What do subscribers truly want? The answer is simple

The overwhelming message from today’s subscribers? Value is paramount.

 

This data-driven conclusion comes from Recurly’s new What subscribers want report, a comprehensive study based on the behaviours of 1,000 subscription consumers that provides a clear, actionable blueprint for retention. According to the report, a staggering 89 per cent of subscribers rate “good value for the money” as a top attribute when choosing a new subscription. This, along with “reliability and security” (85 per cent) and “price” (84 per cent), forms the foundational triad of consumer decision-making.

 

This intense focus on value comes at a critical time for the industry. The subscription economy continues to be a dynamic and expanding sector, having been valued at $3 trillion in 2024. However, after years of rapid growth, the landscape is changing. Businesses now face a more discerning and economically cautious consumer. With household budgets stretched and subscription fatigue setting in, holding onto subscribers has become a more complex challenge. For businesses navigating this climate, the ability to clearly articulate and deliver on this core promise of value is the key to sustainable growth.

 

This focus on the customer experience is a guiding principle for market leaders: “As a team, we are focused on what will have the most meaningful impact on the customer experience,” says David Hayne, President at Nuuly and CTO at URBN. “That vision serves as our north star when deciding which features, capabilities and new experiences to develop or enhance.”

 

One of the most significant findings from the report is the critical disconnect between the flexibility subscribers want and what businesses currently offer. This is most evident in what can be called the “pause gap”. While 55 per cent of consumers identify the ability to pause or cancel their subscription flexibly as a top priority, only 37 per cent report currently having that option.

 

Forcing a customer to cancel when they may just need a temporary break due to travel, budget changes or seasonality is a direct path to unnecessary churn. Offering a simple, user-friendly pause option builds significant goodwill and acknowledges the fluid nature of modern consumer relationships.

 

The data shows this isn’t just a preference but a growing behaviour; the use of subscription pauses surged by 68 per cent year-over-year in 2024, with the digital media and entertainment sector seeing an extraordinary 330 per cent increase. According to data from Recurly’s 2025 state of subscriptions, for businesses that offer a pause option, 25 per cent of subscribers choose to pause instead of cancelling outright, and over $200 million was generated from subscribers who resubscribed after pausing.

 

“We implemented the pause feature as a retention strategy,” explains Megan Krouse, Director of Loyalty at Cinemark. “We don’t want to make subscribers fully cancel. We want to allow them to pause as they need, come back when they’re ready, and make it super easy.”

 

Understanding when and why churn happens is crucial. The report reveals the first year is a make-or-break period, with an average of 66 per cent of all cancellations occurring within the first 12 months. The food subscription vertical faces the most acute challenge, with a staggering 45 per cent of cancellations happening in the first six months alone.

 

So what can subscription managers do? Beyond delivering on value, loyalty programs appear to be a vastly underused retention tool. The report found that only 30 per cent of subscribers have access to loyalty benefits from their providers – revealing a huge opportunity for merchants to create differentiation and foster deeper relationships. When asked what they desire most from loyalty programs, the answer from consumers was overwhelmingly practical: “discounts and special offers”.

 

But this focus on price extends throughout the subscriber lifecycle. When consumers who switched providers were asked what could have convinced them to stay, the answers were strikingly direct: 34 per cent cited a lower overall price and another 34 per cent pointed to a simple discount. These straightforward financial incentives are often the most powerful and efficient tools for reversing churn, yet they are frequently underestimated.

 

The path forward is clear. The subscription businesses that will lead the market are those that use data not just to report on the past, but to build more responsive, personalised and value-driven experiences for the future. Acting on these insights requires a platform built for subscriber-centric growth – one that makes it easy to implement the very strategies this data demands, from flexible pause options and loyalty programs to optimised payment experiences.

 

By focusing on a strong value proposition, implementing flexible and customer-centric features and leveraging targeted financial incentives, subscription businesses can move beyond simply managing churn to building the lasting, profitable relationships that define market leaders.

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To dive deeper into the data and discover more actionable insights, get your copy of Recurly’s What subscribers want report