Subscriptions are a great way to grow a consistent revenue stream, but keeping memberships active can be tricky. In today’s subscription-based business models, understanding why members leave is as important as attracting new ones.

When subscribers leave, we refer to it as churn. It’s a standard way to measure how fast your business is “leaking” subscribers. Churn isn’t a sign of failure: it’s inevitable. However, churn patterns help you analyze and understand your member’s needs and prevent you from losing future subscribers. By predicting churn, you can better understand when exactly you’re likely to lose a member. From there, you can prioritize at-risk folks and re-engage them. 

In this article, we’ve cover: 

• Why subscription analysis is critical for preventing churn 
• How your subscription analytics can help you retain members 
• The key metrics we think you should be tracking to reduce churn
• Some best practices for using subscription analysis to prevent churn
• How a plugin like MemberDash can help you predict and prevent churn 

Let’s get started! 

Why subscription analysis is critical for preventing churn

Subscription analysis allows you to accomplish two major things: 

Understand member behavior. You’ll begin to see patterns in what keeps members engaged and what drives them away. When members begin to decrease their engagement, you can use subscription analysis to understand how your membership is not meeting their current needs or how to re-engage them with content they do need. Understanding this data is key to optimizing the member experience and reducing the likelihood of churn.

Spot early warning signs of at-risk members. Subscription analysis means that you’re naturally paying attention to signs like reduced engagement, missing payments, and infrequent logins. Spotting these early churn indicators allows you to take action before members decide to cancel and buys you time to create a personalized retention strategy.

How subscription analytics helps you retain members

Here’s how looking closely at your analytics can help: 

1. Understand Engagement Trends

Look at the data that shows the content your members are most engaged with. What pages are they clicking through the most and coming back to time after time? By assessing which content or features are most popular with your members, you’ll be able to know more clearly what keeps them coming back. Focus on enhancing these areas while refining the less engaging aspects to maximize member retention.

2. Predict Membership Lifecycles

Using subscription analysis data, you can forecast when members are likely to renew or cancel their subscriptions. For example, do you see a trend in how many days a member hasn’t logged in before they ultimately cancel? Can you intercept before this happens? This kind of predictive analysis allows you to offer targeted incentives to members in danger of cancelling. Think of special offers or exclusive content to keep members onboard longer.

3. Personalize Member Experiences

By using insights from your subscription analysis, you can tailor both your offerings and communications to individual member preferences. For example, you can send targeted emails full of recommendations on what members could do next, based on the content they engage with the most. This sort of personalization fosters loyalty and helps to build a stronger connection between your brand and your members.

Key metrics to track for reducing churn

Effective subscription analysis involves tracking key metrics to help identify and prevent churn. Focus on these to get a clear picture of your membership dynamics:

Member Retention Rate: This is one of the most important indicators of member loyalty. It helps you understand how well you are maintaining your existing membership base over time.

Lifetime Value (LTV): This helps you measure the long-term value of each member. The more valuable a member, the less likely they’ll churn. Aim to raise this number by understanding the value of each subscriber. It’ll help you determine the best strategies to keep them engaged and increase their overall contribution to your revenue.

Churn Rate: A high churn rate signals that there are areas to improve in terms of engagement or satisfaction. Regularly tracking this number will help you measure the effectiveness of your retention strategies. You can track monthly or yearly – whichever makes more sense for your subscription model. 

Active Member Count and Engagement: Your overall number of active members and their engagement levels are critical to understanding how well your membership model is performing. You can measure engagement by looking at the types and frequency of actions members take.

Best practices to follow

Subscription analysis isn’t just about tracking data—it’s about using that data to shape your strategy. Here are some best practices:

1. Automate Alerts for At-Risk Members

Set up automated alerts based on specific metrics that trigger when a member shows signs of being at risk. For example, you could set up an alert for when a member hasn’t logged in in over 30 days, 90 days, and etc. Or, if a payment falls behind, or if a member spends less and less time engaged on certain pages. An alert can take out some of the manual data checking work and lets you act for a timely intervention – such as personalized outreach or offers.

2. Create Targeted Retention Campaigns

When you know why members fall off, you can understand what they need to bring them back. Use the insights gained from subscription analysis to create a retention campaign for members. For example, you can create a 3-sequence email campaign that targets the user before they drop off with a link to exclusive content. Then, if they churned, you can send a second with a special discount to come back. Finally, a third email can be sent with a personalized message that addresses their specific needs or concerns with a final discount and ask for some feedback on why they left. 

3. Offer Flexible Subscription Options

Price plays an important role in a user’s decision to continue paying for a subscription. Experiment with different bundles and prices. One price rarely fits all, and your first set of price tiers may not be the most ideal. Take the time to experiment with different options, changing both the actual price and how you bundle features. Provide members with flexibility, such as varying subscription plans, pay-per-use options, or the ability to pause their membership instead of canceling. This can help keep members who might otherwise churn.

4. Regularly Collect and Act on Member Feedback

Subscription analysis is most effective when paired with direct member feedback. Regularly survey your members about their satisfaction levels, then use this information to adjust your offerings and minimize churn risks. Read reviews and see if you can add in those features members are typically asking for. Actively read reviews and keep a list of suggestions to know what members want, then prioritize requests by their frequency.

MemberDash can help you predict & prevent churn

With powerful analytics tools built into MemberDash, you can easily monitor, analyze, and optimize your subscription-based model to reduce churn. Here’s how MemberDash supports your retention efforts:

Advanced Sales Reports: MemberDash provides detailed sales and subscription reports, allowing you to track revenue trends, membership growth, and churn. These insights help you make informed decisions about your retention strategies.

Member Management Tools: With comprehensive member management features, MemberDash lets you track individual member activity, segment members based on behavior, and implement targeted retention strategies.

Content Restriction and Access Control: Use MemberDash’s flexible content restriction tools to personalize the member experience. Offering exclusive content or tiered access can keep members engaged and reduce the likelihood of them leaving.

Integration with Retention Tools: MemberDash integrates seamlessly with other tools that can enhance your retention efforts, such as email marketing platforms, CRM systems, and member support services. Ready to give it a try? Learn more about how all of the above features work in our Knowledgebase, and explore our demo to see why we think using MemberDash to manage your subscriptions can be a game-changer.