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A checklist for subscriber retention efforts

Retaining subscribers and members after they join is a complex business. This list of tactics is a quick and concise primer on where to start keeping people on your books, regardless of the sophistication of your marketing operation or engagement technology stack.

After converting a new member or subscriber, the work of retaining them begins. Some tactics, like listening and thanking them, are simple ways to keep readers paying for news. Others require a heavier lift, like the publisher-newsroom coordination and analyzing non-payment. This resource rounds up eight options for publishers to try, with links to other resources.

The underlying motivation for all these efforts is the same:

Winning at retention requires playing the long game — focusing on proactively engaging subscribers, reading the right signals to mitigate churn, and having the patience to see the results of your efforts months, if not years, down the line.