Three new resources on subscription pricing, product decisions and cancellation operations.
Some of the hardest questions in a subscription business can sound incredibly simple.
What should we charge? Is this product idea worth pursuing? What happens when a subscriber decides to leave?
Start pulling on any one of those questions and there is usually much more underneath it. This week’s three new Member Center resources help you see what else may need to be considered before making the decision in front of you.
START WITH HOW SUBSCRIPTION PRICING ACTUALLY WORKS
Pricing can get complicated quickly, especially if you are new to it or joining a pricing discussion from another part of the business.
This guide starts with the pieces behind a subscription pricing decision: the offer, the value subscribers receive, the economics of the business and how the subscription itself works.
It is designed to give someone a clear foundation before they get buried in pricing models, terminology or more advanced strategy. The included worksheet lets you apply those questions to your own business, whether you are learning subscription pricing, bringing someone new into a pricing conversation or preparing for a larger pricing decision.
BEFORE YOU BUILD IT, WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?
Product decisions can move very quickly from “this sounds like a good idea” to people, budget and development time being committed.
This resource helps slow down that jump. What do we actually know? What are we assuming? What do we still need to learn before deciding whether to build something, change it, enter a market or pursue an opportunity?
The point is not to turn everyone into a market researcher. It is to help operators do enough homework to make a better decision before the organization commits resources. There is also a downloadable worksheet so you can use the questions against a real product or market decision you are considering.
WHAT REALLY HAPPENS WHEN A SUBSCRIBER CANCELS?
A subscriber clicks cancel. From the outside, that can look like one action. Inside the business, it can touch multiple teams, systems and processes before, during and after that click.
This Operating Analysis follows cancellation across the business, including the subscriber experience, billing, payments, retention, refunds, customer service, data, technology and vendors.
It helps teams see how those pieces connect and where ownership may be unclear. That makes it especially relevant when you are reviewing the cancellation experience, investigating complaints, responding to changing requirements or trying to understand who owns what when a subscriber leaves.
There is a thread connecting all three resources this week: The question sitting in front of you is rarely the whole question.
- A pricing decision has more behind it than the number.
- A product idea deserves more than enthusiasm before resources are committed.
- And cancellation looks very different once you follow it beyond the cancel button.
That is a big part of what I want the Member Center to help you do: understand the issue, see what else it touches and have something practical to turn to when it is time to decide what to do next.
A QUICK NOTE FROM NEW YORK
I also spent part of this week in New York for our Subscription Insider executive roundtable on the 44th floor of Hearst Tower.
The room before everyone arrived.
A few hours later, every seat was full.
The view was amazing. Even better was the conversation around the table. Several Subscription Insider members joined us, along with other senior subscription operators. We spent the afternoon talking openly about the issues people are working through inside their businesses.
So much of what we do happens through a screen. Sitting around a table, comparing notes and hearing what is actually happening inside subscription businesses is different. I came away with plenty to think about.
And I finally got to meet Alycia Simpson in person. Alycia and I first met during the pandemic and have worked together regularly ever since. Somehow, all these years later, this was the first time we had actually been in the same room together.
As always, take a look at this week’s additions and let me know what would make the Member Center more useful to you.
Kathy
Kathy Greenler Sexton
CEO & Publisher
Subscription Insider®
