60% of Subscribers Admit to Gaming the System to Skip Paying for Services

The pandemic accelerated the popularity of subscription-based pricing, and 23% of U.S. consumers now have at least one retail product subscription. However, amid a year characterized by inflation, our data reveals that the promotional benefits offered by these subscription services are ripe for abuse: 60% of subscribers at least occasionally exploit these benefits in ways the providers do not intend, and more than half of all subscribers we polled said doing so was very easy.

These are some of the key findings from the latest “Subscription Commerce Conversion Index: The Challenge Of Cheaters,” a PYMNTS and sticky.io collaboration. For this index, PYMNTS conducted a census-balanced survey of 2,061 consumers with retail product subscriptions — and analyzed 202 merchants — to explore their current sentiment toward these services, including a deep dive into the challenge of subscribers who exploit discounts and other promotions in ways that merchants do not intend.

• Retail product subscriptions are down, and more subscribers rely on subscriptions paid for by family or friends.

The share of consumers not subscribed to any service in July 2022 rose 19% from May. Streaming services bore the brunt of the exodus, losing 10% of their subscriber base, while retail product subscriptions fell 6.1%. Meanwhile, the share of consumers who pay for the retail product subscriptions they use dropped 16%.

• Many retail product subscribers exploit loopholes in services’ benefits programs.

PYMNTS data reveals that 60% of retail subscribers admit to cheating to gain extra benefits from subscription services. More than two-thirds of middle and high-income subscribers admitted to exploiting a subscription merchant in the past 12 months, whereas just 33% of low-income subscribers said the same.

• Subscribers believe that abusing benefits is easy, and many plan on taking advantage in the near future. 

More than half of subscribers think taking advantage of subscription merchants’ benefits is very or extremely easy, and nearly half disclosed that they are highly likely to attempt to do so in the coming year. We saw little variation across all age groups, except baby boomers and seniors, who displayed little propensity for cheating.

“Subscription Commerce Conversion Index: The Challenge Of Cheaters,” explores subscribers’ current sentiment toward subscription services, including a deep dive into the challenge of subscribers who exploit discounts and other promotions in ways that merchants do not intend.

To learn more about the challenge of exploited discounts and other promotions, download the report.