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.
There are many challenges, but new strategies are emerging and switched on publishers now have a clearer understanding of what success looks like. We grab five minutes with WAN-IFRA’s deputy director to find out more.
The Strad has partnered with digital providers Exact Editions to offer subscriptions to institutions and individuals around the world.
Readly, the Swedish founded digital magazine subscription service, has launched its service into the Italian market.
James Evelegh’s roundup of some of the news stories that caught his eye over the last couple of months.
Both the automotive industry and the media sector have changed dramatically in recent years and continue to evolve at a fast pace. This is the challenge facing Gavin Miller, the new managing director of Ultima Media, a UK based publisher providing ne
More than one speaker at DIS commented that we are living in a “VUCA” world: meaning an environment that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous.
The Newspaper & Magazine Awards 2019, organised by ACE, took place on Thursday 9th May 2019 at the Royal Garden Hotel Kensington.
Guardian Media Group yesterday announced the successful completion of its three year turnaround strategy launched in 2016.
Cambridge University Press has reached a major Open Access agreement with Germany’s Max Planck Society (MPG).
The winners of this year's European Digital Media Awards were announced in Vienna this week.
The complete archive of Opera Now is now available on the Exact Editions platform.
The Financial Times has reached a record paying readership of one million; a key strategic goal for the title.
James Evelegh attends ESco Connect and comes away with six tips for increasing renewal rates.
Incisive Media has launched Delta, a new market intelligence service for CIOs and other IT leaders.
Apple has announced Apple News+, a new subscription service that brings together over 300 magazines, newspapers and digital publications.
