Subscription contract fee setting method

Abstract

To provide a subscription contract fee setting method which can minimize the loss due to cancellation.SOLUTION: A contract management unit 10 registers cancellation if a contractor registered with a contractor database 11DB cancels contract before a contract period of subscription contract expires. A cancellation rate calculation unit 12 refers to the contractor database 11DB, and calculates a cancellation rate of the subscription contract for each predetermined period. A contract fee calculation unit 13, as a fee of the contract period with respect to a new contract applicant of the subscription contract, calculates a fee plan in which an initial fee is higher, and a degression rate based on the elapsed time after the contract is higher, as the cancellation rate of a target period used when the fee is determined is higher.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a subscription contract fee setting method. [Background technology]

[0002] Subscription contracts, in which a fee is paid for the right to use a product or service for a certain period of time, are becoming common (see Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-99716 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In a subscription contract, there are cases where a subscriber cancels the contract before the expiration of the contract period. Therefore, it is desirable to have a method for setting subscription contract fees that can reduce losses due to cancellation. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] The present invention provides a subscription contract fee setting method in which a storage unit included in a subscription contract management server stores a subscriber database that manages subscribers of subscription contracts, a contract management unit included in the subscription contract management server registers a new subscriber of the subscription contract in the subscriber database, and if a subscriber registered in the subscriber database cancels the contract before the expiration of the contract period of the subscription contract, a cancellation rate calculation unit included in the subscription contract management server refers to the subscriber database and calculates a cancellation rate of the subscription contract for each predetermined period, and a contract fee calculation unit included in the subscription contract management server calculates, as a fee for the contract period for a new subscriber seeking to sign the subscription contract, a fee plan in which the higher the cancellation rate for a target period used in determining the fee, the higher the initial fee and the larger the rate of decrease in accordance with the time elapsed since signing the contract, and when the new subscriber seeking to sign the subscription contract accepts the subscription contract under the fee plan and signs a new contract, the contract management unit registers the new subscriber seeking to sign the subscription contract in the subscriber database as a new subscriber, and applies the fee under the fee plan to the new subscriber. Effect of the Invention

[0006] According to the method for setting subscription contract fees of the present invention, losses due to cancellations can be reduced. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a subscription contract management server that executes a subscription contract fee setting method according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a subscriber database stored in a storage unit provided in the subscription contract management server shown in FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a first example of the contract fee calculated by the contract fee calculation unit included in the subscription contract management server shown in FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a second example of the contract fee calculated by the contract fee calculation unit included in the subscription contract management server shown in FIG. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process executed by a cancellation rate calculation unit included in the subscription contract management server shown in FIG. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing executed by the contract management unit and the contract fee calculation unit included in the subscription contract management server shown in FIG. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a flowchart partially showing a preferred process executed by the contract management unit and the contract fee calculation unit included in the subscription contract management server shown in FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0008] Hereinafter, a subscription contract fee setting method according to an embodiment will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In FIG. 1, a subscription contract management server 100 is connected to a user terminal 30 via a network 20. The subscription contract management server 100 can be configured by a computer device. Typically, the network 20 is the Internet. The user terminal 30 is a personal computer, a tablet terminal, or a smartphone. Although one user terminal 30 is shown in FIG. 1, there may be multiple user terminals 30.

[0009] The subscription contract management server 100 comprises a contract management unit 10, a memory unit 11, a cancellation rate calculation unit 12, a contract fee calculation unit 13, and a communication unit 14. A subscriber database 11DB is stored in the memory unit 11. The contract management unit 10 comprises a database management unit 10a and a category determination unit 10b. The cancellation rate calculation unit 12 comprises a cancellation rate storage unit 12a.

[0010] The contract management unit 10, the cancellation rate calculation unit 12, and the contract fee calculation unit 13 may be functional configurations that are realized by having a central processing unit of a computer device execute a computer program (subscription contract management program). The storage unit 11 and the cancellation rate holding unit 12a may be configured with a memory provided in the computer device. The storage unit 11 and the cancellation rate holding unit 12a may be configured with a common memory.

[0011] An applicant who wishes to enter into a new subscription contract provided by the subscription contract management server 100 (hereinafter, a new contract applicant) operates the user terminal 30 to apply for a new contract with the subscription contract management server 100. Applying for a new contract here means indicating an intention to desire a contract (or request a quote). Application data for the new contract is input to the contract management unit 10 via the network 20 and the communication unit 14. When applying for a new contract, it is preferable to request profile information such as the name of the new contract applicant, as well as gender, date of birth, place of residence, and annual income.

[0012] The profile of a new contract applicant may include only one of the following: gender, date of birth, place of residence, and annual income, or any combination of two or more. Note that the place of residence may be, for example, a prefecture in Japan, or a regional name such as the Kanto region or the Chubu region.

[0013] The database management unit 10a of the contract management unit 10 manages the contractor database 11DB stored in the storage unit 11. The category determination unit 10b of the contract management unit 10 determines a category to which a new contract applicant belongs based on the profile of the new contract applicant. The categories are, for example, men in their 20s, women in their 20s, men with an annual income of less than 3 million yen, women with an annual income of less than 3 million yen, men with an annual income of 3 million yen or more and less than 5 million yen, women with an annual income of 3 million yen or more and less than 5 million yen, etc. It is not essential to divide new contract applicants into categories, but it is preferable to do so.

[0014] As will be described in detail later, when a new contract applicant applies for a new contract with the subscription contract management server 100, the subscription contract management server 100 presents a subscription contract rate plan to the new contract applicant. If the new contract applicant accepts the presented rate plan, he or she officially applies for a subscription contract.

[0015] 2 conceptually illustrates the subscriber database 11DB. When a new subscriber formally applies for a subscription contract, the database management unit 10a assigns a subscriber number to the new subscriber, and registers the name, profile, and contract date in the subscriber database 11DB in association with the subscriber number. When a subscriber cancels the subscription contract before the expiration of the contract period, the database management unit 10a registers a cancellation date indicating the cancellation in the subscriber database 11DB.

[0016] The cancellation rate calculation unit 12, under the control of the contract management unit 10, refers to the contractor database 11DB and calculates the cancellation rate of the subscription contract for each predetermined period. If the contract period of the subscription contract is 12 months, the predetermined period should be 12 months. However, the contract period of the subscription contract and the predetermined period for calculating the cancellation rate do not have to be the same length of time.

[0017] The current year (this term) is 2023, and the churn rate calculation unit 12 calculates the churn rate for the previous year (previous term) of 2022, for example, as surrounded by a thick solid line in Fig. 2. The churn rate holding unit 12a holds the calculated churn rate. Hereinafter, it is assumed that the churn rate holding unit 12a holds the churn rate for the previous year.

[0018] When a new contract applicant applies for a new contract with the subscription contract management server 100, the contract management unit 10 instructs the contract fee calculation unit 13 to calculate and present the contract fee. As an example, the contract fee calculation unit 13 calculates the fee for each instalment of the contract period based on formula (1). The total fee for each instalment of the contract period is sometimes referred to as the contract fee, and the contract fee is sometimes referred to as the fee plan.

[0019]

number

[0020] In formula (1), Pn is the fee for the nth time in the contract period, A is a constant, r is the cancellation rate for the period used to determine the fee, and N is the number of payments in the contract period. The value n is 1 to N. The cancellation rate r is the cancellation rate for the previous year stored in the cancellation rate storage unit 12a. As an example, the contract period is 12 months, and the number of payments N is 12. When the fee for each time in the contract period is calculated based on formula (1), the higher the cancellation rate r, the higher the initial fee and the larger the rate of decrease according to the elapsed time after the contract is made. In other words, by using formula (1), the contract fee according to the cancellation rate r can be obtained.

[0021] As an example, the contract fee calculation unit 13 sets a flat fee at a predetermined time during the contract period, regardless of the cancellation rate r. For example, the contract fee calculation unit 13 sets the sixth fee to 3000 yen, regardless of the cancellation rate r, assuming that the predetermined time is six months. The cancellation rate r is, for example, 7.1%. The constant A in this case is calculated by substituting each value into formula (1), 3000 x (1 - 0.071). (12-6) Therefore, the number is 1928.

[0022] Therefore, when the cancellation rate r is 7.1%, the contract fee calculation unit 13 calculates the fee for each (month) of the 12-month contract period based on formula (2).

[0023]

number

[0024] When the contract fee calculation unit 13 calculates the fees for the 1st to 12th times based on formula (2), the fees for each time are 4361 yen, 4008 yen, 3728 yen, 3467 yen, 3224 yen, 2998 yen, 2789 yen, 2593 yen, 2412 yen, 2243 yen, 2086 yen, and 1928 yen, respectively. Note that, as described above, the fee for the 6th time was set to 3000 yen to calculate constant A, but since the decimal points were rounded down when calculating constant A, the fee for the 6th time is 2998 yen here.

[0025] FIG. 3 shows contract fees calculated in the same manner based on formula (1) for the cases where the cancellation rate r is 7.1%, 15.0%, and 3.4%. As shown in FIG. 3, the contract fee calculated by the contract fee calculation unit 13 has a higher initial fee and a larger rate of decrease according to the elapsed time (number of months) after the contract is made, as the cancellation rate r is higher. Note that the 3,000 yen set as the sixth fee in each fee plan shown in FIG. 3 is approximately the average amount when all 12 fees are paid. In each fee plan, the average amount paid by a new subscriber until cancellation in the event of mid-contract cancellation is set higher than the average amount when all 12 fees are paid. Also, the longer the subscription period, the lower the average amount is set. The contract fee calculation unit 13 transmits the calculated contract fee to the user terminal 30 via the communication unit 14 and the network 20 as a fee plan to be presented to a new contract applicant.

[0026] When a new contract applicant accepts the subscription contract under the presented fee plan and officially enters into the contract, the database management unit 10a registers the new contract applicant as a new subscriber in the subscriber database 11DB. The contract management unit 10 manages the provision of products or services to the new subscriber based on the subscription contract to which the fees under the accepted fee plan have been applied.

[0027] Instead of setting a flat rate at a predetermined time during the contract period regardless of the cancellation rate r, the contract fee calculation unit 13 may, as another example, set a flat rate at the expiration time (expiration month) of the contract period at the predetermined time regardless of the cancellation rate r. Figure 4 shows the contract fees based on formula (1) when the cancellation rate r is 15.0%, 7.1%, and 3.4%, taking as an example a case where the fee for the 12th payment, which is the expiration month of the contract period, is set to 1,000 yen regardless of the cancellation rate r. In Figure 4 as well, the contract fee calculated by the contract fee calculation unit 13 has a higher initial fee and a larger rate of decrease according to the number of months that have passed, as the cancellation rate r is higher.

[0028] In Figures 3 and 4, the fee is set by month, but the fee may be set in detail by day or by week. The subscriber may pay the fee set in detail by day or by week on a monthly basis. The churn rate is calculated by monthly, weekly, and daily basis. Specifically, in the case of monthly churn rate, it is calculated by dividing the total monthly churn rate in a specified period by the number of months in the specified period, in the case of weekly churn rate, it is calculated by dividing the total weekly churn rate in a specified period by the number of weeks in the specified period, and in the case of daily churn rate, it is calculated by dividing the total daily churn rate in a specified period by the number of days in the specified period.

[0029] The processing executed by each unit of the subscription contract management server 100 will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in Fig. 5 to Fig. 7. Fig. 5 shows the processing executed by the cancellation rate calculation unit 12, and Figs. 6 and 7 show the processing executed by the contract management unit 10 and the contract fee calculation unit 13.

[0030] In FIG. 5, when processing starts, the churn rate calculation unit 12 determines in step S1 whether a predetermined period has passed. The predetermined period is, for example, one year from January 1 to December 31. If the predetermined period has not passed (NO), processing proceeds to step S4. If the predetermined period has passed (YES), the churn rate calculation unit 12 calculates the latest churn rate for the previous period in step S2. If the predetermined period is one year, the previous period is the previous year, and then the churn rate calculation unit 12 updates the churn rate for the previous period held by the churn rate holding unit 12a in step S3, and processing proceeds to step S4.

[0031] In step S4, the cancellation rate calculation unit 12 determines whether or not to end the process due to, for example, the operation of the subscription contract management server 100 being stopped. If it is determined that the process should be ended (YES), the cancellation rate calculation unit 12 ends the process. If it is not determined that the process should be ended (NO), the process returns to step S1, and the processes from step S1 onwards are repeated.

[0032] In step S2, the churn rate calculation unit 12 may calculate a churn rate for each subscriber category determined based on the subscriber profile.

[0033] In Fig. 6, when processing is started, the contract management unit 10 determines in step S11 whether or not an application for a new contract has been made. If an application for a new contract has not been made (NO), the contract management unit 10 repeats the processing of step S11. If an application for a new contract has been made (YES), the contract fee calculation unit 13 obtains the cancellation rate for the previous period under the control of the contract management unit 10 in step S12. The contract fee calculation unit 13 sets a fee for a specified period in step S13, and calculates the contract fee in step S14. The specified period is the middle of the contract period (a month in the middle) or at the time of expiration (the month of expiration), as described above.

[0034] In step S15, the contract fee calculation unit 13 presents a fee plan to the new contract applicant, and then the process proceeds to step S16. In step S16, the contract management unit 10 determines whether or not the contract has been officially applied for. If the contract has not been officially applied for (NO), the process proceeds to step S18. If the contract has been officially applied for (YES), in step S17, the contract management unit 10 registers the new contractor in the contractor database 11DB, and the process proceeds to step S18.

[0035] In step S18, the contract management unit 10 determines whether or not to end the process due to, for example, the operation of the subscription contract management server 100 being stopped. If it is determined that the process should be ended (YES), the contract management unit 10 ends the process. If it is not determined that the process should be ended (NO), the process returns to step S11, and the processes from step S11 onwards are repeated.

[0036] Steps S21 to S23 shown in Fig. 7 may be provided between steps S11 and S12 in Fig. 6, and step S24 may be provided instead of step S12. In Fig. 7, if a new contract application is made in step S11 (YES), the contract management unit 10 requests input of a profile in step S21, and acquires the profile in step S22. The contract management unit 10 (category determination unit 10b) determines the category of the new contract applicant in step S23.

[0037] In step S24, the contract fee calculation unit 13, in accordance with the control of the contract management unit 10, obtains the churn rate for the previous period for the determined category, and transitions to step S13 in Fig. 6. In this case, in step S14 in Fig. 6, the contract fee calculation unit 13 calculates the contract fee based on the churn rate for the same subscriber category as the category of new contract applicants.

[0038] As described above, according to the subscription contract fee setting method of this embodiment executed by the subscription contract management server 100, it is possible to reduce losses due to cancellations by setting the contract fee taking the cancellation rate into consideration. If the cancellation rate for the period (previous period) used to set the initial fee for the current period is higher than that for the period (the period before last) used to set the initial fee for the previous period, the initial fee for the current period is set higher than the initial fee for the previous period, making it possible to reduce losses due to cancellations.

[0039] In addition, even if a contract is terminated midway, the average amount of fees paid by those who terminate midway is higher than the average amount paid if all fees were paid, so losses can be reduced. Also, the average amount of fees paid by those who continue the contract for a long time is lower, which motivates contract holders to continue the contract.

[0040] According to the subscription contract fee setting method of this embodiment, even if the cancellation rate in the previous period was high and the initial fee was high, the rate of decrease according to the number of months elapsed is large, making it easy to enter into a new contract, as shown in Figure 3 or Figure 4. According to the subscription contract fee setting method of this embodiment, the fee decreases according to the number of months elapsed, so it is expected to reduce the cancellation rate.

[0041] Incidentally, in order to prevent early cancellation of a subscription contract, a cancellation fee (penalty) may be collected from those who cancel the contract early. However, if a cancellation fee is set in a subscription contract, new contract applicants may hesitate to sign the contract, which may become an obstacle to increasing the number of subscribers. Therefore, in the subscription contract fee setting method according to this embodiment, it is better not to set a cancellation fee. If a cancellation fee is not set, new contract applicants will be less likely to hesitate to sign the contract, making it easier to increase the number of subscribers.

[0042] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the present invention. The churn rate may be not only the churn rate of the previous period, but also the churn rate of a predetermined period going back from the time of the contract. For example, in a rate plan presented in June 2023, the churn rate for one year from June 2022 to May 2023 may be used. If the predetermined period includes the week before or the day before the application date of the new contract, the latest churn rate can be reflected in the rate plan. [Explanation of symbols]

[0043] 10 Contract Management Department 10a Database Management Department 10b Category determination section 11 Storage section 11DB Contractor Database 12 Churn rate calculation section 13 Contract Fee Calculation Department 14 Communications Department 20 Network 30 User terminals 100 Subscription contract management servers

Claims

1. a storage unit included in the subscription contract management server stores a subscriber database for managing subscribers of subscription contracts; a contract management unit included in the subscription contract management server registers a new subscriber of the subscription contract in the subscriber database, and if the subscriber registered in the subscriber database cancels the contract before the expiration of the contract period of the subscription contract, registers the cancellation; a cancellation rate calculation unit included in the subscription contract management server refers to the subscriber database to calculate a cancellation rate of the subscription contract for each predetermined period; a contract fee calculation unit included in the subscription contract management server calculates, as a fee for the contract period for a new applicant for the subscription contract, a fee plan in which the higher the cancellation rate for the period used to determine the fee is, the higher the initial fee and the greater the rate of decrease according to the elapsed time after the contract is made; When the new contract applicant accepts the subscription contract under the fee plan and makes a new contract, the contract management unit registers the new contract applicant in the subscriber database as a new subscriber and applies the fee under the fee plan to the new subscriber. Subscription pricing methodology.

2. The subscription contract fee setting method according to claim 1 , wherein the contract fee calculation unit calculates a fee plan in which the fee at a predetermined time during the contract period is a predetermined flat rate regardless of the cancellation rate.

3. The subscription contract fee setting method according to claim 1 , wherein the contract fee calculation unit calculates a fee plan in which the fee at the expiration of the contract period is a predetermined flat rate regardless of the cancellation rate.

4. The contract fee calculation unit [0030] In formula (1), Pn is the fee for the nth payment in the contract period, A is a constant, r is the cancellation rate, and N is the number of payments in the contract period. Substituting the flat rate at a predetermined time during the contract period or at the expiration of the contract period into Pn, and substituting a value n indicating a predetermined time during the contract period or at the expiration of the contract period to determine a constant A; Based on the formula (1) into which the determined constant A is substituted, the fee for each of the nth payments from 1 to N is calculated as the value n of the number of payments N during the contract period. The subscription contract fee setting method according to claim 2 or 3.

5. The cancellation rate calculation unit calculates a cancellation rate of the subscription contract for each of the subscriber categories determined based on the subscriber profiles, The contract fee calculation unit calculates the fee plan based on a cancellation rate of the subscriber category that is the same as the category of the new contract applicant determined based on the profile of the new contract applicant. The subscription contract fee setting method according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

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