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.
Dovetail held its fifth annual client conference on 24 January at Royal Mint Court, near the Tower of London. James Evelegh went along to listen to an impressive line-up of speakers giving their thoughts on the future of publishing.
Readers of The Sun, The Times and The Sunday Times will soon be able to access video clips of the best moments of their favourite Barclays Premier League matches following a groundbreaking deal between NI Group Ltd and the Premier League.
Estates Gazette won the Outstanding Achievement of the Year award at the 2012 PPA Digital Publishing event in September. The secret of their success, writes Trevor Goodman, has been their clear focus on market needs and refusal to be distracted by ea
The Specialist Media Show ran its first fully online event in November, bringing together publishing and media experts from both sides of the Atlantic to share practical ideas. Carolyn Morgan listened in.
Just over a year ago, private equity company Exponent acquired BBC Magazines and merged it with Magicalia and Origin to create Immediate Media Co – a major new player in the magazine marketplace. Meg Carter talks to chief executive Tom Bureau about t
In 2010, the Times caused shock waves around the industry when it started charging readers for digital content. Three years on, other newspapers are beginning to wonder if charging might indeed be the way forward. Mark Billige looks at some of the my
Johnston Press is expanding its portfolio of tablet apps in the run-up to Christmas, adding a further 10 titles on iPad and launching 18 titles on Android.
Guardian News & Media (GNM) has announced the appointment of Julia Porter to the role of director of consumer revenues.
Newspaper and magazine publishers failing to update their video content risk damaging their brands and loosing visitors, a study has found.
The Times and The Sunday Times have launched a new subscription offer that will bundle a digital subscription with a device – a first for UK newspapers.
Future, the international media group, has announced the relaunch of iGamer as a global interactive monthly iPad magazine.
The Economist’s Michael Brunt has told Ad Age that they will be unbundling tablet editions from print.
Rupert Murdoch is to shut iPad newspaper The Daily from 15 December, admitting that it has failed to win enough subscribers to make the online subscription venture viable in its 21 months of life.
Quadrant, the subscription management division of The Air Business Group, announces the renewal of its global contract for The Economist’s print and digital subscription management and customer service activity.
YUDU Media has announced a new partnership with The Salvation Army, the church and charity internationally recognized for helping people with all types of needs for nearly 150 years.
