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Subscriptions. Too much of a good thing?

With the acceleration of digital in recent years, subscriptions have soared. In Australia, where pandemic lockdowns have been severe, 42% more people hold subscriptions now compared to last year. Paid TV/movie subscriptions are up 55%.

This kind of astonishing success – worldwide, not just in Oz – brings its own shadow: subscription fatigue. In a saturated market with so many brands and offers to choose from, consumers are starting to feel a bit fed up. In the US, 47% of survey respondents said they are put off by the number of subscription services available. And this has led industry experts to question whether we’ve reached peak-subscription, with only one way to go from here (down…)

Not just a subscription, an experience

There is a way to get around subscription fatigue and get users excited again. It comes not just from the product or service on offer, which of course is crucial. Rather, in the maze of subscriptions that have become part of consumer life, companies must focus on the audience experience. It is here that they can win hearts and minds.

What kind of experience? That depends. One commentator sums it up very neatly and smartly by dividing subscriptions into two categories: subscriptions that provide a utility or fill a functional need, and subscriptions that fulfil the user’s emotional or moral drives.

By pinpointing the underlying need, it becomes possible to create subscription experiences and bundles that are satisfying and energizing – exactly the opposite of subscription fatigue.

See clearly with data

A subscription is a complex journey, made up of constant touchpoints. It is always on. In order to devise effective user journeys, it’s vital to know what’s going on inside the subscription operation, at all times, and for each user. How? With subscription intelligence.

It may sound like a cliche, but in the world of subscriptions, data is indeed the driver. At Vindicia, we base our knowledge on nearly two decades of accumulated subscription data. This is how we navigate the issues that can lead to subscription fatigue and help resolve them for our customers.

Find the strategic touchpoints

Having the data is one thing. Knowing how to parse it and draw meaning from it is quite another. With Vindicia’s subscription intelligence dashboard, CROs can see where users are dropping their subscriptions and then discover why and what can be done about it. Signs of subscription fatigue can be identified early, and steps to mitigate it taken before it happens. Data provides insights to help businesses understand the lifetime of the subscription from the POV of users, and use that information to create strategic touchpoints to delight and engage users and extend the subscription lifetime.

All this can have a big impact on key business revenue. Take just one example: By preventing customer churn at 4 months, and extending a subscription to 9 months, this adds up to an extra 5 months of revenue. Multiplied by hundreds or thousands of users, we are talking about meaningful income for a subscription business fighting a daily battle against user fatigue.

Fight fatigue, the smart way

Consumers love the newest shiny object and the latest trends. But no matter how wonderful the subscription, the sheer number of subscriptions available makes consumer fatigue inevitable.

The only way to fight that indifference is by offering personalized bundles and meaningful subscription experiences, and building better e-commerce connections with users. And the only way to do that is by leveraging data to enhance all the little offerings that make up the horizontal user journey for the lifetime of the subscription, from new subscriber to renewed subscriber, over and over again.