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.
The Southern Daily Echo has surpassed more than 5,000 digital subscribers — a milestone in the newspaper’s ongoing commitment to delivering trusted local journalism in the digital age.
Successful publishers have one thing in common – clean data. So, why do so many publishers put up with messy data? We grab 5 minutes with Adept Data Services’ Rob Sherwood to find out why clean data matters and how publishers can achieve it.
Art Monthly and Jacobin are amongst seven new titles selling perpetual access subscriptions through Exact Editions.
James Evelegh picks out some takeaways from the September / October 2025 issue of InPublishing magazine.
Good Housekeeping UK has announced its first TV campaign to promote its Christmas issue.
Digital Publishers’ Revenue Index shows a year-on-year increase of 3.43%, with revenues from digital audio rising sharply.
AI is at its most powerful when it operates across the whole business, not in isolated silos. Rob Green, director of product and transformation at ESco, looks at what can be achieved.
Stylist’s mission has been clear from day one: to engage with its female audience in an intelligent, positive and non-exploitative way. 16 years on, and current PPA Media Brand of the Year, they are staying true to those values, says Lisa Smosarski.
Publishers like the FT, NYT and Mail are successfully growing their digital subscriptions using a range of paywall, bundling and pricing strategies. Phil Clark picks out some key learnings.
In the first of our new ‘Digital Horizons’ series, Tom Lake, director of product and technology at Infopro Digital, looks at the tech opportunities and challenges facing his company and the wider B2B sector.
Reach plc has released its Q3 trading update for the 3-month period to 30 September 2025.
Molly Clayton has been appointed in a new Daily Mail role.
Puzzles has long been part of the newspaper offering, but its usage has grown considerably. We grab five minutes with Peter Stirling, head of puzzles at PA Media, to find out why and what publishers need to know when planning their puzzles strategy.
Antiques Trade Gazette has launched an enhanced digital edition with Jellyfish.
The Economist introduces The Economist Insider, a new premium video product available from October 9th.
