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.
With the launch of two new titles, the golfing sector has become a tad overcrowded this year. The pressure was on emap’s Today’s Golfer to maintain its number one position in the market. James Evelegh talks to brand manager Sue Holt and team to see w
Over the past twenty years, the Economist has increased its UK circulation by 73% - an increase due in part to one of the longest running and most recognised campaigns ever for a media brand. The Economist’s Christopher Collins gives us the inside st
Media web sites have evolved from a simple “pay” or “free” scenario to a more sophisticated tiered approach where paid and free sit comfortably alongside. Indeed the free content is seen as the marketing for the paid-for content. Andrea Kirkby assess
He publishes glossy mags with luxury advertising, yet Alasdair Buchan retains his membership of the organisation for newsletter publishers. It’s because, in publishing, you never know where your next bright idea for building circulation or profits wi
As part of their recent Magazine 2004 event, the PPA hosted a subscriptions conference entitled “Looking to the future?” James Evelegh went along to hear the pearls of wisdom. In no particular order, here are fifteen of them.
How agitated do you get when your circulation flat lines or decreases? If the answer is “very” then help is at hand. Margaret Snowdon, through her Excellence in Newspaper Sales Benchmarking initiative, has identified twenty key factors. If you get th
What is your paper’s attitude to promotions? Do you do them occasionally and grudgingly or often and with gusto? The Teesside Evening Gazette promotes all the time and, as James Evelegh reports, they’ve got rather good at it.
Over 80% of magazine sales in the USA are sold on subscription; the complete reverse of the UK market where the newsstand predominates. To make significant inroads into the US market, British publishers need to develop serious subs marketing expertis
Over the next six issues of InCirculation, Gary Olive of Qbase Data Services will be exploring some of the key themes underpinning a successful approach to database marketing. In his first article, Gary looks at the essential first steps along the ro
When brand value is at a premium, and readership keenly sought, are publishers fully considering the impact of reader offers on their brand when fulfilment is slow or non-existent, and customer service is unable to deliver a resolution? David Thomas
Having been in the industry for over forty years, Drayton Bird has seen at first hand the best, and worst, of subscriptions marketing. In 1982 he wrote Commonsense Direct Marketing, seen by many as THE industry textbook. Here he reviews his life in s
One of the main ingredients of successful retail promotions is information. The better the quality, the better the results. Yet research and measurement are too often conspicuous by their absence in most promotion strategies. Greg Harris draws on his
Game cards have long been a staple of reader promotion strategies for the national and regional press. Here, David Dodds of Edward Thompson Promotional Games explains the appeal and outlines some of the available options.
UK newspaper publishers are increasingly looking at data-driven marketing processes and “subscriptions models” for newspaper sales. In the US these are already commonplace. Here, in the light of increasing restrictions on the use of telemarketing in
When it comes to setting subscription rates, most of us play it safe and pitch it low. This is muddle headed and bad business practice. Instead you should think up, not down but always test first. Peter Hobday tells us how it should be done.
