10:00 a.m.-12:40 p.m.
(New York time)

About today's module

Retention is not a metric. It’s not a team. It’s the result of every decision your newsroom, your product, your marketing teams make about the customer journey.

In this first module, we’ll lay out the foundation for a digital-first retention strategy. We'll explore how the traditional binary perspective on subscriptions (subscriber vs. non-subscriber) needs to evolve into a continuous relationship model that supports “forever subscribers.”

As acquisition growth naturally slows in maturing markets, we'll examine how retention becomes the primary driver of sustainable growth and why this requires organisational transformation.

The session will spotlight innovative approaches to cross-functional retention leadership, including how to build retention task forces that break down silos between departments.

Key questions

• How do we shift the organisational mindset from acquisition-first to retention-centered?
• What organisational structures best support holistic retention efforts and solving common problems like payment failures?
• How do we create shared retention metrics across editorial, product, marketing, and service teams?
• What retention KPIs should each department own, and how do they interconnect?
• How can we build a business case for investing in retention infrastructure?
• What are the economics of retention in small or saturated markets?
• How do we quantify the lifetime value impact of reducing the ultimate churners and increasing win-backs?

10:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
(New York time)

About today's module

What happens after someone subscribes? What happens when they leave or think about leaving?

In this module, we’ll dive into the experience and product design of the post-acquisition and post-churn lifecycle.

We'll examine how digital behaviours have transformed the key moments of truth and why print-era approaches no longer suffice.

From onboarding to habit formation, renewal decisions to cancellation experiences, we'll provide frameworks for designing superior experiences at each critical juncture.

We'll also explore how technological infrastructure must evolve to support subscription pausing, easy restarts, and preference retention that support the forever relationship model.

Key questions:

• What are the defining moments of truth in the digital subscription lifecycle?
• How do you design onboarding and renewal flows that build long-term habits?
• What signals predict churn, and how can we intervene in time?
• What’s the difference between churn and disengagement, and how should we respond?
• How do we transform cancellation flows from "exit processes" to "relationship transitions"?
• What technological changes enable subscription pausing and frictionless returns?
• How can we test and optimise the experience at each moment of truth?

10:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
(New York time)

About today's module

What makes a subscription “sticky”? In our final module, we turn to the product side of retention.

How can content packaging, new offerings, bundling, and unbundling not only acquire but also retain subscribers? We will explore the strategic role of value proposition design in driving upgrades, reducing churn, and increasing subscriber lifetime value.

We’ll look at how subscriber-exclusive newsletters, niche verticals built around passions, and online communities are becoming powerful retention levers, and how publishers are segmenting audiences, testing price/value ratios, and personalising premium experiences.

The session will provide frameworks for identifying high-potential premium opportunities within your existing content portfolio and data-driven approaches to pricing and packaging these offerings.

Key questions:

• What makes a product “premium” — and how do we prove its value over time?
• What role does community play in premium offerings?
• How to identify opportunities within our content and feature portfolio?
• How do you evolve your value proposition based on usage data and feedback?
• How to design and scale premium newsletters?
• How can we use segmentation to develop targeted premium value propositions?
• What pricing and packaging approaches maximise adoption and retention?
• What testing methodologies work best for optimising premium offerings?