Today we wrapped up the first week of Subscription Show 2020. It was a lot of work, but we loved every minute of it. The universal feedback we’ve gotten is that this virtual conference has brought dozens of top industry experts together to provide quality industry intel. Participants have enjoyed the variety of payments experts, subscription platform vendors, technology solution providers, authors and the content they’ve shared.
We want to thank everyone who attended this week, as well as our speakers and sponsors and, of course, the Subscription Insider team. Despite the challenges the pandemic has presented, we have rallied together as a group to support each other and plan for the next stages of our subscription businesses!
Highlights from today’s session
Exclusive VIP Recurring Payments Open Q&A Session with Paul Larsen Consulting – Paul Larsen and Melanie Stout
Conference attendees with VIP passes had an opportunity to have an exclusive Q&A session with Paul Larsen Consulting regarding recurring payments. We have been partners with PLC for a long time and are grateful to them for sharing their expertise. Here are a few key takeaways from that session:
- Subscription companies who bill annually are required to send annual notices to customers.
- Best practice is to communicate with subscribers regularly throughout the year.
- Exhibit good corporate citizenship on behalf of your customers. Abide by the regulations for all the right reasons.
- Higher cost subscriptions are often billed to credit cards, where smaller cost subscriptions come from debit cards. ACH are growing in popularity as a recurring payment method.
- Too many payment methods can be overwhelming for subscribers. Test it.
Other Subscription Show Keynotes and Sessions from Day 3
Kick Off & Introductions: Kathy Sexton, CEO of Subscription Insider
Keynote: Robbie Kellman Baxter, author and founder of Peninsula Strategies: “Creating a Disruption Proof Organization for Your Subscription Business”
Session: Dave Sharpe and Emma Nicoletti, Wiland: “Beyond Tire Kickers: How to Build a Subscriber Base of Dedicated Fans – and Identify Opportunities for Ad Revenue”
Session: Jesus Luzardo, Vindicia and Kathy Sexton, Subscription Insider: “The Platform Approach: How to Hyper-Accelerate Subscription Growth”
Session: Jeremy Bellino, Worldpay by FIS and Kathy Sexton, Subscription Insider: “Staying Ahead of Involuntary Customer Churn: Best Practices for Maximizing Account-on-File Approvals”
Session: Leslie Laredo, The Laredo Group and Academy of Digital Media, and Alyssa Passeggio, NJ Advance Media: “COVID’s Impact: Innovating Subscription Strategies”
Panel moderated by Melanie Stout of Paul Larsen Consulting and featuring JJ Kieley, Ramesh Devaraj, James Paulson of American Express: “Subscription Billing in a COVID-19 Environment and Beyond”
Session: Nelson Viega, Vindicia: “The Subscription Maturity Model: Learn How to Anticipate Changes in Your Business”
Session: Greg Witten, Verifi and Kathy Sexton, Subscription Insider: “Who Used My Card? The Mysterious Case of Family Fraud”
Discussion: Robbie Kellman Baxter, author and founder of Peninsula Strategies; Kathy Sexton, Subscription Insider; and Sam Jordan, Manifesto Growth Architects: “Creating a Disruption Proof Organization for Your Subscription Business”
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 NACHA, Rebar Technology, Ubersmith Solutions, ANTENNA, Chargebacks 911, Ethoca, 2Checkout, AdvantageCS, Payway Solutions
For more highlights, follow us on Twitter. We’ll be tweeting throughout the conference.
Key takeaways
Here are a few pieces of advice to take away from today’s sessions:
- A key theme all week — optimize the customer journey!
- Customer-centric subscription companies are focused on customers, not products. They are continuously evolving and are focused on the customer journey and driving engagement with their subscribers.
- Account Updater solutions should be made strategically and should take into account card issuer participation, mandates and location, among other factors.
- When identifying customer acquisition goals, you need to know what you are focused on (e.g., loss prevention, high value customers, ad revenue, lifetime value).
- Having a direct relationship with your customer, and communicating with them one-on-one, can help resolve issues and reduce chargebacks.
- Tailor message to platform and audience. Contextual relevancy – the same message does not necessarily work on your website that will work on social.
- Listen to your audience and be willing to accept the negative with the positive (e.g., what doesn’t work well, what do you like/don’t like about our subscription?).
- Don’t be afraid to fail and then pivot quickly. Agility is really important.
- If you see something that is working, latch onto it.
