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Founders lead the way on reducing subscription cancellations (2024 update)

September 3, 2024

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When a customer decides to discontinue their subscription of a particular DTC product, it triggers a knee-jerk reaction for all founders. Especially for DTC founders invested in their product, the emotional weight of each cancellation is immense.

At Loop Subscriptions, we work with many such DTC founders. And they have a strong bias-for-action to motivate subscribers to stick with the subscription.

We've recently partnered with three founder-led brands facing high cancellation rates, and built retention campaigns to tackle each of them. Our retention strategy involved two steps: first, identifying why subscribers were cancelling, and second, using video content to directly address those reasons.
As a result, we witnessed a significant decrease in churn. With the power of video, our merchants were able to forge stronger connections with their customers and bring down subscription cancellation rates. 

Want to hear more stories of how Loop has helped businesses cut down customer churn? Dive into our detailed case studies.

Personalized videos based on cancellation reasons

One of Loop’s features that has been most effective in slashing churn is cancellation flows. Through cancellation flows, eCommerce operators can build interactive, custom cancellation flows. These flows can have multiple formats: surveys, bonus discounts, videos, gifs. 

So how did we leverage cancellation flows as an essential part of our retention strategy? Let’s go step-by-step. 

First, we analyze the cancellation reasons, based on which we segmented all users. This segmentation happens on the customer’s cancellation reason, total orders completed, and subscriber profile. 

Second, ask the founders to step in, and record a video message for their subscribers that would appeal emotionally to those reasons.

Third, we activated Loop’s custom cancellation flows to set up this retention campaign. 

After enough time passed, the results were impressive. We observed a substantial reduction in churn. 

Additionally, more users than before chose to pause or skip their subscription instead of cancelling. This is a positive development because subscription cancellations are permanent. But customers skipping or pausing the subscription is a temporary setback. 

And sometimes, when life happens, customers may have to step back from their subscription. However, with the pause/skip option, your customers have the flexibility and encouragement needed to maintain their subscription in the long term.

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Brand 1: Livingood Daily

Founder: Dr. Blake Livingood (LinkedIn) | Shopify store

Highlights from the video message

  • Shares research on that supplements takes time to show results
  • Encourages subscribers to try out other product categories by easily swapping products
  • Reminders subscribers that Subscribe & Save is a way for them to stick to healthy habits

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Full Video

Impact

Reduction in cancellation rate: ~24.67%


Additional benefits of adding the video 👉
Percentage of subscribers opting for alternative actions (Swap, pause, delay or using a discount incentive): 3%For an in-depth look at Livingood Daily's journey in scaling subscriptions, check out their customer story. Additionally, here is the Shopify review they left for us. Providing the best merchant experience is at the heart of what we do at Loop. It’s truly rewarding to see our clients win in subscription growth.

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Brand 2: BEAM Supplements

Founder: Russell Saks (LinkedIn) | Shopify Store

Co Founder: Michael Yewdell (LinkedIn), Tarun P Singh (LinkedIn)

Highlights of the video message

  • Michael shares his story on fighting cancer and why they started this brand
  • He encourages subscribers to stick with healthy lifestyle habits
  • He appreciates & acknowledges the contribution of subscribers to make BEAM the brand it is today

Full Video

Impact

churn reduction on
‍Reduction in cancellation rate: ~28.86%

Additional benefits of adding the video 👉
Percentage of subscribers opting for alternative actions (Swap, pause, delay or using a discount incentive): 13%


Brand 3: NMN Bionutrition

Founder: Dr. Elena Seranova, Ph.D (LinkedIn) | Shopify store

Highlights of the video message

  • Shares top 3 benefits of continuing with the subscription, and hooks the listener in with a number at the beginning of the video.
  • Reminds subscribers they always come first when it comes to priority customer support.
  • NMN Bio always has something exclusive, exciting and special planned for its subscribers.

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Full Video

Impact

NMN bio churn rate impact
Reduction in cancellation rate: 37.63%.

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Additional benefits of adding the video 👉

Percentage of subscribers opting for alternative actions (Swap, pause, delay or using a discount incentive): 11.76%

Here’s a glimpse into the Shopify review left by NMN Bionutrition, addressing their seamless migration experience and decrease in churn since they switched to Loop.

As a founder, if you are also concerned about your churn numbers

Subscribers cancel because they no longer feel a personal connection with the brand. Founders can bridge this gap with the right video messages when subscribers are about to cancel. 

Within the video category, there is a lot of room to experiment. For instance, you can choose different content angles from educational to success stories to a Q&A format. Creating education-led retention campaigns can also yield impressive results. If you are also struggling with high subscription cancellations and were inspired to execute next-gen retention campaigns, try Loop for free today.

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Written by
Emma Johnson
Head of Marketing

Emma Johnson is celebrated for her strategic brilliance and innovative flair. By seamlessly blending creativity with data-driven insights, she has propelled Loop’s brand to new heights, establishing it as a formidable force in the Shopify Subscriptions space.