How to lose all your subscribers

People forget why they started paying you.

And when it comes time to do it again—if they haven’t heard from you—they might just stop.

I learned this lesson by watching a tech company I worked for fumble their billion dollar valuation into a fire sale shut down.

InVision was a subscription design tool, and when I joined in 2018, it was one of the most successful in its category, in terms of user adoption and revenue. It had just raised a huge round of funding. I couldn’t have been more excited to be a part of the team.

Until I saw what was happening on the inside.

A fatal mistake: they had cut off communication with their subscribers to go “heads down” on their work.

Not listening to any subscriber feedback.
Not sharing any of their future plans.
Not delivering what subscribers wanted…because they had no idea what that was.

This was rookie startup stuff if I had ever seen it—thinking they knew better and that they had enough market dominance to last. They were wrong. I spent a few months there on the design team and bailed as fast as I could. They hemorrhaged cash and limped their way to a complete shut down end of last year.

What an avoidable waste!

You and I will not make that same mistake. We know we need to keep the lines of communication with paying subscribers open so they stick with us.

But how do you stay in touch with subscribers at scale?

Using lifecycle automations.

The exact lifecycle automations the team at Outpost has built.

Automations that give a heads up to any renewing subscriber that they’re about to get charged…and why their support matters so much to your publication.

Automations like their hey we noticed you canceled reminder which can help a subscriber change their mind before the cancellation takes effect.

Automations like their thanks for sticking with us that make your renewing subscribers feel valued.

Unlike my failed former employer, Outpost knows that COPIOUS SUBSCRIBER COMMUNICATIONS is what keeps revenue coming.

And they also know that you don’t have time for all that! That’s why it’s automated.

Just head straight to the Outpost Autoresponder to make sure you’ve got the “Retention and Renewal” messages going out. Flip on a couple of those notes that help your subscribers know you care!

You can always customize and test them too. Every email has a first draft for you, and it takes mere minutes to add a dash of your publication’s unique personality. Now, we can tell it’s from you!

But Lex, don’t my weekly newsletters count as staying in touch with subscribers and making them feel valued?

Yes, they do. Unfortunately, that’s often not enough as you grow. You need extra communication like this to ensure readers know their PAID support matters and why.

After many years of building subscriber communications from scratch, I was thrilled to see that Outpost makes it so easy for indie publishers. It really is all set up for you!

If you’ve got a Ghost publication, Outpost is a no brainer addition to your stack.

Outpost runs around welcoming, upselling, renewing and responding to your subscribers actions while you focus on your reporting.

Ghost your subscribers at your own peril! Or just get Outpost.