Dose #132: Retention Strategy Inspiration for 2025

Matt here with your weekly Subscription Prescription 💊

BFCM is upon us, but before you blink 2025 will be here too. In this week’s dose, we go over three things to think about to make subscriptions more successful in 2025: borrow genius from other industries, focusing on the fundamentals, and picking your focus for testing.

This week’s dose is also a full podcast episode. Tune in on your favorite platform.

As we edge closer to 2025, I’m all about exploring ways to fuel growth and retention in your subscription programs. Whether you’re excelling at acquisition, retention, or both (or neither), the time to take stock is now. Let’s dig into three areas that can transform your business in the new year—no moonshots required.

1. Borrow Genius from Other Industries

Here’s the truth: sometimes, the best inspiration for solving retention challenges comes from looking outside your own industry. If you’re in beauty, why not peek at what meal kits are doing? If you sell pet products, check out what fitness subscriptions are offering. Different industries have mastered techniques that could inspire fresh ideas for your brand.

For example:

• Meal kits excel at “stay-with-us” offers in their cancellation flows.

• Beauty brands crush it with onboarding series that show users how to get the most out of their products.

• Fitness platforms keep subscribers engaged with challenges and community interaction.

Taking a page from another industry’s playbook can spark ideas that feel entirely new to your audience but are proven to drive retention. Steal more ideas from outside physical goods subscriptions in last week’s dose on telecom, streaming, and sports teams.

2. Master the Fundamentals for Quick Wins

Before chasing new strategies, let’s ensure the basics are rock solid. A few overlooked touchpoints could cost you subscribers unnecessarily. Here’s where to start:

• Payment Processing & Dunning: Update your tools and processes to recover failed payments efficiently. Tools like Butter Payments, Flycode, Redux Payments, or Recharge’s Retain package are great starting points. A few tweaks here can result in significant gains in recovered revenue.

• Customer Experience Touchpoints: Review your onboarding series, order notification emails, and cancellation flows. Make these touchpoints not just functional but delightful. An engaging welcome email series or a friendly, branded notification can turn skeptics into loyalists.

• Feedback & Iteration: Don’t set and forget. Regularly revisit these fundamentals to identify gaps. A little maintenance goes a long way in keeping things humming smoothly.

3. Choose Your Focus: Acquisition or Retention Experiments

Growth in 2025 doesn’t need to feel like climbing a mountain. By focusing your energy on one key experiment, you can build momentum. Here’s what I’d recommend:

• On the Acquisition Side: Test new subscription offers. A starter kit, prepaid subscriptions, or a bundle can give your acquisition campaigns a fresh edge. Use landing pages and targeted traffic to drive results, then optimize based on performance.

• On the Retention Side: Upsell smarter. Don’t stop at holding onto subscribers—encourage them to buy more. Offer one-time add-ons, bundle upgrades, or prepaid options to boost lifetime value. Start this around the second or third month of their subscription journey for best results.

Both approaches can lead to insights that benefit your entire business. Choose one to focus on in Q1, execute well, and iterate. Then continue with additional experiments on either side as the year progresses.

Final Thoughts

The roadmap for 2025 isn’t about dramatic overhauls—it’s about refining what you do best and taking inspiration where you can find it. Start by identifying where your program needs the most attention, shore up the fundamentals, and then prioritize a key test. With every step, you’re building toward a subscription program that grows stronger, more resilient, and more profitable.

That’s it for this week’s dose! Make sure you bookmark it for when you’re planning on 2025 objectives. See you next week with Dose #133.

 - Matt Holman 🩺

The Subscription Doc