INSIDER'S GUIDE
Subscriber retention and LTV with Alaska Airlines & The Guardian
Retention and loyalty are the twin pillars of sustainable growth and long-term success for subscription businesses. In an era with vast consumer choices and low switching barriers, companies recognize that the battle doesn't end with acquiring new subscribers—it’s just the beginning. The ability to retain subscribers and build lasting loyalty is what truly separates thriving brands from those just staying afloat .
In an exclusive roundtable discussion, Alaska Airlines Principal Commercial Product Manager, Taylor Putnam, The Guardian SVP of Growth, Emilie Harkin, and Recurly VP, Growth Evangelist, Mary Rosberg, share their insights on what’s driving retention—and where subscription models are falling short. Here are the key insights you need to know.
How do you define retention and loyalty and what are some of the challenges you're facing?
Watch the full webinar to uncover more strategies for building subscriber retention and loyalty.
Emilie Harkin shares that many media companies are increasingly becoming paywalled. However, The Guardian’s mission statement is to be “free for all, beholden to no one. All journalism is accessible to anyone, regardless of their relationship with the newspaper, and their willingness or ability to pay.”
As such, The Guardian’s journalism is accessible to any and all readers—regardless of their willingness or ability to pay. To support this mission, the company offers multiple tiers of subscriber support, whether you’re a low-fee, recurring subscriber, a high-value recurring supporter, or a one-timer reader. Harkin notes that this mission-driven approach not only attracts readers but fosters long-term loyalty. By aligning their business model with their values, The Guardian builds a deep connection with their audience, turning readers into advocates and ensuring sustainable subscriber retention.
On the other hand, Taylor Putnam emphasizes that loyalty to Alaska Airlines extends beyond their Flight Pass subscription product, creating what she refers to as "stickiness." This concept examines whether subscribing to their product leads customers to deepen their engagement with the overall Alaska Airlines brand. For instance, does subscribing encourage customers to fly more frequently with Alaska Airlines? Or interact with other aspects of the brand?
Through Flight Pass, Alaska Airlines aims to cultivate more than just sustained subscriptions—they want subscribers to consistently choose Alaska Airlines for all their travel needs, including flights, hotels, car rentals, and vacation packages. The more customers integrate Alaska Airlines into their travel preferences, the stronger their brand loyalty becomes, reinforcing their commitment to the subscription over time.
How do you balance short and long-term loyalty-building, and what considerations are there?
Putnam states that, traditionally, subscription businesses measure their success in terms of “breakage”–the revenue generated when subscribers pay for a service or benefit they don’t fully use. But Alaska Airlines takes a different approach, focusing on ensuring subscribers actively use their benefits, such as flight credits or Wi-Fi passes. It’s the use of these benefits—or lack thereof—that’s a critical indicator of potential future churn, making it a key metric for retention.
In the short term, if a subscriber isn’t taking advantage of their benefits, Alaska Airlines proactively reminds them of what’s available. This approach reflects a cornerstone of their brand identity: transparency. Whether through clear terms and conditions, accessible customer service, or personalized nudges, Alaska Airlines prioritizes customer satisfaction, even when it might come at a short-term cost. This transparency fosters long-term loyalty, helping the airline retain subscribers by building trust and demonstrating value.
For The Guardian, Harkin emphasizes the importance of creating a personal relationship between readers and their content. They aim to ensure supporters feel satisfied by their content, whether they’re seeking to be informed, entertained, or inspired—whether they’re diving into investigative reporting or following live blogs.
Additionally, The Guardian’s mission to keep content free and accessible to all plays a significant role in cultivating this loyalty. By covering topics that resonate deeply with readers—such as climate change, politics, and wellness—they’re providing not just information, but a cause for readers to rally behind in the long term.
Which parts are critical during onboarding and renewal journeys?
Harkin shares, “For every action someone may take with your product, what is your reaction?”
Sometimes, she explains, the best reaction is no reaction at all—allowing customers to engage on their own terms. However, when a prospect takes a step like sharing their email address, it should prompt a thoughtful response from the brand. Similarly, as recurring payments approach, The Guardian reinforces the value of subscribers' support by highlighting the volume and impact of the journalism published since their last contribution. This tailored approach fosters a sense of connection and appreciation, crucial for long-term loyalty.
Putnam, meanwhile, emphasizes Alaska Airlines' focus on experimentation early in the subscriber journey. Through A/B testing and multivariate testing, they continuously refine their processes to optimize the experience.
“If you think removing the address field at sign-up will get you more customers, more subscribers, then test it—versus just going with your gut feeling,” Putnam advises.
Benchmarking has also been a key strategy for Putnam’s team in defining successful onboarding. By leveraging insights from Recurly and other subscription businesses, they’ve adopted proven benchmarks as best practices, helping to streamline the customer journey.
Rosberg adds that, for businesses new to subscriptions, the primary focus is often customer acquisition. However, as they mature, the focus shifts to retention and value and key questions arise:
How valuable are the customers you acquire?
What is your conversion rate across channels?
If a customer didn’t provide a credit card during the trial, are they still engaged enough to commit?
“What you measure ends up driving the A/B testing and your focus for any given quarter or year,” says Rosberg, underscoring the importance of data-driven decision-making in optimizing both acquisition and retention strategies.
What are some key insights into what's shaped your approach to retention and loyalty?
For Alaska Airlines, driving retention is about striking the right balance between breakage, product offering, and revenue. Subscribers who actively use their benefits—whether for flights or Wi-Fi passes—are much more likely to stay engaged and renew at the next billing cycle than those who don’t take full advantage of the service.
Putnam also emphasizes that reliability is just as crucial as product usage when it comes to retention. For many Alaska Airlines subscribers, services like Flight Pass play a vital role in significant life moments—whether they’re embarking on an unforgettable vacation or traveling to support family during difficult times. As such, Alaska Airlines can’t afford system failures that might disrupt these critical journeys. While it may be tempting to view the product as separate from the overall platform, technical issues like a failed transaction or platform downtime can drive churn just as much as a subpar product offering.
For The Guardian, success has always hinged on maintaining the core quality of its product: high-quality journalism. With over two hundred years of serving its audience, The Guardian continues to deliver compelling reporting on topics readers care about, all while ensuring that its content remains free and accessible to everyone. By keeping the focus on what truly matters—its value propositions of quality and accessibility—The Guardian has built a foundation of loyalty that’s stood the test of time.
How Recurly can help you manage and reduce churn
Churn isn’t always intentional—but it can be preventable. Partnering with a subscription management and recurring billing platform that offers the right automated tools and insights can help you minimize involuntary churn and recover lost revenue, leading to a meaningful boost in customer retention.
Recurly’s churn management approach, which includes intelligent retries, an automatic account updater, and targeted dunning campaigns, is designed to reduce both voluntary and involuntary churn. By leveraging these powerful tools, you can keep your subscribers engaged and ensure that valuable revenue doesn’t slip through the cracks.
Want more strategies and insights on what’s driving retention in 2025? Join us for an exclusive webinar on February 5 as we deep dive into this year’s State of Subcriptions report.
