perceived in the United States, and seeing a product being open and honest about its charges is a breath of fresh air. More importantly, it builds trust, which is something that you’d be counting on until you see the results promised by the supplement.
The Good: Better Long-Term Value
Memberships are not just about scheduling your monthly supply of supplements. The best supplements that offer monthly subscriptions also offer exclusive perks and benefits that add to the value that you get when you sign up.
A good example of a supplement that offers great long-term value for its customers is Male UltraCore. You get a month’s supply of premium health supplements on top of your subscribed supplement, and you also get a 50% discount once you’ve reached your 4th consecutive month. You also get a free workout program to help you take advantage of the increased testosterone that you get from the formula.
It’s important to know that you get the support you need when taking supplements, and as a member, you get to be treated like the most valuable customers in the business. Companies would always make an effort to keep you on as a customer, and as a result, you get more than what you paid for.
The Good: Fresh Supplements every Month
The traditional wholesale/bundle pricing is the most commonly-used pricing structure in supplements today. You need to buy more than one supplement to save a few dollars on your purchase. The two things you need to realize about this arrangement are that 1 – you’re paying more upfront, and 2 – you’re getting supplements that you won’t be using for months.
It’s a mistake to buy supplements in bulk, regardless if they are cheaper by the dozen. Some brands offer packages that don’t make any sense. Why do you need a 6-month supply of a product? That would only mean that the last bottle would have to sit on your cupboard for 5 months before you get to use it. On top of that, you’ve paid a huge sum upfront without knowing if the product works or not.
Most supplement subscriptions are refreshed every month, and that means that you get freshly-made supplements delivered to your doorstep. I don’t know about you, but I’m done with supplements that expire or go bad before I get to use them. I’m sure many of you have had a bad-smelling cupboard because a supplement had gone bad months before you use them. At least with a supplement subscription, you still get the savings of a bulk purchase, but you won’t have to deal with supplements going bad while you have them stored.
Why do good supplement companies offer memberships?
About 10 years ago, only subpar companies offer memberships and free trials to trick their customers into buying their products and charging them for a monthly subscription. These days, even the best supplement companies in the business offer membership-based products because it’s the centerpiece of a great business model.
It costs businesses a hefty sum to acquire a new customer. The extensive cost of producing ads, websites, and content to entice and convince customers into buying their product, would definitely influence the cost charged to the customer. By offering a membership, companies wouldn’t have to spend so much more on repeat customers. However, the caveat is that their customers would have to be completely satisfied with their product to continue their business with the company.
This, of course, means that you get to enjoy more of the product. Good companies that offer amazing membership deals would be expected to improve and innovate to keep you on as a customer. While you’re saving more on your monthly supplement purchases, the company behind the supplement you’re purchasing is exhausting every effort to make sure that you are satisfied with your product – and that’s the most important benefit of being a customer.
