Mission, Values, and Principles

Subscriber Retention Mission Statement

Find and keep subscribers who will pay and will repurchase

It appears as a simple, short statement but it is not easily accomplished.  The words "find" and "keep" are action verbs portraying the need to strategize and implement plans to accomplish the mission.  Please note that it includes "pay and will repurchase" and not just "pay".  New subscribers are expensive and your sales process should qualify new customers to those who are really interested in trying your product.  One time sales based on a discounted price and/or a desirable premium will provide you a temporary surge in not only circulation but also expense.

Subscriber Value Statement

A newspaper subscriber's perception of how they are treated during the purchasing, billing, and renewal process will impact their decision to pay their initial bill and/or to renew a newspaper subscriber.

The subscriber retention foundation is built on this value statement.  A commitment to service at the individual subscriber level is what you find at newspapers with good retention.  Circulation is built one by one with each subscriber finding enough value in your product that they will part with some of their limited resources.  Service binds the subscriber retention process together.  Poor service moves the focus from your newspaper product to your work processes which can easily lead to choosing not to pay or renew because they are not getting what they were promised.

Subscriber Retention Principles

• Give yourself a chance to build loyalty!
  You cannot build loyalty in someone who has no real interest in your product.  They must see a potential for adding value to their lives before you will have an opportunity to build loyalty.
• Do what you said you would do!
  You committed to your subscriber at the time of the sale they would have a readable newspaper at a certain time and in an easily accessible area.  This service would continue for the length of their subscription.  People working within well developed work processes make this happen.  You are doing what you said you would do!
• Do not give a subscriber the opportunity to consider alternatives!
  Most of us live much of our life on automatic pilot.  Once you have the newspaper subscription initiated, you want to do nothing that causes your subscriber to stop and consider the value of your newspapers.  Those instances are driven by service complaints and invoices.  Ezpay enhances the probability the subscriber will not have reason to stop their busy schedule and consider alternatives.
• Stops – You could not create the value.  Learn from it and salvage what you can.
  Stops occur for a number of reasons including service but most frequently because your product does not provide the value they need to exchange their limited cash resources for the newspaper.