How to create a subscription service that discourages churn3 min read

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Tackling customer churn is a major challenge when it comes to running a subscription-based business. How do you encourage customers not to cancel and to stay loyal to you in the long term? To give you some advice on how to achieve this, here are some top tips on how to create a subscription service that discourages churn.

Fill a gap in the market

Customers are much more likely to cancel if they realise that they could get the same service but with better features from elsewhere. To prevent this, do extensive market research before launching your business and find out what your target market is missing.

You don’t have to invent something completely new, but try to solve a problem that no one else is addressing and fill a gap in the market. This will allow you to capitalise on new customers but more importantly to retain existing ones, as they will not be able to find this solution anywhere else and will feel as if your business offers a different type of value, discouraging them from switching to one of your competitors.

Offer new features

Churn can happen when customers get bored with your service or do not find value in it anymore. Tackle this by introducing new features that you can offer to them regularly instead of keeping your subscription product the same each month or year. Customers are much more likely to stay if they are encouraged that allowing their subscription to renew will bring something fresh that they haven’t experienced yet and do not want to miss out on. This creates intrigue and excitement around your product, keeping it relevant instead of stale.

A great way to go about introducing new features is through interacting with your customers to find out what they like in your offering and what they would like to see added to it. This interaction process not only can help you plan a better product roadmap but also shows to your customers how much you value them.

Incentivise

Avoid churn by incentivising customers to stay subscribed to your service. This could be a financial offer, such as a three-month fixed price discount or an exclusive item or feature offer. Or, you may decide to offer them the chance to switch plans with you to a less expensive deal or one that has different features (see the above point!).

The ability to pause a subscription can also be appealing when someone is considering cancelling. This keeps them within your grasp for marketing and encourages them to come back when they can afford it again or when they are more excited by your services.

Use software

It’s difficult to keep on top of all of this yourself but luckily, we have developed software which is designed to help reduce churn. With Upzelo, you can find the most effective retention tactics that make sense for your business while analysing data which tells you when and why customers are cancelling. Having this implemented as soon as possible means that you can easily keep on track with your customers’ behaviours and create a retention technique as soon as possible, rather than trying to fix the problem after it has already negatively affected your company. Get in contact today to find out more.