5 Tips To Handle Subscription Fatigue In Digital Publishing

Written by: Rashmi

The subscription model has changed how digital publication businesses work in a better way. But not everything about the subscription model is rosy. For example, subscription fatigue can bring down profit growth.

Many studies and anecdotal evidence point out that average readers only want to subscribe to a limited number of publishers. After that, subscription fatigue kicks in, and they do not subscribe to more publications. In fact, they might even unsubscribe to the already subscribed publications.

Thankfully, there are multiple ways that can help digital publishers handle subscription fatigue. Down below are 5 simple tips that are easy to implement yet effective in dealing with the subscription fatigue.

When subscribers evaluate their budget at the end of their month, they might perceive a subscription as too expensive for what it offers. This way, a digital publisher has to justify its pricing every time its readers pay their credit card bills. But if readers are offered tiered pricing, they can choose the package that suits their budget and needs.

Some publishers hesitate to offer tiered pricing, thinking that this will decrease their reader's LTV (lifetime value). However, different studies have proven that tiered pricing is always more profitable for businesses.

When readers face subscription fatigue, the first subscriptions they unsubscribe to are the ones they deem unnecessary. If a service does not fulfil their need, they are more likely to unsubscribe.

The easiest way for digital publishers to become essential is by serving small niches first. For example, suppose a digital publisher publishes a niched finance magazine. In that case, readers who want to get important news about the stock market, microeconomics of businesses, and the country's macro economy are more likely to unsubscribe to generic magazines first.

Combining small offerings with the main offering substantially increases the perceived value of a subscription. In business parlance, it is called bundling your offerings. For example, digital publishers can bundle offline magazines or newspapers, exclusive podcasts, tickets to digital events, and so on, along with their main content.

Bundling different offerings might reduce the profit margin of a subscription, but the increment in perceived value in the eyes of a reader is too big. Again, the purpose of offering more with a subscription is to justify the value every time a reader pays for your digital subscription.

Digital publishers spend a large amount of their budget on acquiring new customers. While the acquisition of new customers is essential, reducing the churn is also necessary if publishers want to handle subscription fatigue.

There are many ways to increase the retention rate of subscribers. The easiest way is by detecting and then dealing with the major reasons why readers are unsubscribing. Publications can add small surveys on the unsubscribe pages to get data about churn.

Another way of increasing retention is knowing the reader/customer cycle and helping out the at-risk readers. For example, if a reader is not opening up your app frequently, the chances are high that they are going to unsubscribe in the new future. You can send engaging emails to such customers and reduce the churn.

Increasing brand loyalty is an age-old method of increasing the bottom line of businesses, and it still works in the digital age. Many people subscribe to digital publishers purely for the content, but a large number of people subscribe because they trust the brand behind the content.

Many publishers make the mistake of not engaging with their subscribers even when engagement is much easier in the digital age. Publishers can answer the questions of their subscribers, do exclusive online events, and reply to the readers on social media for better engagement.

Subscription fatigue is probably the biggest challenge that digital publishers face when adopting the subscription model. But the tips mentioned above can help publishers overcome this challenge.

Quintype helps digital publishers publish and monetize their content with its digital solutions. For example, we have designed a content monetization tool called Accesstype that is easy to set up, has a user-face interface and offers hassle-free payment options like UPI, e-wallets, and credit cards.