Si no hubiera decidido navegar por la pestaña de promociones en Gmail un día la semana pasada, probablemente me lo hubiera perdido: un recibo de PayPal por un pago de € 85 en la App Store de Apple. El cargo era desconocido y había poca información en el recibo, así que tuve que llamar a Apple para resolver el misterio.
As it turned out, the charge was for a language learning app that my daughter downloaded and forgot to uninstall before her two-week free trial expired. This situation is not uncommon; Nearly half of consumers surveyed by CreditCards.com said they signed up for free trials that renew automatically without their knowledge. The experience made me wonder what other subscription fees were discreetly showing up on my credit card each month. I did a quick inventory on the back of the envelope, jotting down all the periodicals, streaming media services, software, and cloud apps I could think of, along with estimated costs. I quit smoking when the yearly total exceeded €2,500.
Fresh galore
I'm not the only one who was a bit surprised at how much subscriptions cost me. Consulting firm West Monroe recently released the results of its survey of 2.500 US consumers about their underwriting expenses. Among the discoveries:
- People spend an average of € 273 on subscription services each month, or more than € 3,200 per year. This is 15% more than in 2018.
- Most people don't know how much they are spending. In fact, their average estimates were even more flawed than in the same study three years ago, with 46% of respondents underestimating their subscription costs by more than € 200 per month.
- None of the interviewees knew their actual monthly spending on subscription services.
- Most people described themselves as "luckily addicted" to its services, with subscribers to books, music streaming, and pet supplies the happiest. A relatively small number said they were dissatisfied, leading fashion subscription boxes (24%) and digital newspapers and magazines (20%).
Addicted to submarines
Subscriptions are now the norm in our world as a service. Financial services firm UBS predicts the global "subscription economy" will more than double to €1,5 trillion by 2025. Zuora, which makes software that enables companies to offer subscriptions, says Subscription spending has multiplied by six in the last nine years. and subscriptions Market-based businesses are growing five to eight times faster than those with more conventional unit prices. It is surprising how many goods and services are now available in this way. You can buy monthly meals, groceries, car washes, personal training programs, razors, toothbrushes, and dog food. My home security provider has not charged me anything for the equipment or installation to protect my home knowing that he has permission to access my bank account for €60 a month for as long as I live there, which is very little. Businesses love subscriptions. The model softens the impact of the label by cushioning costs for months, so the cost seems almost insignificant, allowing for those "cup of coffee per day" promotions. Subscriptions simplify up-selling and cross-selling by reducing cost objections and making it easier for customers to onboard with the promise that they can stop at any time. The dirty little secret is that most clients don't give up. Instead, monthly fees become background noise on your credit card statements, which many people don't read anyway. In other words, if you drank 20 cups of coffee a day, you'd probably notice the cost (or at least the tremors). Most of us are drinking 20 cups a day right now without thinking.
Take the control
Of course, technology has an answer. Freemium apps like Bobby and TrackMySubs keep a list of your subscriptions and notify you of renewal dates so you can cancel any you don't want to keep. Trim and Truebill take a more militant approach. Both offer a concierge-like feature that can cancel services on your behalf or, in the case of Truebill, negotiate a lower rate. Please note that you must provide these services with personal information and account access to get full value. You don't need an app to know the prices. First, never choose an automatic renewal option unless you are absolutely sure you want to keep the service for a long time. If you start a free trial, mark it on your calendar to cancel before it expires. Don't make the same mistake I did; Be sure to turn on the Ask to Buy feature in Family Sharing on your Apple devices to request that all purchases made by your children be sent to you for approval. If you are an Android user, set your Google Play Store account to require authentication. Lastly, it doesn't hurt to occasionally cancel even the subscriptions you love. Some will offer you attractive loyalty offers that can save you money. Although in my case the Apple App Store did not seem interested.
So read this:
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