The economics are different
A subscription customer is worth several times a one-off customer, which changes what you can afford to spend acquiring them. It also means churn matters more than almost anything else.
A subscription business with high churn is a one-off business with extra complexity, so the retention work is not optional.
What customers need to control
- Skip a delivery, in one click, without contacting anyone
- Change frequency — the most common reason people cancel is too much product
- Change the products in the subscription
- Pause rather than cancel
- Cancel, easily, without a retention maze
Making cancellation difficult produces chargebacks, complaints and reviews. Offering to pause or reduce frequency at the same moment recovers far more customers than obstruction ever does.
Failed payments are the silent churn
Cards expire, get replaced and get declined. A subscription business that does not handle this well loses customers who never intended to leave.
- Retry on a sensible schedule, not once
- Email before the payment is attempted, not only after it fails
- Make updating the card trivial — one link, no login if possible
- Warn before cancelling for non-payment
Get the first delivery right
The first box sets the expectation for everything after it. Late, wrong or underwhelming first deliveries produce cancellations within the first cycle, which is the most expensive churn there is.
Over-invest in the first order experience. It is the cheapest retention work available.
Measure the right numbers
| Metric | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Churn rate | Whether the product or the experience is working |
| Average subscription length | The real customer value |
| Failed payment recovery rate | Whether you are losing people accidentally |
| Skip rate | Frequency is probably wrong |
| First-cycle cancellation | The first delivery disappointed |