Every subscriber who leaves has to be replaced before a subscription business can grow, which makes retention the quieter half of reader revenue and often the more profitable one. The first renewal is the real test of whether acquisition brought in the right people.
Retention starts with habit. The publishers that keep subscribers longest engage them well beyond the welcome emails, and renew on the strength of the brand rather than another discount. A surprising share of churn isn't a decision at all. Expired cards and failed payments quietly lose revenue that can often be recovered.
Some brands are losing subscribers and hard-fought revenue that could be saved with some attention and effort.
Tracy Larner Our subs retention strategy: William Reed
When someone does want to leave, how it is handled matters. Understand why before offering anything, and make the exit easy, because subscribers treated well on the way out are far more likely to come back.
Below you'll find some of our best feature articles on subscriber retention and churn, from engagement and renewal pricing to payment failure and cancellation, alongside our latest news and industry commentary.
Does your CEO know what your subscriber retention rate is? The chances are, probably not. But, according to Julian Thorne, author of our Guide to Retention Strategies for Publishers, this number should never be far from his or her (or your) mind.
A subscriber’s first 30 days are important to build habit but so is every day after, says Emma Robinson, head of customer experience.
You cannot improve a process until you have documented it, and you cannot achieve an objective until you have a process and system to support it, says Rosa Sherwood, head of CRM, engagement and loyalty.
It’s a well-known fact that engaged subscribers stay for longer, says Susanne Kinnaird, head of digital reader revenue.
It’s important not to lose subscribers and hard-fought revenue through involuntary churn, says Tracy Larner, subscriptions director.
It’s important to understand the reason for cancellation and to ensure the retention offer directly addresses the subscriber’s stated concern, says Mike Halstead, managing director of HH&S.
What determines pricing power is not only the category of need, says Andy Burden, founder of Substribe, it’s the stakes.
Making it super-hard to cancel a subscription does no one any favours.
Year 1 is not a terribly profitable time for most subscriptions, and that is why years 2 and beyond are so important. Publishers need to have systems in place to intelligently forecast the profitability of a subscription over its full lifetime. Beatr
Shop saves are not new, but, crucially, how many shoppers know about them? And if more did, would magazine sales go up? In 2004, COMAG launched the Just Ask! initiative to raise awareness of shop save schemes. The initiative won an ACE award and was
With newspaper circulations generally heading in the wrong direction, the onus is on marketing teams to help stem, and if possible reverse, the tide. Most newspapers invest heavily in reader promotions, and it is increasingly difficult to create inno
Launches are the lifeblood of the industry. Aren’t they? In a crowded media environment, a successful launch is harder to pull off than ever before. David Hepworth looks at recent launch activity and what it tells us about the challenges faced by mag
How often do you test? Never? Once in a blue moon? All the time? The right answer is the latter, but for too many publishers, testing is something they never quite get round to doing. Which is a shame, because it will be costing them money…
Whilst most supplier categories are fiercely competitive when it comes to winning publisher business – just think of printers – that has not traditionally been the case with distribution. But that is now beginning to change. In the second of his arti
As we all know, profits in subscription publishing come from renewals. Yet, many publishers still allocate far more time and resource to acquisition than to retention. Jess Burney argues that marketing budgets should be re-weighted to reflect the imp
Can you charge for content? Yes, you can - but the challenge is to do it without alienating your customers. Here, Michael Upshall outlines some ideas on how to go about it.
Response, pay-up and eventual renewal are the yardsticks by which copy writers are judged. Jennifer Menten shows how sometimes subtle tweaks to the offer and tone can achieve better results.
Whether to use hard won marketing investment to drive postal subscriptions or retail newstrade copies is a daily dilemma for circulation directors and publishers. Why are subscriptions growing? What are the USPs and plusses for retail that need to be
The internet has enabled consumers to be more discerning in their choices, to know more about us, and our loyalty-penalising marketing techniques, and has opened up lines of communication with fellow consumers allowing them to talk … about us! All of
Fulfilment is at the heart of the subscriptions model. Traditionally, a publisher’s approach to it has either been to do it themselves or to outsource to a bureau. But, asks Ross Sturley, might there be a third, more flexible way – one which draws fr
In subs marketing, as in life, getting what you want often depends on when you ask for it. Ask too soon, too late or at an inappropriate time and you’ll get nothing. But, get your timing right, says Sophia Dempsey, and things will start to look up.
Husbands and wives get used to each other’s voice. Your subscribers feel the same way about you, says Andy Maslen, which is why it pays to use appropriate language.
When devising your new subscriber acquisition strategies, the presentation of the offer is critically important. Offer types range from the hard, money-up-front to the soft risk-free, bill-me-later, with multiple variations in between. Greg Harris ta
