Highlights from Subscription sessions: Spring edition
Subscription businesses are not immune to change — and the pace is faster than ever. Since 2021, acquisition rates dropped from 4.1% to just 2.8%. Most subscription companies are pivoting to retention-first strategies like pausing and loyalty programs to keep revenue moving in the right direction.
If you want to know what’s next in the industry, we’ve got you covered. During Subscription sessions: Spring edition, we brought together industry experts and leaders to share exactly what’s working (and not). Keep reading to find the strategies making all the difference, or catch the five sessions on-demand now.
What’s next: Product innovations shaping the future
Kicking off the event, Recurly's CMO, Lina Tonk, and CPO, Priya Lakshminarayanan, chatted through subscription trends, new industry challenges, and how Recurly’s new products and features help businesses supercharge growth.
AI-powered insights with Recurly Compass: Access a new suite of personalized insights, conversational search, and guided playbooks that help you optimize your growth strategy.
Frictionless ecommerce integrations: Launch and manage subscriptions directly from your Shopify admin panel to boost lifetime value and scale faster.
Global subscription enhancements: Explore new markets with confidence —from localized pricing to centralized operations to tax compliance.
Retention is now the name of the game. Keeping subscribers engaged and finding new ways to personalize their experience is key.
Want to learn more about our latest innovations? Check our Recurly release: Spring edition ‘25 page to get all the details.
Beyond the transaction: Turning customers into superusers
Next up, Sarah McCredie, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Recurly, and Robbie Kellman Baxter, Founder of Peninsula Strategies, shared how to transform casual buyers into brand advocates.
Segmentation is non-negotiable: Know your “superusers” versus “zombie customers.” Superusers love your service and promote it, while zombies barely interact. Tailor communication and offers based on these groups to boost loyalty.
Personalization is evolving, too: The industry is shifting towards more tailored models — balancing technology with self-enabled personalization. The goal is to deliver relevance without being invasive.
Sustainable recurring models: Today’s consumers are open to new types of recurring offers — from cars to homeware. For businesses looking to test these waters, Baxter advised: Start by defining goals and targeting specific problems for a particular customer segment.
If there’s one takeaway, it’s this: Frictionless customer relationships are the only way to drive stable, predictable revenue.
The subscription industry deep dive
The third session hosted an exciting panel with three leaders knee-deep in ecommerce, payments, and fraud. Prasanna Vinjamuri, PayPal’s VP of Product, Ryan Geraghty, Kount’s Partner Business Manager, and Rajeev Raman, Redfast’s CEO, share valuable insights to keep up and get ahead.
The future is frictionless payments: With the rise of agentic commerce, hyper-personalization, and predictive analytics, businesses can leverage the power of data to improve customer experiences and anticipate behavior for improved transaction success rates.
Personalization is the antidote to churn: There are three approaches to handle cancellations: inaction, generic message, and personalization. Which one are you using? Businesses must be able to provide tailored experiences to prevent cancellations and empower consumers to recognize the value of their subscription.
Keep fraud at bay: Fraudulent transactions jumped 29% last year — and are causing costly problems. Companies now have the opportunity to rely on machine learning models that predict and prevent fraud before it happens.
Keep this in mind: Pausing subscriptions can help you retain over 50% of at-risk customers, and loyalty-based incentives can persuade up to 70% of users to reconsider cancellation.
Avoiding subscription pitfalls: Scaling operations and finance for profitable growth
Operational excellence separates the big winners from those stuck in the weeds. This conversation between CFOs, Josh Marehbian of FabFitFun and Steve Springsteel of Recurly, highlights three major lessons:
Build your foundation first: Success lies in the fundamentals — people, systems, and operations. Handpicking the right system is crucial to build the right operational and financial infrastructure to manage growth.
Global expansion takes nuance: Regulatory risks, compliance headaches, and market differences will impact how — and where — you grow. Make sure to invest in expertise and adapt your playbook for each market.
Revenue recognition is more complex than it seems: Multiple packages, variants, and discounts have their own implications on revenue. Strong frameworks help ensure both compliance and confident, data-driven decisions.
The message? As you navigate the world of subscription commerce, don't sacrifice fundamentals for speed. It may be the missing ingredient that you have been searching for.
Proven playbooks: Ecommerce success strategies
To close out the summit, Mary Rosberg, Recurly’s VP Growth Evangelist, hosted an interesting discussion with Andrei Rebrov, Co-Founder and former CTO at Scentbird, and Chris Davis, Co-Founder at Retention Brands. The session was packed with best practices to launch and grow ecommerce subscriptions successfully.
Disrupt or be disrupted: Bold models like Scentbird and Loot Crate — a perfume and a geek collectible subscription box, respectively — prove there’s power in being different. Find your niche and lean into it.
Acquisition and retention must work together: Leading brands use unique partnerships, creative channels, and a continual focus on product-market fit to create meaningful relationships. Combine these with flexibility and open communication to fuel growth.
Operational details drive success: Invest in tech and people as early as you can. The right fulfillment partners or specialized teams can solve major logistical headaches and help you scale.
And the theme continues: Top ecommerce brands are driving success by focusing on ongoing value, user engagement, and creative loyalty programs.
It’s time to supercharge growth
The subscription industry just had its biggest shakeup in years — going from aggressive acquisition to ongoing retention strategies. If you’re feeling the pressure to pivot, too, you’re not alone. Subscription Sessions is the perfect place to start.
These highlights barely scratch the surface of the insights our experts shared, so make sure you watch the sessions on-demand to get the inside track on what leading brands are doing to drive retention and revenue.
