So, you've got a new subscriber. Great! Now, you're ready to embark on the whole adventure together that is subscriptions.

Unlike more traditional service business models, where the focus falls on gaining new customers and converting them with one-off transactions (i.e. buying one yoga class), subscriptions is all about retention. The success of your subscription plan will depend on how long people are willing to stick around with you, and how they feel while they're doing it. You want to make sure people stay. Generally, this requires two things:

  1. A willingness to iterate on & improve your core offer, to ensure that you're nailing both your plan and your price point.
  2. A smart plan to keep subscribers engaged and continually delighted, as they onboard and normalize to being part of your subscription.

The reality is that subscriber retention is work that never stops. Luckily, though, it's still extremely manageable. By doing a little each day, and planning ahead, you can build a subscriber journey that works to keep your customers happy, and around for the long haul.

In this playbook:

Day One: Nail your subscriber notes

Once somebody subscribes, it's important to communicate with them immediately. You want to affirm their choice to join your community, and help set their expectations (and excitement!) for the future. The best way to do this is to make sure you have your "Subscriber Notes" properly filled out and ready to go. This will be the first information that each new subscriber receives, once they subscribe.

Some best practices:

When you're building your subscription plan on Subkit, this section is where you can fill in your subscriber notes.

When you're building your subscription plan on Subkit, this section is where you can fill in your subscriber notes.

Week One: Make sure you deliver on your core offer

After a new subscriber signs up, you'll want to make sure you quickly deliver on the core value of your offer. If you're a yoga teacher, get them to a yoga class—or let them know when they're first upcoming class is. If you're a coffee shop, get them their first batch of coffee (or, at least, a note that says it's on the way!). This can set the tone immediately, make your subscribers feel good about their choice to commit, and help set you up for longterm success.

Month One: Build out the full subscriber experience

As subscribers settle in, you'll want to start building a lifestyle with them. For example, a yoga subscription is about so much more than just taking one class—it's about committing to a healthier lifestyle. When you offer a subscription, you're offering an indefinite and entire world of value around whatever people are buying from you. While this sounds like a lot of work, it can also be a lot of fun. You'll build better and deeper relationships with your customers, not to mention benefit from word of mouth once they start recommending you to their friends. (How much more fun is it to learn all about coffee and where it comes from, best practices for brewing, and more!, instead of just buying a single bag off the shelf somewhere?)

It's important to note, however, that no two subscriptions are the same. How you build our your subscriber experience (what types of content you share, events you run, or benefits you provide to subscribers, and how) will vary depending on who you are, and what type of relationship you have with your community. You'll also want to be willing to experiment and see what resonates with people, then lean into those tactics.