Driving Growth with Retention Strategies
Unlocking the Power of Retention for Recurring Revenue
We’ve compiled four powerful stories from industry trailblazers who faced churn challenges and emerged stronger. Each story reveals practical strategies that turned their struggles into success, demonstrating that keeping customers engaged is not just possible—it’s essential.
As you read, think about how these insights could energize your go-to-market team. With Chargebee, you can turn these learnings into real results and build lasting relationships with your customers.
Brewing Success: How Pret A Manger's 'Club Pret' led to profitability and 20% revenue growth
Since its inception in 1986, UK-headquartered Pret A Manger (Pret) has been committed to serving freshly made food and coffee. Today, Pret is a globally recognized brand boasting a network of over 700 shops in 16 markets on three continents and over 9,000 employees worldwide.
Pret launches first-of-its-kind Coffee Subscription In seven weeks
Like many food-to-go businesses, Pret faced significant challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. With strict lockdowns forcing store closures, the company quickly pivoted to improve its takeaway services. Recognizing the need for innovation, Pret focused on finding creative ways to entice customers back to its shops.
In 2020, Pret launched the Pret Coffee Subscription, giving subscribers access to up to five barista-prepared drinks each day for a fixed monthly fee. This initiative not only provided a unique value proposition but also created a new way to engage customers, ultimately boosting sales and diversifying Pret's revenue streams.
Pret chose Chargebee Billing for its core subscription management and Adyen for payment processing. Driven by a passion for innovation, they successfully launched the subscription program in just seven weeks.
A subscription success from day one
Pret’s commitment to meeting customer expectations in both the digital and physical worlds makes its subscription model particularly unique. Pret’s Coffee Subscription was an instant success. As it gained popularity among customers, Pret set out to future-proof its offering by transforming its Coffee Subscription into Club Pret. The new evolution provided customers with 20% off everything sold in-store and five daily barista-made drinks, enriching the customer experience and offering Pret’s most loyal patrons significant savings and exclusive deals.
Challenges: Scalability, churn, and greater personalization
“Generosity is a core company value at Pret, and the subscription program reflected this from day one,” explains Balint Bertok, Global Head of Subscriptions at Pret A Manger. “However, with great success and growth came churn and the need to optimize previously blanket discounts.”
Pret outlined clear priorities to reduce churn and elevate its subscription business to the next level:
Develop a granular understanding of its customers
Build a robust and dynamic retention offer strategy
Enable frictionless digital transactions
“We decided to put our most loyal customers at the heart of our subscriptions and provide great value to them at every turn. By better understanding our customers’ wants and needs, we can be more proactive – rewarding them at the right time, reminding them that they can pause their subscriptions rather than cancel, or resolving any payment issues quickly and with ease. To do this at scale, we knew we needed the right tools and experts by our side,” said Balint.
Solution: Robust customer retention and seamless payments
Pret enhanced its subscription service by implementing Chargebee Retention, integrated with Chargebee Billing, in 2023. Its retention strategy focused on retaining at-risk customers through adaptive offers and customized promotions, significantly increasing Customer Lifetime Value by redirecting over 44% of users who initiated cancellations, achieving a threefold improvement over industry standards.
Effective involuntary churn management
By integrating Chargebee Retention to minimize cancellations and partnering with Adyen for a smooth payment experience, Pret achieved outstanding conversion and authorization rates of 80-85% without sacrificing security or increasing fraud. Their advanced dunning management system further reduced churn by notifying customers of potential payment issues, such as insufficient funds or expired cards.
"The seamless integration of Chargebee with Adyen was a tremendous advantage. With Chargebee overseeing subscriptions and Adyen handling payments, we've consistently delivered recurring value that keeps our customers eager to stay. Beyond the technological harmony, we've also gained the support of two teams of experts who guide us at every step, continually introducing fresh ideas to evolve our subscription offering. It's truly a fantastic working relationship," said Balint.
Result: Subscriptions fuel market expansion and innovation
Club Pret has boosted Pret's revenue, with subscribers spending four times more than non-subscribers. It helped Pret return to profitability in 2022 and achieve a 20% revenue increase in early 2023. Digital transactions account for 42%, and Club Pret usage grows monthly, with subscribers saving over £60 each month.
With Chargebee Retention you can address customers’ concerns before they cancel with an automated, scalable, and personalized experience.
Cover to Cover: Condé Nast's Value-Driven Journey to Increased Subscriber Retention
Condé Nast, a leading publisher known for titles like Wired and The New Yorker, has shaped cultural narratives for decades. In a industry wrought with competition, they need to not only attract subscribers but also keep them engaged with valuable content.
Creating a value-driven subscriber journey
Adam Lifshitz, Senior Product Director of Subscriptions at Condé Nast, describes a time in the industry when marketing revolved around "deals and steals"—a model centered on discounts and sign-up gifts. While this approach may have attracted new subscribers, Condé Nast often struggled with retaining them.
Lifshitz says, "We've evolved our messaging to emphasize the value of our subscription beyond the premium gift, understanding that it's not the main factor in closing a sale. We aim to ensure subscribers see it as a bonus, not the main reason for their subscription."
Watch: How Condé Nast Increased Subscriber Retention with Chargebee
Solution: A strategic shift and commitment to digital transformation
Condé Nast shifted its narrative to address challenges by emphasizing the intrinsic value of their subscription content. Instead of focusing on discounts or primarily on the included gifts, they highlighted the value of their offerings.
"Today’s subscribers demand trust, transparency, and rich benefits. We're focusing on clear communication of subscription terms—explicit renewal policies, and the freedom to cancel anytime," states Lifshitz.
Implementing Chargebee marked a key moment in Condé Nast's digital transformation. Chargebee enabled a more granular, tailored approach to subscription options, allowing Condé Nast to seamlessly adapt to its audience's preferences and behaviors.
Condé Nast is granting subscribers even greater flexibility with their subscriptions to continue the positive momentum.
Lifshitz explains, "We now offer more manageable subscription options, such as shorter, monthly intervals, as opposed to the traditional annual commitment. This allows subscribers to opt-out after a few months, rather than being tied to a full year's subscription upfront. We found that even though they aren’t tied to a long commitment, they tend to stay as long and allowed us to keep healthy retention rates, with more subscribers through the door.”
Result: Prioritizing quality subscribers
Condé Nast's subscriber base has begun to mirror Lifshitz's vision for its brands—a community of readers who subscribe for the ongoing and evolving value of impeccable journalism, storytelling, and expertise.
By leveraging Chargebee Retention, Condé Nast transformed its retention strategies and reduced churn, resulting in a more sustainable and engaged readership. Lifshitz says, “When we operate at that scale, anything that we do that moves the needle by even a basis point, 1%, is significant.” Lifshitz said, “Chargebee Retention doesn't just show us percentages; it illustrates the impact on retained revenue, which grows exponentially. Each customer save not only reflects immediate revenue but also the potential for long-term, recurring financial gains tied to that pivotal moment of retention. That's incremental revenue which, without Chargebee, might have been irretrievably lost."
The alliance between Condé Nast and Chargebee underscores how transitioning to a value-focused subscription model can transform publisher-subscriber dynamics, drawing in subscribers who appreciate premium content.
Must see: Racing Toward Efficient Revenue Growth With the Art of Customer Value
Turning the page on subscriber churn: How Cafeyn reduced involuntary cancellations by 90%
Paris-based Cafeyn has emerged as a leading player in the bustling digital press subscription market. With a mission to provide unlimited access to thousands of newspapers and magazines globally, Cafeyn seeks to transform how people interact with digital news. To achieve this, Cafeyn required a robust, scalable, and efficient subscription management platform to serve its over 2 million users.
Cafeyn’s in-house billing system was hindering growth and revenue. It struggled with technical issues, lacked comprehensive data insights, and provided a cumbersome user experience. To improve operations and increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, Cafeyn needed an effective solution.
Problem: Tailoring a solution to customer demand in the digital subscriptions world
Before adopting Chargebee Billing, Cafeyn encountered significant challenges that hindered its growth and efficiency. Their in-house billing solution couldn’t keep up with the growing number of subscribers and lacked key features for managing subscriptions effectively. This resulted in high churn rates, lost revenue, and missed chances to improve the customer experience.
Cafeyn boasts a diverse customer base that includes B2C, B2B, and B2B2C markets, requiring versatile and robust subscription management capabilities. One major challenge Cafeyn encountered was the inability to analyze subscriber data effectively, hindering its ability to identify trends, customize promotions, and maximize revenue.
A significant number of failed payments resulted in increased revenue loss, complicating Cafeyn's ability to offer a seamless and reliable service. The absence of clear information about these issues further hindered resolution efforts, causing additional difficulties for users and internal teams.
Solution: Chargebee helps Cafeyn go the ‘Extra, extra’ mile with subscriptions
Cafeyn partnered with Chargebee to tackle challenges, using its advanced features for data analysis, recurring billing, and customer retention. RevenueStory, Chargebee's built-in analytics solution, assisted Cafeyn in gaining a deeper understanding of subscriber data, offering valuable insights for more informed decision-making and saving employees time.
Chargebee also offered Cafeyn the flexibility to create and manage diverse subscription offers, empowering the product and marketing teams to drive growth. Chargebee streamlined Cafeyn's subscription processes, allowing users to easily create, modify, and cancel subscriptions.
“Before Chargebee, we struggled with outdated systems that limited our growth potential and caused technical churn. With Chargebee powering our subscription management, we’ve seen a significant reduction in manual tasks, fewer errors, and an overall boost in operational efficiency. Our teams benefit from simplified billing and payment processes and can analyze and leverage user data more effectively.” - Bram Steijns, Growth Product Manager, Cafeyn
Result: Cafeyn tunes into user wants and needs
Chargebee improved Cafeyn's operations by reducing involuntary churn by 90%, increasing customer satisfaction and retention, and streamlining processes through automation. It improved efficiency by minimizing manual tasks and errors, allowing a focus on strategic activities. Chargebee's user-friendly interface simplifies subscription management and new offer launches, supporting Cafeyn's evolving subscription model and ensuring high user satisfaction.
Steijns added, "Partnering with Chargebee has been a game-changer for Cafeyn. Chargebee’s robust subscription management platform has enabled us to streamline our operations, scale efficiently, and meet the diverse needs of our users."
Leveraging Churn Data to Improve Jane's Customer Experience
Jane is an online platform for health and wellness providers to run their practices. It offers tools for scheduling, charting, patient information, and billing, all packaged in a user-friendly interface. Jane serves a diverse community of approximately 140,000 professionals, including physical therapists, chiropractors, counselors, medical aestheticians, and more.
Problem: Understanding why customers were leaving
Jane faced the challenge of learning from customer churn and sharing insights across teams to drive action. For Jane, churn fell into two categories: regrettable churn – customers leaving due to missing features, onboarding difficulties, or pricing misalignment – and non-regrettable churn – customers leaving for reasons beyond Jane’s control, like retirement or business direction changes.
Before using Chargebee Retention, Jane used a labor-intensive manual process using Google Forms to capture customer feedback during cancellations. This process also failed to deliver actionable insights throughout the company.
"Before implementing Chargebee, we invested significant human resources into our cancellation process without being able to easily use the valuable, actionable insights that could help us improve for our current and future customers." - Michelle Weatherby, Product Marketing Manager
With Chargebee Retention, Jane automated data collection, making gathering and analyzing churn data significantly more manageable. This shift freed up valuable human resources and provided actionable insights that could be shared across the company to have a positive impact on the customer experience and retention.
Solution: Personalized experiences created lasting impressions
Michelle emphasized the importance of having a positive last impression with their customers, stating, "With Chargebee, we've been able to create a better final touchpoint for our customers. We strive for delight at every stage of their relationship with us, including when folks are leaving.” A customer who cancels may return when their needs change or may share their experiences with others, so every touchpoint matters.
Jane leverages Chargebee Retention’s no-code cancel pages to personalize and improve the cancel page experience based on specific churn reasons. For instance, customers struggling with onboarding receive an offer for a free month and a consultation call to help them get started. At the same time, those who find the price too high might be reminded of a lower-cost plan option or offered a temporary discount as they work to build their business.
This tailored approach has yielded impressive results. Jane achieved 11% acceptance for one-month credit, 9% for setup consultations, and 13% for pricing discounts, with conversion rates ranging from 60% to 75%.
Results: A healthier approach to retention
By adopting a data-driven approach to customer retention, and scaling its personalized touchpoints with Chargebee, Jane saw improvements in customer retention. Its save rate increased from 10% to 16%, translating into two full business days per quarter worth of new signups.
In addition, Jane's cross-collaborative efforts and personalized touchpoints increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, positively spreading word-of-mouth referrals.
Must watch: How to Unlock Growth Through Retention: Strategies and Success Stories
Wrapping up
Retaining customers is crucial for any business with recurring revenue. The stories in this guide showcase how industry leaders confronted their churn challenges and forged stronger connections with their customers.
Chargebee will help you address customer concerns before they cancel with an automated, scalable, and personalized experience.
