In the first five days of Subscription Show, we’ve gotten some great insights from subscription industry leaders and gotten helpful tips from payments and technology experts. We’ve also had a chance to connect across the miles – whether we are in Boston, California or the U.K. It has been an amazing experience so far. We can’t wait to see what Day #6 holds tomorrow!
If you haven’t been able to join us yet, or you’ve missed a session because it overlapped with another one you were attending, you can always watch or rewatch the sessions on-demand at your convenience. They have all been worthwhile. We are grateful to our sponsors and our speakers for sharing their expertise. Where else can you get all this subscription intel and substance in one place? Only at Subscription Show!
Exclusive VIP Session Q&A with Robbie Kellman Baxter
Conference attendees with VIP passes had an opportunity to talk directly with Robbie Kellman Baxter, author of The Forever Transaction and The Membership Economy. Here are some key takeaways from that session:
- Investors understand the power of recurring revenue, but it is important to help them set realistic expectations for ROI.
- Build a culture around lifetime value. Have different teams across your organization share metrics around expansion and retention. Get different teams to brainstorm what is driving churn.
- If you choose to offer bundles with partners, do your research and walk away from deals that are not a good value for your business long term.
- Take the opportunity presented by the pandemic to experiment. If you’re foot isn’t on the gas and you aren’t making some aggressive moves, your competitors are.
If you have not attended a VIP session yet, we encourage you to check out the VIP passes on our Tickets page. This is a great opportunity to speak directly to a subscription expert.
Other Subscription Show Keynotes and Sessions from Day 5
Kick Off & Introductions: Kathy Sexton, CEO of Subscription Insider
Keynote: Anne Janzer, author of Subscription Marketing: “Building Resilience with a Subscription Marketing Mindset”
Session: Suresh Dakshina, Chargeback Gurus: “COVID-19 and Holiday Chargeback Fraud – Love Story or Perfect Storm?”
Session: Leslie Laredo, The Laredo Group and Michelle Panzer, Hearst Magazines: “How Hearst Reimagined Road and Track Media through Tiered Subscriptions”
Session: Chris Goward, Widerfunnel: “How Subscription Leaders Drive Growth with Behavioral Experimentation”
Session: Chris Lawson, Moreno Marketing: “Relationship Building: Connecting Your Brand with Your Community”
Session: Amy Konary, Zuora and Laurie Goeman and Tammy Petro, J. P. Morgan: “Transformation of the Subscription Lifecycle Driving Growth and Deeper Customer Engagement”
Session: Mark Stiving, Impact Pricing: “Pricing: A Perspective on Accelerating Your Subscription Business”
Session: Trace Galloway, Vindicia: “Don’t Overlook the Reality of Churn: 5 Keys to Successful Retention Management”
Session: Rob Ristagno, Sterling Woods Group: “Finding a $20 in Your Pocket: How to Turn Data You Already Have into Products to Sell”
Session: Olga Bogomolova and Jack Lam of Shutterstock and Sharon Gross, Paul Larsen Consulting: “Subscriptions on a Global Scale”
Subscription Show extras
- Coaching Zone with 30-minute 1:1 sessions with industry experts (please sign up in advance)
- Speed Networking
- Networking Lounge
- Fun Zone
- Virtual 3D Exhibit Hall
- Vendor demos from ACI Worldwide, Chargeback Gurus, Vindicia, AdvantageCS, Nacha, Sticky.io, Ethoca, J. P. Morgan and Zuora
For more highlights, follow us on Twitter. We’ll be tweeting throughout the conference.
Key learnings from Day #5
Here are a few pieces of advice to take away from today’s sessions:
- Be laser-focused on the customer journey and your customer’s needs.
- Subscriptions are not just a transaction, so building a relationship based on trust from the beginning is key.
- Smart subscription marketers make it easy for subscribers to leave. No one wants to lose subscribers, but let people go gracefully if they need to go.
- When designing the customer experience in the sign-up funnel, maximize pleasure (value, solution, product/service) and minimize pain (cost, inconvenience, giving up personal data).
- Optimize for every stage of your customer journey. Acquisition – optimize for quality; engagement – optimize for habit; expansion – optimize for lifetime value.
- Let your customers become your advertising and marketing departments – they are great advocates for your product or service.
- Be clear about who you are and be authentic with your audience.
- Pay attention to churn indicators (e.g., low usage, billing issues, high levels of interaction with customer service)
- Assess your service delivery. Be your own customer and experience your service as an end consumer.
- Ensure that your customer care group has the tools and flexibility they need to address customer issues.
