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.
BBC Gardeners’ World magazine is flourishing! Its considerable print circulation is holding up and its web traffic is growing, and with 15m active gardeners out there, explains editor Lucy Hall to Meg Carter, there lots of room for further growth.
Is speed a virtue? Are we serving the public best by being first out of the blocks with every news story? One publisher that thinks not is Tortoise Media, which says it wants to be the best news provider, not the fastest.
Got time? Make it count. That is the message coming from digital magazine subscription service Readly.
BBC World Histories Magazine has launched a digital archive, comprising 21 issues, with Exact Editions.
Affino has announced the release of its 8-20 Update, focused on automated subscriptions and memberships marketing, sales and fulfilment.
Individual and institutional subscribers can now access a growing archive of digital issues of Tes, created by Exact Editions.
The world has turned upside down. No one can remember anything like the situation we now face. But, as ever, there is a positive side…
With its network of street vendors, The Big Issue is working hard to maintain availability of the title during the coronavirus outbreak.
PageSuite has announced the re-launch of MyDigitalNewspaper and subsequent launch of MyDigitalMag, an emergency solution to help publishers during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Colouring Heaven magazine launches a new paid-for newsletter this week, dedicated to giving colourists the chance to discover new illustrators and artists.
ACE has announced the shortlists for the Newspaper and Magazine Awards.
The complete archive of The Book Collector, a literary journal founded by author Ian Fleming in 1952, is now available for individual and institutional subscriptions worldwide.
The team at newstrade marketing specialists Marketforce is constantly being asked by their clients for advice on subscriptions and that is why they now offer integrated retail and subscriptions marketing services.
The ABC yesterday released the consumer magazine circulation results for the July – December 2019 period and publishers have responded with their interpretation of the figures.
Intermediate Capital Group’s Europe Mid-Market Fund has announced its first investment in Pageant Media.
