In the subscription economy, growth is no longer the hard part; retention is. During a one-hour Subscription Masters Webinar with INMA’s Greg Piechota, author Robert Skrob delved into what it takes to build a sustainable business.

His latest book, Be Unleavable: Why Some Subscriptions Thrive While Others Stall and the 90-Day Fix, was inspired by what he called “an incredibly unpleasant day” that involved him speaking at a news media conference of news publishers. About 20 minutes into his talk, he recalled, things had “gone off the rails” and publishers made it clear that his ideas would never work in the news industry.

But as he was leaving, several young people approached him and thanked him for his presentation, explaining they had been trying to convey similar ideas at their own companies. And so Skrob worked his ideas into a book with “ to lay out exactly how the operating system is put together.”

Piechota, who leads the INMA Readers First Initiative, quizzed Skrob about his retention-first operating system designed to fix high churn.

Tiers that fit

Tiers — or subscription offers targeting different needs — remain a point of contention in the industry.

Many publishers still resist them, Skrob said, insisting, “We cannot do subscription tiers in local news media; that will never work.” But, he argued, this resistance is rooted in a misunderstanding of what tiers are for.

“Readers first is not about the paywall; it’s about understanding what your subscribers really want, who they are, and creating an experience around them,” he explained. “And when you do have that readers-first focus, you’re going to quickly appreciate that they really want tiers.”

News companies tend to think of tiers as good, better, best versions of their own product. Skrob said it’s actually about “understanding your subscribers and what they are showing up to want from their news media experience.” Some want different levels of access, he said, and “pricing is a natural outcome of that.”

But publishers who don’t offer tiers are missing out because “if you don’t offer it, somebody else will because there’s a demand there —  whether you choose to supply it or not.”

Know your customer

Skrob’s book calls the concept of “tribal branding,” which is really about understanding subscribers and what they want.

“Most news companies show very little evidence of doing that type of work. They’re focused on their stories; they’re not focused on the actual readers that are consuming the news media.”

Many subscribers want a quick daily reset — what he called a “timeout experience”  — and others want deep reporting on business, politics, or real estate. Still others want status, community, or professional insight.

Success comes when publishers think about what their users want from their interaction with the news, how users want to experience it, and how they can meet those needs on a daily basis.   

The New York Times has proven this logic at scale: Bundled subscribers churn 40% less and have nearly double the lifetime value of news‑only subscribers. Different users have different goals, and Skrob said retention is higher when publications use tiers because customers are getting exactly what they want.

“So that right fit — tiers — improve revenue, improve your retention, and also offering the right thing to the right person improves the number of subscribers that you’re able to generate,” he said. “It’s a win-win.”

Know your subscribers

One area where news publishers go wrong is they don’t talk to subscribers. Reaching out to longtime subscribers and hearing what they actually want can be a game-changer, he said: “If you have five subscriber conversations a week for the next four weeks, you will be an entirely different human being approaching these problems.

“Take those words, use those words, phrases and substance, the actual words in your advertising, marketing tiers, your explanations, your marketing is going to be better than it ever has been because you are feeding back their hopes and dreams right back to them.”

These conversations reveal the emotional drivers behind subscription decisions: identity, belonging, competence, status, curiosity, or simply the desire not to feel uninformed.

Communicating with new subscribers

Skrob argued that most onboarding sequences fail because they focus on the publisher — its features, its sections, its apps — rather than on the subscriber.

“Most subscription businesses focus on what you get … and that’s why those types of onboarding sequences don’t improve retention rates.”

Instead, he proposes a seven‑day onboarding framework designed to build emotional connection:

1. Build trust. This means delivering what was promised and providing a list of bonuses, tools, resources, and links.
2. Introduce the people behind the product. Tell your story and let them meet your team.
3. Address the reasons people cancel. Flip their biggest fear; use testimonials when possible.
4. Reframe limiting beliefs. Bust the myths that might be holding them back — things like “I get my news from social media.”
5. Deliver a quick win. “Offer some sort of new breakthrough realisation, some sort of way of seeing their community, somehow understanding how things work in a different way than they did before.”
6. Simplify the process. This can be done by showing them how easy the journey is.
7. Introduce them to other subscribers. Let them know they’re in good company by highlighting fun, unique, and interesting people within the community.

“The whole point of tribe, Seth Godin says, is ‘people like us do things like this,’” Skrob explained.

“So introduce them to some of the most prominent people in the community to talk about how they enjoy this news media, and this particular news media is my go-to place for such and such… let them tell your other subscribers why they’re a subscriber because they can tell your story better than you can probably — even though you’re a journalist.”

This transforms the subscription from a transaction into a social identity. 

Building a better dashboard

Skrob addressed the most effective elements publishers should have on their dashboard. Churn, pageviews, and engagement are all backward‑looking, only reciting what already happened.

“The No. 1 key metric that I think that completely changes your entire conversation is 12 months of forecasted recurring revenue,” he said.

News companies should look at the current number of subscribers, the new subscribers expected each month, and the expected churn and retention over the next 12 months. That completely changes the view, he said, and shows numbers in a different light.

“It’s as if you’re driving down the street and looking in the rearview mirror the whole time — you’re going to crash,” he said. “But if what that forecasted recurring revenue does is ... it’s like a GPS that tracks how far you are from your destination and it helps you steer in order to get there.”

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