Were you aware that 86% of consumers would consider accepting a new offer on their subscriptions rather than cancelling?

 

Our new report in partnership with Minna Technologies - Subscription Economy: Business Barometer - has gathered performance benchmarking data, insights and trends from a survey with 100+ US and UK subscription business executives. It covers the most common type of subscription change, top acquisition channels, investment in AI and more as well as predictions from thought leaders in finance, fintech and media. The expert contributors include:

 

  • George Adelman, Principal, FT Strategies
  • Janine Hirt, CEO, Innovate Finance
  • Ana Lobb, VP Publishing, Aptitude Software
  • Amanda Mesler, Chair and CEO, Minna Technologies
  • Cedric Petre, Product Area Lead at Daily Banking & Mobile First, ING Belgium
  • Gurdev Potiwal, Associate Director, Savanta
  • Paul Roberts, Head of Payments, Aptitude Software

“Against the backdrop of economic uncertainty, regulatory pressures and accelerated tech disruption, seamless customer lifecycle management is a priority for subscription businesses across verticals. FT Strategies sees four key themes emerging from the research in this report that should be considered in strategic planning.

The importance of retention relative to acquisition is first - A single-digit percentage change in retention can result in a double-digit percentage change in customer lifetime value, with the returns becoming exponentially better as customer tenure grows. This becomes particularly with the trend of consumers' rising awareness of what they spend their money on.

The second key theme concerns churn management accuracy. Distinguishing between voluntary and involuntary churn - and what causes both - through proper system reporting and multi-point user feedback are crucial enablers of meaningful customer dialogue that translates into higher retention rates, increased churn-and-return rates and better monetisation.

First-party data usability in the advent of AI proliferation and the phasing-out of third-party cookies will also play an important role for subscription businesses, as well as present opportunities. Continued investment in first-party data capabilities is imperative in the context of emerging AI algorithms which rely heavily on the data they get fed with.

The last theme we see is the increasing importance of thinking about the customer lifecycle when designing retention strategies. We find retention to be highly correlated with engagement, and churn to occur for different reasons and at different rates during the early-life, in-life and renewal stages. Offering features such as bundle upsells, rightsizing and account pausing become well-placed only after a certain maturity point in the customer lifecycle."

- George Adelman, Principal, FT Strategies

 

The full report by Minna Technologies, Savanta and FT Strategies is available for you to read now. Download your free copy below.

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