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Nearly a third of new subscribers to news publications cancel in the first 24hrs

niemanlab.org

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Re: Nearly a third of new subscribers to news publications cancel in the first 24hrs

#71

Post by yomkippur »

bendergarcia wrote: post #10
jwie wrote: post #6

This is just lack of auto renew protections. Consumers are wise to this, and they’re not really canceling. I bet if you could turn off auto-renew they wouldn’t cancel. But, to nobody’s surprise, the MBAs don’t like options where the user doesn’t give away money by accident. Auto renew is one of those things that should be illegal to default users into.

The internet is full of these dark patterns. It really should be illegal to use tricky language to get people to opt into things they’re not really interested in. In this case auto renewal but often it’s sharing contact info or tracking without explicit consent.

If crypto is allowed to exist this would be a drop in the bucket, its not going to get fixed.

Re: Nearly a third of new subscribers to news publications cancel in the first 24hrs

#72

Post by kmbfjr »

mywacaday wrote: post #61

This is not surprising, I got a deal with the NYT and attempted to cancel through a phone call where they extended the offer. 12 months later same call, they asked what would I need to stay and I said same offer indefinitely, 1$ a month is worth it but not much more as a European when its not my main source of news. For some reason I still prefer dead trees when I can find the time.

I prefer dead trees because they're not reporting what I'm reading, for how long nor where the cursor travels on the page. I find people recording my reading habits and preferences to be extremely dangerous given the current political climate.

The Wall Street Journal still publishes a PDF of the print version. If all papers did this, I'd have a lot less problem subscribing. Instead, they want you to use their app or log into the site.

Re: Nearly a third of new subscribers to news publications cancel in the first 24hrs

#73

Post by ec109685 »

This is unethical:

“It makes sense that sleepers churn: They aren’t getting much value from their subscription. Yet they don’t churn right away. In any given month, 90% of sleepers will simply continue to stay inactive. It’s only when they wake up again and come back that their cancellation rates soar, generally accounting for about 30% of active churn.

This makes re-engaging sleepers difficult. How do you bring them back into the fold and “wake them up” without prompting them to cancel?”

They are advising to trick users into continuing their subscription by not reminding them they are subscribed.

I am sure they are also against reminding folks when it is time to auto renew.

These are all tactics that hurt the overall subscription industry by making people not trust companies. The ethical thing to do is ensure each subscriber is subscribing by choice.

Re: Nearly a third of new subscribers to news publications cancel in the first 24hrs

#74

Post by steve_taylor »

vasco wrote: post #15
jwie wrote: post #6

This is just lack of auto renew protections. Consumers are wise to this, and they’re not really canceling. I bet if you could turn off auto-renew they wouldn’t cancel. But, to nobody’s surprise, the MBAs don’t like options where the user doesn’t give away money by accident. Auto renew is one of those things that should be illegal to default users into.

Without auto renew half the SaaS tech landscape wouldn't exist. Many tech companies operate primarily a gym without knowing it. Easy to subscribe, hard to remove, and 0 costs to keep up accounts of people that don't use it, that sounds like a gym subscription to me.

Auto-renew is fine, as long as the product's billing system has the necessary protections, such as

- low-friction cancellation

- email users a few days before monthly renewals and twice before annual renewals

- ability to remove the payment method altogether

- don't require a credit card for a free trial

If cancellation takes effect immediately, the service should provide an immediate pro rata refund.

Re: Nearly a third of new subscribers to news publications cancel in the first 24hrs

#75

Post by chiefalchemist »

What's needed is a credits system that works across multiple sites on the order of pay as you consume. I don't mind paying. In fact, I want to pay. Gladly.

What I don't want is to overpay and/or take on a payment agreement (i.e., subscription) that's too easy to forget about, or too difficult to cancel (i.e., dark pattern).

Re: Nearly a third of new subscribers to news publications cancel in the first 24hrs

#76

Post by Forgeties79 »

Someone1234 wrote: post #37
jwie wrote: post #6

This is just lack of auto renew protections. Consumers are wise to this, and they’re not really canceling. I bet if you could turn off auto-renew they wouldn’t cancel. But, to nobody’s surprise, the MBAs don’t like options where the user doesn’t give away money by accident. Auto renew is one of those things that should be illegal to default users into.

The harder a service is to cancel, the more unlikely I am to ever re-subscribe. That's something they need to start studying in business/MBA school. That SOME customer churn reduction strategies directly lead to indefinite loss of customers. To give a specific anecdote: Ooma offers a very interesting service, hassle-free "landline" (VoIP) turn-key phone service, the price is reasonable, and they have multiple offerin…

I’ve always felt like the rule should be really simple: whatever means allow you to sign up should allow you to cancel too.

The number of things I can do to modify my plans in-app - all except cancel - is not only striking, but clearly done maliciously. It’s a very deliberate decision that is easy to identify, there’s very little grey area.

Forcing people to call just to cancel is particularly evil.

Re: Nearly a third of new subscribers to news publications cancel in the first 24hrs

#77

Post by pfranz »

jwie wrote: post #6

This is just lack of auto renew protections. Consumers are wise to this, and they’re not really canceling. I bet if you could turn off auto-renew they wouldn’t cancel. But, to nobody’s surprise, the MBAs don’t like options where the user doesn’t give away money by accident. Auto renew is one of those things that should be illegal to default users into.

It also shows people just want to pay for a single piece of content--not an ongoing relationship. I want to buy a magazine or two off the newsstand before I sign up for a subscription.

Re: Nearly a third of new subscribers to news publications cancel in the first 24hrs

#78

Post by techdragon »

losteric wrote: post #55
Someone1234 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The harder a service is to cancel, the more unlikely I am to ever re-subscribe. That's something they need to start studying in business/MBA school. That SOME customer churn reduction strategies directly lead to indefinite loss of customers. To give a specific anecdote: Ooma offers a very interesting service, hassle-free "landline" (VoIP) turn-key phone service, the price is reasonable, and they have multiple offerin…

> Why do MBAs keep pushing this? Are they TRYING to exchange short term retention for long term viability? Isn't that the stereotype? Join to juice some metric, jump ship while everything looks green, leave the mess to someone else

It’s not just a stereotype it’s often their explicit job description! They get hired or promoted with a performance metric for juicing those metrics either as an expectation of the job or as a requirement for performance incentives and bonus pay…

This all of course tends to be set up by fellow MBAs higher up the corporate food chain and since everyone keeps personally profiting no one sees any reason to stop, all the dead and destroyed companies were accidents, bad decisions, acts of god, etc… never due to systemic misunderstanding of business management principles… because that might actually be something the shareholders could sue over, and no one wants that, at a primal subconscious level it’s unthinkable.

Re: Nearly a third of new subscribers to news publications cancel in the first 24hrs

#79

Post by gherkinnn »

losteric wrote: post #55
Someone1234 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The harder a service is to cancel, the more unlikely I am to ever re-subscribe. That's something they need to start studying in business/MBA school. That SOME customer churn reduction strategies directly lead to indefinite loss of customers. To give a specific anecdote: Ooma offers a very interesting service, hassle-free "landline" (VoIP) turn-key phone service, the price is reasonable, and they have multiple offerin…

> Why do MBAs keep pushing this? Are they TRYING to exchange short term retention for long term viability? Isn't that the stereotype? Join to juice some metric, jump ship while everything looks green, leave the mess to someone else

Seagulls. Swarm a pretty beach, shit all over the place and fly off again.

Of course, this doesn’t exclusively apply to MBAs. I’ve seen plenty of consultants and developers do the same.

Re: Nearly a third of new subscribers to news publications cancel in the first 24hrs

#80

Post by Larrikin »

auggierose wrote: post #16
ctxc wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of Amazon Prime where many movies have an extra paywall ("rent?") even if you own a subscription. So annoying.

Would you prefer the movies you can rent were not there at all?

I only watch shows on Apple TV that have been recommended to me through word of mouth or on a review site so that I know it was produced for the service, precisely because the UI is so terrible with the mixing of content. 99% of the time I will have wasted part of my life looking for something interesting to watch only to find out I have to pay more money on top of the subscription.

They're handing out free subscriptions constantly to build the service, but the mixing of subscription content with pay content actively makes me use the trials less and makes me never want to pay for the service.

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