Report: How Subscription Commerce Companies Can Keep Millions Of Consumers From Hitting ‘Cancel’ Post-Pandemic

Consumers are spending more time at home, and many entertainment venues are either closed or operating at limited capacities. This is pushing many individuals to turn to streaming and other subscription services for entertainment, with 22 percent of consumers reporting that they have signed up for new streaming services since the pandemic began. What’s more, 62.7 percent of those who subscribe to such services for daily entertainment are using them more than they did before the health crisis.

Education and training as well as digital media subscriptions have also benefited from this surge. The former reached 20 million subscribers in July, up 10 million since February, while the latter added 15 million subscribers to hit 25 million total during the same period. The subscription industry as a whole has witnessed an increase in demand, in fact, with 15 million subscribers and 96 million subscriptions added since the pandemic’s onset.

So, what can subscription-based companies do to sustain this momentum and retain their subscribers?

For the Consumer Subscription Retail Services Report: How Subscription Providers Can Sustain Their Momentum Through The COVID-19 Pandemic, a PYMNTS and Recurly collaboration, we surveyed more than 2,000 U.S. consumers who use different types of subscription services. The study analyzes how the coronavirus pandemic has boosted subscriptions in many segments and what companies can do to sustain this momentum.

Our research reveals that 6 percent of subscribers are using free trials and that 31 percent of those who are doing so report that they would be likely to become paying subscribers once their trial periods end. That share could be higher if companies offered longer trial periods, however. We also discovered that 13.4 percent of subscribers are at risk of canceling their services once the pandemic passes, though allowing them to pause their subscriptions could prevent approximately 10.9 million from doing so.

These are only some of the findings from our research. To learn more about how COVID-19 is affecting the subscription industry and what companies can do to keep their subscription bases, download the report.