How To Get Subscribers To Keep Coming Back and Buying

Hey, it's Max from the Inbox Newsletter.

This email is focused on getting high customer retention rates.

This is going to be targeted towards subscription brands…

But it will be valuable if you don’t have one, so keep reading.

Key Takeaways:

• First-order subscribers are worth at least 2x more over 12 months than first order one-time purchasers

• The messaging you lead with on your landing page and ads determines how long people stay

• Incentivize longer commitments with tiered subscription options and first-order discounts

• Email your subscribers less than you think you should

• The best cancel flow in the world won't save you if your acquisition strategy sets the wrong expectations

Here is a common problem I see with every brand that comes to us:

They don't have a problem with people signing up for their subscription program or, but once month three to four hits, customers drop off like flies.

After spending hundreds of hours analyzing the top subscription brands (AG1, Grüns, Ryze, etc.)…

I've learned something that most brands miss:

The brands with the lowest churn aren't the ones with the best cancel flows or win-back sequences.

They're the ones who mastered their acquisition framing and messaging.

Retention starts at acquisition.

Let’s bring up some examples…

Incentivize Longer Product Use Lengths

First order subscribers are worth at least 2x more over 3, 6, 9, and 12 months than first order one-time purchasers.

The reason comes down to default behavior.

When you subscribe, your default do-nothing action is to buy again.

You have to make an effort to cancel.

When you buy one time, your default action is nothing. It takes effort to purchase again.

But here's where it gets interesting. The brands with the highest subscriber retention aren't just converting more people to subscription.

They're setting the expectation from the first touchpoint that this product is meant to be used over a long period of time.

Look at the messaging on their landing pages.

It's not "Try this and see instant results." It's "Commit to 90 days and see what happens."

They feature testimonials from customers who've been using the product for 2 years, not customers who saw results in one week.

This matters because if you lead with "Transform your skin in 7 days," you're going to get a lot of people who try it for 7 days and cancel when they don't see a transformation.

But if you lead with "Here's what to expect at month 1, month 2, month 3," you've pre-sold retention.

By the time they subscribe, they've already bought into staying for multiple months.

Your acquisition messaging is your best retention lever.

Retention Starts at Acquisition

Once you've framed the product as a long-term commitment, your offer structure should reinforce that.

The simplest change most brands can make: default to subscription on the product page. 

It sounds obvious, but you'd be shocked how many brands offer subscription but don't have it pre-selected.

Just changing the default selection to subscription is the single biggest lift in take rate you're going to see.

Now that you’ve ensured that all the traffic on your page will default to your subscription offer, it’s time for the next level:

Introduce a second subscription option.

Instead of subscription vs one-time, offer two subscription options plus one-time. Maybe it's a monthly supply, a quarterly supply, and one-time.

Now two out of three options are subscription, and one-time purchase is clearly the worst value.

Grüns does this really well. They have a "one person" vs "two people" toggle within their subscription options.

You're not choosing between subscribe or don't subscribe.

You're choosing how many people in your household need this product.

One-time purchase is still there, but it's visually de-emphasized and offers no discount.

This also has the side-effect of increasing your AOV a lot.

You can also front-load the discount.

Instead of 20% off every order, try 30% off your first subscription order and 10% off recurring.

This makes the initial commitment more compelling without crushing your margins on every rebill.

The goal with all of these tactics is the same: match people to a subscription plan that actually fits their consumption.

If someone needs three packs per month but you only offer one pack per month, they're either going to have too little product and churn, or you're going to upsell them into having too much product and they'll churn anyway.

Getting the cadence right upfront is one of the most underrated retention levers.

Email Subscribers Rarely and Let the Product Sell Itself

This is where subscription brands need to think completely differently from one-time purchase brands.

For a clothing brand or a widget company, email is a revenue creation channel.

You're trying to drive 30-40% of attributed revenue through email and SMS. That's the standard playbook.

For subscription brands, email is a revenue preservation and expansion channel.

Your subscribers are already going to buy again.

The question is whether your emails help them stay or accidentally push them to cancel.

Every email you send to an active subscriber runs the risk of reminding them that they're subscribed.

They open the email, think "Oh right, I have that subscription," remember they have too much product in their pantry, and go cancel.

I recommend excluding active subscribers from most of your regular campaigns.

When you do email them, make it additive: education on how to use the product, content that reinforces the habit, or cross-sell offers for complementary products.

There's also a major attribution trap to watch out for.

If a subscriber opens your campaign email on Tuesday and does nothing, then gets automatically rebilled on Wednesday, that campaign gets credited with the revenue.

Your dashboard looks amazing, but you didn't actually drive that sale. It was happening anyway.

We use a custom metric in Klaviyo that filters out subscription rebills so we can see true email-attributed revenue.

Go to Metrics, create a custom metric using Placed Order, and add a filter where Source Name does not equal "subscription_contract_checkout_one."

That's your actual number.

The post-purchase emails you do send should focus on two things: building the habit so they actually use the product, and setting expectations for the long term.

If the biggest reason people cancel is "I have too much product," your job is to get them consuming at the right rate.

Make it part of their identity. One simple habit every morning. Show your body you care about it. That kind of messaging.

Let the product itself do the selling.

If they're using it consistently and seeing results, they'll stay.

If they're not using it, no amount of emails will save them.

Bonus: Reactivating Churned Subscribers

Win-back flows for churned subscribers matter way less than most brands think.

By the time someone has canceled, the battle is mostly lost.

You can win some of them back, but the ROI on win-back flows is dramatically lower than the ROI on preventing churn in the first place.

The more important thing to focus on is how someone leaves your brand. That's how they're going to remember you.

If you make it hard to cancel, hide the button, add unnecessary friction, or require emailing customer support, they're going to be frustrated.

Even if you delay their cancellation by a day or two, you've burned the bridge. They're never coming back.

But if you make the experience respectful, thank them for being a customer, and leave the door open, there's a real chance they come back when their situation changes.

Some brands send a handwritten card to every subscriber who cancels, thanking them for their business and inviting them to return.

That's the kind of thing that gets a churned subscriber to genuinely reconsider.

Final Thoughts

The brands winning at subscription retention aren't doing it with fancy cancel flows or aggressive win-back sequences.

They're doing it by setting the right expectations from the first ad, matching customers to the right plan, and emailing them less than you'd think.

Retention starts at acquisition.

If you're only thinking about churn after someone subscribes, you're already playing defense.

If you want help optimizing your subscription email strategy, book a call here.

NEW: Email Marketerz Community

Yesterday I launched a new private community for brands & marketers serious about mastering email marketing.

Inside you’ll get a full email course, 250+ campaign & flow email templates, weekly live calls, and real strategies from 100+ ecommerce brands we manage.

The first 100 members also get a special bonus.

Join here →

Email Inspiration Of The Day

Brand:
Bloom

Email Design:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MVvSTv9ddwjtHIhWvJX7jNfUkcR8gV6a/view?usp=sharing

Notes:
Love the idea of putting founder transformations right in people's face. It shows that they walk the walk and live a lifestyle that’s aligned with their business.

Reply to this email if you have any questions or further content you want covered.

Cheers,

Max Sturtevant | Well Copy

How I Can Help You:

• Work With My Agency To Manage Your Email / SMS: Learn More »

• Get 1:1 Consulting On Email Marketing: Learn More »

• Free & Paid Guides / Resources: Learn More »

• Join My Team: Apply Here »