The best way to learn about subscription billing best practices are from some of the people who helped establish them. SUBCOM provides that opportunity. I had the great fortune to hear about various subscription challenges and their clever solutions from folks who work at Rent the Runway, Pandora, ZipCar, Adobe, Match.com, and many others.

Had you shared that conference room with me for those two days, here are some of the insights you would have gained:

How Book of the Month Club revitalized America’s oldest consumer subscription brand into a fresh, exciting company. They were able to identify exactly who their customers are and tailor their selection and experience to match their expectations.

Maggie Crowley from Unbounce always gives a charming presentation. During the conference she shared how personalization and clever marketing enabled Unbounce to painlessly migrate existing customers from one pricing plan to another.

I also enjoyed the presentation from Bill Hudak from McAfee. First he showed the incredible complexity with which McAfee had to deal: multiple funnels, a massive partner network, and a marketing technology stack like you’ve never seen before. Then he showed how he was able to wrangle it so that all the efforts and technology were heading in the same direction.

Recurly’s own Emma Clark gave a data-focused presentation on what happens when you do and don’t have a decline management strategy for your recurring transactions. There’s a lot of money being left on the table by some subscription businesses. She was swarmed after her presentation with people looking for further insights.

These are just a few of the many things I picked up during my couple days in NYC at SUBCOM. I highly recommend the show to anyone looking to not only bolster their best practices, but also to learn from and meet some of the best minds in subscription billing today.