Subscriber Retention

“Retention should be front and centre of any subscription strategy for the foreseeable future,” says Doug Purdom, head of retention at Future, in this report.

Mike Halstead, managing director of HH&S adds: “Healthy customer retention makes every aspect of your subscription business more cost-effective and efficient – it’s a game-changer for any publication!”

Doug and Mike are two of the nineteen experts, from publishing companies and suppliers, who contributed to this report.

The ‘Subscriber Retention’ report has been compiled by InPublishing Editor James Evelegh, based on in-depth questionnaires completed by these nineteen experts. (The report was first published as part of a sponsored ‘subscriptions special’ in the September/October 2022 issue of InPublishing magazine.)

The report is divided into five sections:

• Key stages (split into: ‘Subscriber onboarding’, ‘Subscriber relationship’ and ‘Closing the deal’)
• Key performance areas (split into: ‘The ‘welcome’ stage’, ‘Monitoring subscriber engagement’, ‘Messaging during subs period’, ‘Account management’, ‘Metrics & KPIs’, ‘Managing likely non-renewers’, ‘Renewal pricing’, ‘Renewal cycle’, ‘Renewal payment process’, ‘Optimising cost-per-renewal’, ‘Dealing with lapses’.)
• Organisational structure (split into: ‘Changes publishers need to make’, ‘Skill sets needed’, ‘Common causes of under-performance’)
• In a nutshell (in which we asked our contributors to distil their best advice regarding subscriber retention into a few words.)
• Suppliers spotlight (short profiles of the fifteen suppliers who took part)

The following contributed their expertise to this report:

• Rob Sherwood, managing director, Adept Data Services
• Dan Heffernan, vice president & chief product manager, AdvantageCS
• John Diston, head of B2C client services, Air Business Subscriptions
• Ana Lobb, VP, new business development, publishing, Europe, Aptitude Software (formerly MPP Global)
• Mark Judd, managing director, CDS Global
• Alan Leech, founder & chief architect, crmSubscribe
• Angus Chenevix Trench, managing director, dsb.net
• Lorna Fenimore, senior VP, audience, ePublishing
• Louise McHale, deputy managing director, ESco
• Doug Purdom, head of retention, Future
• Mike Halstead, managing director, HH&S
• Helen Ward, subscriptions director, Immediate Media
• Jamie Wren, commercial & marketing director, InterMedia
• John Lawson, managing director, knk Software UK
• Michael Mendoza, founder & chief innovation officer, Lineup
• Will Woodrow, head of marketing, Mark Allen Group
• Zamir Walimohamed, head of digital, marketing & subscriptions, Motor Sport
• Andrew Morris, director of client relations, Pelcro
• Edwin Bailey, chief operating officer, Publish Interactive

(This report is sponsored by InPublishing. By registering to receive it, you are agreeing to your data being shared with InPublishing.)