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3pl ai subscriptions cancellation card networks doxo eharmony australia federal trade commission first-party trust generative ai hims & hers mastercard mergers and acquisitions paid content payment authorization payment fraud payment optimization recurring payments regulatory enforcement revenue recognition shutterstock siriusxm state of connecticut subscriber acquisition subscriber retention subscription boxes subscription compliance subscription fulfillment subscription litigation subscription operations subscription pricing subscription technology thirty madison uber vendor dealsMember Update: July 31, 2026
New resources to help with subscription technology, pricing, paid content, regulation, revenue recognition and subscriber acquisition.
We launched the new Subscription Insider Member Center last week. This week, I want to spend less time showing you where things are and more time explaining what we have added and when it may be useful.
The newest resources cover very different parts of a subscription business. You may be evaluating technology, considering a price increase, trying to understand what makes readers willing to pay for content, keeping up with regulation, working through revenue recognition or deciding where to put your next acquisition dollar.
Start with the question closest to the work in front of you.
BEFORE YOU BUY OR REPLACE SUBSCRIPTION TECHNOLOGY
Technology decisions can get moving before a team has fully worked through what it needs, what problem it is trying to solve or how a new platform will actually be evaluated.
We added two resources that help at different points in that decision.
The assessment is a good place to start before you get deep into vendor research. It helps you step back and think through whether the business is ready to make a technology decision and what needs to be defined before you start comparing platforms.
If the conversation has already become “Which vendor should we look at?” this can help bring the team back to the more important first question: What does our subscription business actually need the technology to do?
A free trial can tell you very little if everyone clicks around, looks at a few features and comes away with a general impression. This resource helps you treat the trial as an evaluation by being more deliberate about what your team tests, what you learn and what still needs to be answered before you buy.
The two resources solve different problems. One helps you prepare for the decision. The other helps you evaluate what you are considering.
PLANNING A PRICE INCREASE?
A subscription price increase can look straightforward on paper. Change the price and calculate the additional revenue. The harder work comes before and after that calculation.
This playbook is especially useful while a price increase is still being considered. It helps you work through whether the business is ready for the increase and think about the rollout before the new price reaches subscribers.
The goal is to put more structure around the decision before a target price and announcement date take over the conversation.
WHAT MAKES SOMEONE WILLING TO PAY FOR CONTENT?
Getting someone to read content and getting someone to pay for ongoing access to it are two different things. For publishers and other paid-content businesses, that makes a simple question surprisingly important: What creates enough value for a reader to subscribe?
This resource draws on research into what makes readers willing to pay for content. If you operate a paid-content subscription, it can help you understand what readers say matters to them and then question your own subscription offer and the value you are asking people to pay for.
KEEP THE REGULATORY MONITOR CLOSE
Subscription regulation does not sit still, and it can be difficult to remember which development applies where, what has changed and which dates your team should be watching.
The Regulatory Monitor is a living Member Center resource that we update as meaningful subscription regulatory developments occur. It gives you one place to see what we are tracking and identify developments that may deserve a closer look inside your business.
I think of this as a regular reference, not something to open only when a regulatory change has already become an urgent project. Keep it close so you can see what is changing and decide what deserves a conversation inside your business.
A PLAIN-ENGLISH STARTING POINT FOR ASC 606
Revenue recognition is one of those subjects that can quickly become an accounting conversation, even when the people affected by it work elsewhere in the business.
This guide gives subscription leaders a working introduction to ASC 606 and the revenue-recognition questions that arise in subscription businesses.
You do not need to become an accountant. But if you are making decisions that affect subscription contracts or revenue reporting, it helps to understand the language your finance and accounting teams are using and when and why subscription revenue is recognized.
This is a useful starting point when ASC 606 comes up in a planning, finance or operating discussion and you need enough context to ask better questions.
LOOK BEYOND THE NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS YOU ACQUIRED
Acquisition performance can look very different depending on where you stop measuring. A channel may generate a lot of new subscribers or an attractive cost per acquisition. That does not automatically mean it is creating profitable subscriber growth.
This is one of the tools I would encourage growth and finance teams to spend some time with. The model helps you look at acquisition performance and profitability by channel rather than stopping at cost per acquisition or the number of subscribers generated. You can examine acquisition cost alongside retention, subscriber value, payback and contribution, then test different assumptions before committing more budget.
In plain English: Where should we invest, where should we scale, and what needs to change before we spend more? That is the question the model is designed to help you work through.
That is quite a range for our first full week after launch.
My goal with the Member Center is not to give you a longer reading list. It is to give you somewhere useful to turn when you have a question to answer, a problem to investigate or a decision to make.
Take a look at what is useful to you, and as always, let me know what would help you next.
Kathy
Kathy Greenler Sexton
CEO & Publisher
Subscription Insider®
