Dose #122: Retention Hacks - Finding Easy Wins in Your Subscription Data

Matt here with your weekly Subscription Prescription ??

To improve subscriptions, you need to start with retention and make sure the fundamentals in place. In this week’s dose, we review all the different touch points you need to work on, all the way up to the offer you use to convert subscribers.

Prefer listening or watching to learn more about subscriptions? Check out this week’s dose as a podcast on your favorite platform:

Apple Podcasts

Spotify Podcasts

Watch on YouTube

A Loyalty Program That Drives New Revenue

Everyone has a loyalty program in place. But what benefit does it have for your business? Does your loyalty program get you new business, increase the LTV of each customers, and make it easy to communicate with them?

Or is it just a simple points system that rewards people after a certain number of purchases?

There is a new movement in loyalty, one that leverages push notifications. No, not another app, but rather a digital loyalty card that sits inside the Apple or Google Wallet. With a simple download by your customers, you can now:

• Use location-based push notifications
• Boost customer-led referrals (they just show a friend the digital card!)
• Exclusive member-only offers
• Works with Shopify POS
• Personalized promotions through push notifications

This is a true game-changer for loyalty - drive more sales and referrals!

As a special offer to all my subscribers, you can get 25% off for your first 3 months AND they will setup the entire program for you (use code DRSUB when booking a call). Migrating your loyalty customers over is easy! Go see how Upzelo can change your loyalty program and get ready for BFCM.

See Upzelo in Action

The Three Pillars of Subscription Growth

In my experience working with subscription-based brands, whether fresh out of the gate or handling thousands of orders, I see the same challenges arise. One of the biggest is balancing growth with maintaining a healthy subscription program.

This week, we’ll explore some of the fundamental ways you can positively influence subscription revenue.

There are three key ways to drive subscription revenue:

1. Increase the number of subscribers – Growing the base is crucial, but not at the expense of retention.
2. Boost your average order value (AOV) – Get subscribers to spend more each time.
3. Extend subscription renewals – Increase the number of subscription orders each customer makes.

We often get laser-focused on retention, but there are more immediate wins, especially if you start at the top of the funnel. Let’s back into the strategy, starting with foundational tactics, and work our way toward the higher impact moves.

Quick Wins for Subscription Optimization

Post-Purchase Surveys

Gathering insights right after a purchase is one of the simplest ways to improve your subscription program. Use surveys to learn more about:

• What motivated the purchase.
• Whether the customer has used a similar product before.
• What hesitations they had before committing.

These insights will help you tailor your messaging and identify key areas for improvement.

For example, if you’re selling mushroom coffee, and a lot of your new subscribers have never tried mushroom coffee before, then you can help educate them about it as part of a welcome series to improve retention.

Cancellation Reasons

This is an easy fix that can make a big difference. Create a list of cancellation reasons, and regularly review them. You may find that certain reasons aren’t getting picked, which gives you an opportunity to update or add new ones.

Also, offering a simple incentive—like a 20% discount or skipping the next order—can help keep subscribers on board longer.

We look at this with all of our clients. Specific reasons with tailored treatments will help lower the number of cancellations you get each month.

Engaging Customers with the Right Touchpoints

Upcoming Order Notifications

Make sure you’re using branded email notifications to remind customers of upcoming orders. Most platforms offer basic templates, but you can easily enhance these with on-brand messaging and add product recommendations to increase AOV inside of Klaviyo or Sendlane.

The opportunity here is to make this less transactional and more about reminding them what they’re getting with each subscription order. You can also include upsells in this email to boost AOV.

Onboarding Emails

An onboarding series is crucial for setting expectations and explaining how your product works. Consider creating a six- to seven-part email sequence that:

• Welcomes customers.
• Highlights key product benefits.
• Shares your brand story and mission.

The biggest factor that will influence subscriber retention after someone has purchased is ensuring they use the product. To do this, they need to understand how it works, what makes it different or special, and overcome any common roadblocks people run into.

Designing and Testing the Right Offer

Here’s the big one—your offer. Whether it’s a discount, a freebie, a starter kit, or a prepaid bundle, your subscription offer is the engine that drives conversions.

The offer can live on the PDP or a landing page. As you scale, test through different offers on landing pages to see what converts.

The offer should be where you’re spending the most time iterating and improving because it has the greatest impact on your overall subscription growth.

This is something I write and talk about all the time, so I have some past doses you can use to work on your offer:

Explaining the math why you need to prioritize the offer in this past dose: https://newsletter.thesubscriptiondoc.com/p/dose-115

Design tips to improve the PDP and highlight the subscription offer: https://newsletter.thesubscriptiondoc.com/p/dose-109

The different components of the offer and how to improve each one: https://newsletter.thesubscriptiondoc.com/p/dose-110

Looking Ahead: Building a VIP Experience

As you continue to optimize the fundamentals, you can start exploring VIP or premium experiences. This is about creating more value for your most loyal customers.

For example, Dollar Shave Club has built a great subscription model, but not everyone buys into their whole product line. Some people just want the razors. How can you build something for those who are all-in on your brand? Consider:

• Offering early access to new products.
• Creating exclusive perks or a membership tier for high-value customers.

You’ll retain more subscribers and create stronger brand loyalty by adding special experiences for this core group.

Wrap-Up and Next Steps

That’s it for this week’s dose! To recap:

• Start with post-purchase surveys and cancellation reasons to gather better data.
• Improve your order notification and onboarding emails to enhance customer experience.
• Focus on testing and refining your subscription offer for maximum growth.
• Look ahead to how you can build a VIP experience for your most engaged customers.

See you next Tuesday with dose #123!

?- Matt Holman ??

The Subscription Doc