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 Financial Times has announced the appointment of Robert Armstrong as head of Lex (@thelexcolumn), the flagship daily opinion column available to premium FT.com subscribers and located on the back page of the FT newspaper.
The Sun has signed former England manager, Terry Venables, to present one of its flagship Sun FC football shows.
Readers of The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times are now able to access video clips of Barclays Premier League matches.
The ABC yesterday released the consumer magazine circulation results for the January – June 2013 period and publishers have responded with their interpretation of the figures.
The Sun has signed former England and Arsenal legend, Ian Wright, as the main presenter of its new football show, The Sun FC.
The Sun has launched Sun+: which it describes as “a whole new world of digital entertainment available across web, phone and tablet devices.”
30 July: As the countdown continues to the arrival of Sun+, their presses have now been upgraded with the latest printing technology to ensure the most loyal readers of the paper will receive exactly the same benefits as digital members.
Telegraph Media Group (TMG) has partnered with Vodafone UK to launch a unique price plan that includes an iPad with a data plan and a digital subscription to the Telegraph.
26 July: First half results for the Financial Times Group have been published by Pearson.
24 July: Retail Week has launched a brand new range of subscriptions packages to offer customers more choice in how they consume Retail Week content and simultaneously revealed its first tablet app, to address the changing information needs of its au
15 July: EMAP’s Health Service Journal (HSJ) has launched its first tablet edition, making its content available to healthcare leaders on iPads as well as desk-top, mobile and the weekly print magazine.
17 July, 2013: Readers of The Sun, Times and Sunday Times will be able to access video clips of the best moments of England and FA Cup matches next year following a groundbreaking deal between News UK and the Football Association.
Henry Ford once said that the only real mistake we make is the one from which we learn nothing. Rebekah Billingsley strongly believes that’s what a lot of publishers are doing right now with their digital magazines and are in danger of being left sta
Publishing has changed forever, writes Carolyn Morgan, and media owners will have to learn a whole new set of digital survival skills to thrive in a world of digital content – before brands, retailers, government and start-ups eat their lunch…
Publishing has come to the fore at Stationers’ Hall with the election of the new Master of the Stationer’s Company Tom Hempenstall, which was announced last week.
