Investing startup Acorns just took a page out of Netflix's playbook

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Investing startup Acorns is shaking up its fee-structure in order to attract new customers, the company announced Monday.
It is switching to a subscription-based model, inspired by consumer brands such as Netflix.

Acorns is taking a page out of Netflix's playbook as part of an effort to scale its popular investment app.

The company, which is known for its app that allows users to invest their spare cash, is shaking up the way it charges its customers, scrapping its fee-based structure for a subscription-based one, the company told Business Insider on Monday.

Originally, the firm charged users $1 a month for using the service and then an additional 25 basis points for accounts over $5,000. Now, it will charge a $1, $2, and $3 subscription fee for three tiers of accounts. The second tier is a retirement product, whereas the third tier is an unannounced offering still under development.

Acorns chief executive Noah Kerner says the new pricing structure better aligns with its core-identity of making investing simpler for its more than 3.3 million users.

“Our core product strategy is to help make big decisions small,” Kerner said. “We believe in transparency and predictability."

unnamed 15 "Other consumer brands: Netflix, ClassPass, Dollar Shave Club have adopted this model because customers want to shop hassle-free," Kerner added.

From a business perspective, making the product simpler will help attract new clients, Kerner said.

Acorns has stood out among the crowded-field of robos in part because of its large userbase. Still, it only manages $800 million, which is a fraction of the more than $10 billion apiece managed by rivals such as Betterment and Wealthfront.

To be sure, the company admits it is targeting a different type of user: a less experienced and less affluent investor.

David Goldstone of BackEnd Benchmarking, the analytics firm behind the roboadviser tracker, the Robo Report, told Business Insider subscription-based pricing, which is commonplace in consumer tech, could spur broader adoption.

"This type of pricing resonates with these types of customers," Goldstone said. "Subscriptions are everywhere."

Across the robo-advice space, companies have been shaking things up to gain market share. Wealthfront notably added a controversial risk parity offering, which adds an active-management element to its suite of portfolios.

And Betterment took a big step towards do-it-yourself investing, allowing certain customers more freedom to adjust the makeup of their accounts.

Robinhood, the zero-commission stock trading app, also rolled-out a premium subscription service, Robinhood Gold, which allows margin trading.

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