Renewal Marketing: 7 Proven Ways To Romance Repeat Business

I’ve had my fair share of memorable first dates.

There was the midnight stroll that lasted until sunrise so we could find our way home. The 30 hour round trip to get a single cup of coffee. And, longest and by far best of all, the final first date of my romantic career… when I fell in love with my then future wife.

What does this have to do with retention subscription marketing? Before I ever asked anyone out on a second date, I made sure to remind them of all the good times we had on the first go-around. Establishing this sense of context and connection is also fundamental to successful renewal promotions.

1. Show your customers why they subscribed in the first place…

With more and more newsstand business moving to subscription sales in the UK — at rock bottom acquisition prices — you need to offer more than just value in order to retain your readers. You need to replay the promise of your brand.

From editorial content to colour pallet and font choices, your title is unique in all the land. So reflect this fact (and these elements) early in the renewal series. Don’t assume your subscribers have memorised your mission statement. Or that that they’d be able to recognise the benefits of your publication in a police line-up.

Ring a bell in subscribers’ minds of the exclusive, must-read content in your pages… so you can strike a chord and keep them coming back for more.

Luckily, even a simple one-sided mail stuffer — featuring images of your top three performing issues — can jog a customer’s memory. The same captivating art and cover lines that work on the newsstand can help close a renewal sale by post.

2. Think of the invoice as the first effort in your renewal series…

Even with an official, no-nonsense bill, there’s still room to upsell your subscribers. Raise the length of term by adding "Increase My Savings" language — and give subscribers another chance to sign on for two, three or even five years.

This small addition to your current invoice can bring cash flow forward and save you from having to print and send a costly renewals series.

For names who have pre-paid by debit card or who have not selected a "bill me" option, I have seen dedicated renewal-at-birth emails pay for themselves many times over. Using a downloadable premium — culled from repurposed editorial content — as a carrot, you can boost term… and even convert names to automated payment.

Nothing is off the table as long as you do not offer too many options or offers in a single communication.

3. Build urgency by exploiting your timing chart…

Take a moment to review your timing chart against the themes and messaging in each effort of your control series. Then take another moment to review them again, not as a marketer, but as a subscriber.

Does each mailer deliver critical news? Are the remaining milestones of the recipient’s subscription divulged clearly? Is urgency present on every component?

If you only promote an "Expiration Warning" once in your current series, move that message up and replace it with an "Only 1 Issue Remaining" theme. Do you discontinue multi-term offers after a few efforts? Then announce that fact as a "Last Chance for Maximum Savings".

Tell your customers the final point at which your fulfilment house can guarantee uninterrupted service — and warn of the 2-month lapse that could occur if their subscription had to be reinstated.

Often when reviewing my clients’ existing controls, I find individual efforts fail to answer the question "Why should I act now?" Early efforts, especially, fail to communicate a sense of importance. That’s why I always suggest adding a deadline date to help spur immediate response.

And while we’re on the subject…

4. Don’t announce your first renewal as an "early bird" opportunity…

For starters, the folksy phrase "early bird" rarely meshes with the branding of the title being re-sold. Rather than seeming indispensable and ahead of the curve, you may instead be presenting your publication as dated.

Why risk starting off an appeal to your best customers on the wrong foot?

The second and vastly more important question is: Why scream that you are asking for money so far upfront in the life of the current subscription?

Such "early bird" headlines remove urgency in place of building it. In fact, they almost beg to be ignored. I find simply promoting the same offer as a one-time savings usually wins the day.

5. Let partnership marketing increase your number of paid renewed subscribers…

Partnering with a third party is a great way to build your readership numbers and therefore advertising rates. But you can also work smarter to convert names that were established for free:

* Be sure to play up your X factors. Having been acquired through a value-based promotion, tempt your potential renewal business with what no subscription agency can offer: Namely, "direct from the publisher savings".

* Hit home that the subscriber made a past decision — and a smart one at that — to receive home delivery of your magazine. While that choice might be tethered to purchasing another product or title, the customer did take some prior action. Psychologically, reminding them of this removes a bit of push back when it comes time to renew.

This mindset is akin to promoting a retention effort as an "annual renewal" — so that the transaction, while urgent, still seems like it’s business as usual (and not beyond the subscriber’s comfort level).

* Always look for the hidden benefit. If the acquiring partner was an airline or rewards programme, mention that no miles or points will be charged. While your customers are now paying for previously free content, you can piggyback off of all the prior branding that went into making these miles or points seem so valuable in the first place.

6. Do you publish multiple titles? Here’s how to stretch your budget further…

While I can’t stress the power of branding your initial renewal efforts enough, there are proven ways for multi-title publishers to profit from semi-generic series. The secret is using the power of high-resolution PCX files to image magazine covers in the first half of your series… affinity-based icons (such as a fork to play back to a cooking enthusiast title) … and of course logos.

I’ve delivered similar solutions to Source Interlink Media (formerly Primedia) and American Media, Inc among others. Best of all, the level of detail of this PCX personalisation technology even allows for imaged cover lines — as well as eye-catching images — to be clearly visible.

Much like targeted references in imaged body copy, the use of "personalised" art elements on a set of pre-printed forms allows you to resell your entire stable of titles effectively. The savings realised from not having to print and warehouse various stocks more than outweighs the additional programming fees you may incur.

A less complex imaging test to consider — whether you publish one title or one hundred — is to version your messages to both conversion names and established pure renewals.

Taking the time to thank a returning subscriber for their many years of continued loyalty pays off. (Especially when you are showing your appreciation by charging them more to renew than anyone else!)

7. The single most important head-to-head testing result you need to know…

I’ve saved the best retention marketing news for last. For paragraph after paragraph, you’ve been reading about how to improve your renewal series when the numbers now tell us you shouldn’t announce it as a renewal series at all.

Head-to-head component tests prove that the one word to avoid printing on your carriers is "renewal". Savvy subscribers will know they have issues remaining in their orders and will judge the message to be fluff while the outer envelope is still sealed. (For similar reasons, these results seem to follow my recommendation in section 4 to avoid early bird branding.)

Touting "bonus savings" instead will build curiosity and earn you another thirty seconds to win over the recipient. There are two best practices to keep in mind, however, when removing the word "renewal" from your promotions…

DO: Mention that the offer is for current subscribers only on the carrier — to avoid confusion that your customer is holding a new business package. (You do not want him or her thinking, "Don’t they know I already get this publication? What money-wasting fools!")

DON’T: Remove the word "renewal" from the name of the enclosed form. Once the commitment to open the outer has been made, you want to be as clear as possible about what you are asking of the reader. Only tease once.

"We should do this again…"

With these seven retention-marketing tips under your belt, it’s time to dress up your renewal series, communicate clearly and with confidence, and ask your subscribers for that second date.

However you choose to do so — by post… online… or via telemarketing — be sure to tell your renewal names that you had fun your first time out together. And remind them, through proper branding, why they should come back for more.