4 Tactics to Increase Paid Subscription Revenue

Poppy Boyd
by Poppy Boyd
December 25, 2021 0

While compelling content is still the biggest factor in increasing sales for publishers, a mix of targeted marketing promotions and online tactics can give subscriptions an extra boost. In an effort to reduce reliance on advertising and diversify revenue mix, publishers are looking for additional avenues to drive paid subscription revenue.

Here are 4 actions you can take to grow your subscription revenue using Omeda’s audience data platform.

#1—Marketing Automation

Marketing automation is a powerful way to engage your audience to send personalized, timely and targeted messages. Automation can help you deliver the right content at the right time to the right people. A voyage can span across multiple channels, including your website, email. and social media platforms. Below are several voyages you can create in Odyssey to generate revenue:

Welcome Voyage: Send an upsell offer or special discount as part of your journey to names in your audience that are either new to the database or are not receiving your paid products.

Abandonment Voyage: Target the people who visit your new or renewal subscription form but do not complete their purchase.

Omeda Case Study on an Abandonment Journey

This client targeted subscribers that visited the renewal subscription form, but abandoned the form before renewing. The series had one email and one personalization modal that resulted in the following outcomes:

  • Email = 50.4% open rate; 14.5% click thru rate
  • Personalization = 27.1% click thru rate
  • Overall Conversion = 18.8% renewed

Lead Magnet Voyage: Offer an incentive like an eBook, freemium or exclusive newsletter and target the people who download.

You could also create a voyage to target based on purchase intention: did they purchase another subscription or product from you?

Or, a voyage based on engagement: have they tried to view paid content or visited the website frequently over a set period of time?

#2—Payment Options


To increase revenue, many offer discounted pricing, shorter terms, or even free trials to entice subscribers. The challenge, however, can be landing on the right price. You should develop a pricing strategy that involves A/B testing before making pricing changes. Here are several scenarios to consider when testing:

  • Free trial vs. $1 trial with auto renewal
  • Annual vs. monthly term
  • Tiered pricing vs. standard pricing

#3—Metering


Metering allows you to create a paywall or gate specific content on your website. You can limit the number of page views visitors can have on your site before being prompted to register or pay, as well as create a hard gate to prevent access without registration/payment. Metering can help you build your audience and generate revenue by placing a high value on your content. You can adjust your meter based on the audience type. For example, newsletter readers can receive a different meter than first time visitors to the site.

Soft Gate: Article Limit

Hard Gate: Premium Content Behind the Paywall

#4—Auto-Renewal

Automated renewals allow you to renew a subscription at the end of the term without requiring the subscriber to take an action. Auto renewals can help prevent customer churn and have a 3x higher renewal rate than standard renewals. Publishers that use auto renewals also have lower renewal costs since they do not have to send a series of renewal messages.

One thing to consider when setting up auto renewals is how you will handle subscribers who are enrolled in auto renewal but have a credit card that is expiring. You can set-up an email series to reach out to those people asking them to update their payment method so that you can renew their subscription.

Omeda Case Study on Auto Renewals with Expired Credit Cards
This Omeda client sent two emails, as well as ran on-site personalization, to target people who were signed-up for auto renewal but had a credit card expiring before they would be renewed, resulting in several successes:

  • Email 1 – 60 days prior to expire = 527
    • 24.9% open; 7.8% click thru rate
  • Email 2 – 30 days prior to expire = 374
    • 39.8% open; 12.5% click thru rate
  • Personalization = 6.1% click thru rate
  • Overall Conversion = 3.3% updated credit card information

Measuring Results

To measure the success of paid product registrations, refer to Omeda’s Promocode by Product Attribution report.

A multi-pronged approach is the best strategy to increase revenue. For more information on how Omeda can help increase paid subscription revenue, contact us at sales@omeda.com to learn more about our CODiE Award-winning solution!