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.
CDS Global and Zeddit have announced a strategic technology partnership in the UK and Australia to provide advanced subscriber conversion capabilities for print magazine publishers.
The latest Digital Publishers Revenue Index (DPRI), a quarterly report on UK publishing from the Association for Online Publishing and Deloitte, highlights strong video, subscription and sponsorship revenue growth; indicating a more diverse path for
Mark Allen, chairman of Mark Allen Group, answers our questions about his life in publishing.
DC Thomson Media extends its Group partnership with Air Business, transferring the overseas mailing of This England Publishing’s titles to the global distribution and subscriptions partner.
Johnston Press plc yesterday published a trading update for the third quarter 2017 along with a strategic review of financing Options.
The Guardian yesterday announced it now has 500,000 regular paying supporters - made up of members and subscribers in more than 100 countries who make regular financial contributions to the publication.
Earlier this month, the PPA announced the shortlists for its 2017 Customer Direct awards.
Mark Allen Group has announced its intention to acquire RBI’s brand for social work professionals, Community Care.
James Evelegh's editorial from today's edition of InPubWeekly.
ESco have announced that they have successfully migrated subscriptions for Anthem Publishing to ESco from another bureau.
Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC, the international business information and events group, last week issued a pre-close trading update ahead of the announcement of its results for the year to September 30, 2017.
Tomorrow sees the unveiling of a revamped iWeekend.
James Evelegh's comment piece from the September / October 2017 issue of InPublishing magazine.
Abacus e-Media’s ADvance audience engagement platform provides Boat International Media with a full subscription management, customer services and fulfilment bureau operation.
“Reality check – making money with Facebook,” a new report published by WAN-IFRA yesterday, challenges news publishers to not only rethink their revenue and relationship strategies with Facebook but also that of all platforms.
