8 Subscription Management Trends to Watch in 2024

As we are about to step into 2024, the subscription economy continues to thrive and adapt, introducing new dynamics that reshape industries across the board.

Here are 8 subscription management trends to watch in 2024 to keep your business thriving:

1. Inflation is going to be a major challenge to subscription businesses

Inflation is putting subscription-based businesses under pressure of proving their value. 

Based on the survey (pdf) by the PYMNTS Subscription Commerce Conversion Index, approximately 43% of subscribers appear to have doubts when it comes to renewing their existing subscription plans, citing budgetary concerns as the top reason for canceling.

This is understandable since US consumers are forced to reconsider their monthly spending and find ways to save.

The solution to overcoming this challenge is investing into building your brand loyalty and engaging your inactive customers as loyal and engaged customers are more likely to choose sticking with your business. 

Improving your customer support is another essential task to work on in 2024. Poor customer service has been found to be the second biggest cause for customer churn. Investing in better customer service will likely result in happier and more loyal customers as well.

2. Generative AI integrations are becoming more common (and expected)

Artificial Intelligence has been around for years helping marketers set up advertising campaigns and predict future ROI. And yet, when generative AI was introduced at the dawn of 2023, AI has become part of everyday lives.

The simplicity of using generative AI technology to generate images (Bing), answers (ChatGPT and others) is truly amazing but what’s more important, consumers start expecting that level of automation just about everywhere.

Artificial Intelligence SAAS Market was valued at #73.8 Billion in 2020 and is now predicted to reach $1,547.57 Billion by 2030. It is either you start integrating AI into your subscription management strategy or you are going to be left behind those businesses that do.

3. The creator economy is going strong

Over several months, a few powerful platforms have integrated subscriptions and memberships (Youtube and TikTok are among those platforms). This encouraged more creators to monetize their channels, and look for third-party opportunities, like PayKickstart or Patreon.

Lots of influencers have set up sites of their own to be able to sell digital and physical products without depending on other platforms.

4. Edupreneurship is gaining popularity

As the crumbling economy is pushing more and more people to look for alternative ways to make money, edupreneurship is one of those areas that is gaining popularity.

Edupreneurs are independent knowledge creators seeking to educate their audience on how to adopt new skills and knowledge that can help them to find new careers or make more money.

According to Thinkific, a popular course creation platform, 36% of edupreneurs are planning to create a membership site allowing them to grow their community.

5. Subscription fraud is an ever growing challenge

Consumers reported losing almost $8.8 billion to scams and fraud in 2022, and much of it was to recurring payments. Moreover, the fraud detection and prevention market is estimated to surpass the 100 billion by 2027 and the global cost of online payment fraud is predicted to reach $206 billion by 2025. Listen to Hari Ravichandran’s audiobook for more stats and details.

The nature of subscription-based services as a “set and forget” process to minimize friction also makes subscription businesses more vulnerable to fraud activities.

This trend makes subscription relationship management even more important. It fosters customer communication and ensures your customers are actually using the products they are paying for.

Moreover, when subscriptions are not managed properly, customers may lose trust in the company and may not want to deal with it anymore.

Put simply:

• You don’t want your customers to keep paying while not using your service (This would increase your churn rate and hurt your online reputation)
• You do want to reclaim failed payments: Accidental churn will be happening to any company but your task is to minimize its consequences.

6. Transparency and privacy required to foster trust in the technology

As technology is getting stronger, so are the privacy concerns around the world. As a result, more than 70% of US Internet users are more concerned with their online privacy than they’ve ever been.

Addressing these fears is a must for subscription businesses as your customers need to know how you are going to use and protect their personal data. Do your best to put together detailed documentation explaining which third-party tools have access to your customers’ data and why your users can trust those. It’s better to use an airtable alternative to store and manage this data easily.

7. The competition is going to grow significantly

As more brands are looking for ways to integrate subscription management into their business models and more creators are learning to monetize their online presence, the subscription business sector is getting busier and busier every month.

No wonder, the subscription-based industry is growing so fast. McKinsey reported more than 100% growth per year, over the past 5 years. It is a lot to compete with!

Keep an eye on your emerging competitors and learn from them. New businesses are likely to investigate new channels to attract customers and engage them. You may have well-established channels you are already using but without innovation you will still see your competitors winning!

8. Pricing your product is going to be even harder

Creating a pricing strategy has never been easy. Now, with the declining economy, a growing competition within the subscription sector and the fast-evolving technology trends, pricing your product is going to be even harder.

It may be time for you to pivot your pricing model. We have discussed different ways to price your products:

• How to Price Your SaaS: The Ultimate Step by Step Guide
• The Keys To Pricing Intelligently
• How Price Elasticity Can Guide Your Pricing Strategy
• Step-by-Step Guide to Conducting a Pricing Cohort Analysis

Digital subscription-based business models have become an increasingly popular revenue model that is used by publishers, authors, and content creators. I hope the above trends will help you generate more ROI and create a competitive advantage to keep your business successful through the ever challenging times. Good luck!

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Ann Smarty

Ann Smarty is the Brand Manager at Internet Marketing Ninjas, as well as co-founder of Viral Content Bee. Ann has been into Internet Marketing for over a decade, she is the former Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Journal and contributor to prominent search and social blogs including Small Biz Trends and Mashable. Ann is also the frequent speaker at Pubcon and the host of a weekly Twitter chat #vcbuzz

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