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.
In a three-year deal starting from the 2015/16 season, readers of The Sun, Times and Sunday Times will be able to watch clips of highlights from all 146 UEFA Champions League and all 205 UEFA Europa League competition matches.
Dovetail Services, the subscriptions marketing and fulfilment company, has announced the appointment of Rupert Miles as its new Managing Director.
The Financial Times has launched a new ‘gift article’ feature for subscribers which simplifies the sharing of articles with their networks.
The PPA unveiled the winners of this year's Customer Direct Awards at a ceremony at The Brewery on November 14.
UK online magazine subscription business, iSUBSCRiBE, yesterday celebrated its 10th anniversary and announced a number of new partnerships, sales channels and business initiatives.
Radio Times has launched Radio Times DiscoverTV App, a new daily TV and radio recommendations and discovery service.
The Times Literary Supplement (TLS) yesterday launched a weekly digital edition, offering subscribers a new way to read the literary title, wherever they are in the world.
As the need for a joined up subscription strategy across print, digital and bundled packages grows even stronger, the American Lawyer Media publishing firm, ALM has begun utilising Quadrant Subscription Service’s global subscriptions management facil
The Times and The Sunday Times are celebrating reaching over 350,000 subscribers to their print and digital bundles.
Specialist digital publishing group Green Star Media is launching a subscription-based basketball magazine to capitalise on the growth of the world’s second biggest team sport, aimed primarily at the US market.
Imagine Publishing has announced that Gill Lambert has joined the company as Head of Subscriptions overseeing print and digital operations.
Dennis Publishing’s car magazine, evo, is launching a brand-new app that combines print and digital to provide the ultimate experience for anyone who’s ever wanted to get behind the wheel of the world’s greatest cars, says the publisher.
The Professional Publishers Association (PPA) has welcomed Intermedia as the latest company to join its Mail Distribution Accreditation Scheme (MDAS).
Empire magazine has launched a five week campaign to promote its digital edition and drive subscriptions.
The Financial Times has released the first report of LatAm Confidential, a premium digital research service offering exclusive insight and analysis into the economies of Latin America.
