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.
At Immediate Media, writes Jess Burney, portfolio marketing is one of the key pillars behind their successful subscriptions marketing approach that has seen them grow their subscriber base to well over one million paid subscribers.
The final quarter of 2011 was not a great time to be a tabloid journalist. At the Leveson Inquiry, some of their darker arts were exposed to the harsh light of day as sundry victims of press intrusion lined up to exact their revenge. Tabloids’ reputa
Multivariate testing from Maxymiser is being used on ‘The Week’ subscriptions microsite to find the page designs, content and layouts that most effectively convert web visitors to paying subscribers.
The Financial Times has launched the beta version of its Android App, available for a range of large screen tablets, including the Samsung 10.1 inch tablet and small screen Android phones.
N-Photo, the only magazine dedicated to Nikon photography, is on sale now in both print and digital editions.
Hearst Magazines expects to reach one million digital subscriptions by the end of next year as more people sign up to read titles on tablet computers, the company's president told Reuters on Wednesday in New York.
The importance of working on your relationships was one of the main themes at last week’s PPA Customer Direct conference, held at The Brewery, in London. And, writes James Evelegh, the FT’s Mary Beth Christie had an interesting way of illustrating th
The winners of this year's PPA Customer Direct Awards were unveiled at a ceremony at The Brewery on November 24.
The Financial Times has launched a new FT web app for the Indian market, available directly through a web browser at app.ft.com/india, for the Apple iPad and iPhone.
Wednesday morning at the PPA offices in London saw phase 1 of CMS systems provider eZ’s attempts to crack the UK publishing market. James Evelegh went along to the breakfast briefing.
B2B media company UBM Built Environment has announced the launch of three brand new iPhone applications for its leading industry brands – Building, Building Design and Property Week.
Future’s flagship consumer technology brand T3 has made its successful iPad edition available to print edition subscribers for free.
The UK Publishing Survey found that only 20% use email automation and Social Media integration is low.
Tim Cain, head of research and insight at the AOP, summarises the main findings of the recently published Contents and Trends survey, which provides significant insights into the priorities of the UK’s leading digital publishers.
As 2011 winds down, the anticipated pullback in print magazine advertising expenditures noted in my last column seems to be playing out, writes Karlene Lukovitz.
