In today's digital era, the subscription industry focus has shifted beyond merely offering superior products or services. Now, the emphasis is on offering personalized and seamless user experiences. This shift, however, has stuck technology leaders in a cycle of applying band-aid solutions to immediate problems—which doesn’t support long-term growth and scalability.

So, how can you move away from temporary fixes to develop a tech stack that addresses changing compliance needs, reduces churn, and most facilitates growth?

In partnership with Change Makers, we sat down with 15 tech leaders from leading brands like Amazon, Ticketmaster, Sky, AWS, and more, to discuss new strategies to keep up with the ever-evolving subscription market. 

Get the full report here or continue reading for the highlights.

A new age: Transforming to keep up with customers

“The balance between innovation to improve customer experience, the cost and resources we have available is front of mind.” –Marcus Cunha, VP of Engineering at Checkbox

The momentum now is towards a digital native approach, but the transition isn’t necessarily straightforward as both businesses and subscribers are adapting at different speeds. For example, publishing companies have to be mindful of consumers who prefer printed issues, aiming to move them over to the digital channel.

Additionally, shifting towards a digital native model raises concerns about the necessary investment to deliver on the transition—where many businesses find themselves at a crossroads. While they’re committed to the investment, they face important decisions about technology and project execution. 

It’s tempting to think about subscriptions as a one-size-fits-all product. However, preferences and behaviors change from each consumer. Subscription businesses must respond with tailored pricing and packaging models, alternative payment options, pausing options, easy cancellations, and any several features that deliver value to the consumer. 

The road to scalability: Building out the right experience

Scaling subscriptions involves trial-and-error experimentation, as it provides the required clarity on what consumers want and what you can deliver. According to our report, 50% of tech leaders feel they have a clear and defined strategy to improve its infrastructure—with customer observability as the key to successful experimentation. 

Businesses can invest in technologies like behavioral and predictive analytics to gain valuable insights into customer preferences. You can use customer journey data as the basis for personalized marketing, or apply advanced analytics to predict and prevent churn rate.

By combining experimentation with data analysis, executives can make data-driven decisions that will directly impact the bottomline.

“Trying to piece all customer data points together can be difficult but it is so important.” —Laura Finlay, Customer Operations Director at MoneyBox

Another thing to consider is connectivity. Subscribers no longer consume services through single devices, and constantly move between their TV, in-car system, phone, laptop, or tablet. This presents both a challenge and an opportunity for subscription businesses.

Leading companies are providing an omnichannel consumer experience across the entire ecosystem that can deliver a seamless experience, build loyalty, and ultimately, reduce churn. In the near future, businesses focused on a single platform will struggle to live up to subscriber expectations.

Barriers to growth: Stifling scalability and sustainability

Many subscription businesses are embracing innovation, but making the wrong technology choices is one of the main pitfalls standing between them and sustainable growth. 

This often means relying on existing technology platforms, which is seen as a cost-effective and a low-risk solution. However, it's easy to fall into the trap of quick-fix solutions. These may have benefits in the short term, but legacy technology probably won’t deliver the seamless, personalized omnichannel solution that customers demand in the long run. 

“Technology is developing at such a rate that by taking the time to build something in-house and launch it or patch up solutions, you’re behind.” —Melanie Ryan, Former Group Director of Operations at Sky.

A better approach is to invest upfront in a scalable, future-proof solution. Recurly, for example, offers the technology and support infrastructure that merchants need to adapt to the changes in the subscription market–building, scaling, and staying ahead of consumer expectations.

Additionally, subscription management companies help companies “plug in the leaky bucket”. Churn is the enemy of subscription services. Businesses track voluntary churn through feedback or analytics, but they often ignore or do not fully understand involuntary churn.

An unaddressed problem with involuntary churn can undermine the commercial logic behind an innovation programme. The good news is this can be easily addressed through dunning and revenue recovery strategies. However, it is vital that organizations collect actionable data to identify and predict churn.

Wrap up

In the competitive subscription service industry, the key to thriving lies in collaboration, innovation, and a relentlessly customer-centric approach. This Tech Transformation report lays great emphasis on the pivotal role of technology in propelling sustainable growth and scalability in subscription-based businesses.

By prioritizing customer experience, investing cleverly in the right technology solutions, and tackling growth barriers head-on, organizations can charter a successful course in the ever-evolving digital landscape.