Resources → The Newsletter • 7 min read

🙏 Saving your subscribers

We all want to keep every single customer we've ever had, but no matter how perfect your content is, life itself will never be perfect. One day you will lose subscribers, and that's perfectly ok. What's not ok is sitting by and watching it happen. Your goal shouldn't be to retain everyone no matter what, it should be to do everything you can to make them feel seen, heard, and cared for. If you're in the dark on how to do this, we're here to shed some light. Let's go!

In this week's issue 📨

Subscriber retention strategies
Reasons why readers leave
Offering unique incentives

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Stick around

You've worked really hard to gain followers, and the last thing you want is to watch them walk away. But why do they do it? Are they getting bored with your content, are they unhappy with a specific interaction, or are they simply just a different person than they were a year ago? No matter the reason, your objective should be to find out why, so you can figure out how to hold onto them.

Mozhdeh Rastegar-Panah, Senior Director at Zendesk, provides expertise on how to retain your customers and keep them coming back.

Create a seamless experience

The online experience you give your readers should be just as exquisite as an in-person one, if not better. Ensuring you're giving them easy access to your content that solves their problems, all while showing them how human you are to build better connections, will get them to stick around for the long haul.
Focusing on your members is extremely important, but don't forget about your team! If you've hired staff to help run your publication, giving them a positive environment will also reduce employee churn. The longer your team works for you, the better they'll understand your mission.

Personalize everything

When interacting with a reader, take some time to know who they are. What newsletters of yours are they subscribed to? How long have they been a paying member? Have you spoken with them before? Learning everything you can about them is huge for personalizing their experience.
When you speak with them, address them by name and thank them for their business. Make your interaction warm, familiar, and professional. The more you customize their experience, the more likely they are to continue investing in you. Making things personal makes you feel more like a person.

Incentivize loyalty

If your publication has been generating great content for a while now, you may have forgotten how nerve-racking it was to gain your first 100 paying subscribers. If they're still around, reward them! This gives them another reason to stay subscribed and keep spreading the good word about your work.
Consider offering loyal customers discount codes, invites to VIP events, or exclusive swag. You may also think about starting a referral program to encourage more word-of-mouth marketing. They're probably already advocating for your brand, so you might as well compensate them for it.

Gather feedback

Remember, you're not perfect. Not everything will be sunshine and rainbows all of the time. Your members will one day have an imperfect experience, and that's completely fine. As long as you lead with empathy when connecting with them, you may not have to do much repair work.
When you give your followers a voice, the hard part of feedback is already done. Respond to feedback quickly and send out satisfaction surveys so they know you care. You can also consider providing a comment section or forum on your site so your subscribers can build their own community.

Interesting stories & ideas 📚

In defense of thinking – Cal Newport
Marketing changes for 2026 – Alex Cattoni
The future of media from Minnesota – The Content Technologist
Nothing goes viral by accident – Digital Native
Building a business from content – Creator Diaries

Tell me why

Just like any relationship, you could be doing all the right things, but it may still not work out in the end. You could be creating the best content of all time, and someone will still be unhappy with what you're putting out there. You can't please them all, but if you notice more and more subscribers are unsubscribing, it might be time to reflect on why and what you can do to stop the bleeding.

The team at Customer Thermometer breaks down the most common reasons customers move on and how you can prevent them.

#1 The biggest one? Failing to meet their expectations. This connects to many other reasons, but the best thing you can do here is set appropriate expectations from the start. Never make promises you can't keep, and don't over-embellish.

#2 Buyer's remorse is hard to predict, but it will happen to some of your subscribers. To help alleviate this, send a warm and educational welcome email after they sign up so they feel supported and satisfied with their decision.

#3 If your followers have a sense of loyalty to your brand as a whole, they're less likely to leave. You can build loyalty from the get-go by clearly communicating who you are and what you're here to do. Connect with them on a human level.

#4 Look, you're not going to get along 100% with every single subscriber, but you can always treat them with kindness and respect. Customers who have an abrasive experience are more likely to pack up. Keep it professional at all times.

Unsure how to align with **an upset subscriber**? Start here.

#5 When customers leave, they usually end up with a competitor. You should always be aware of what your peers are doing and what the current trends are in your niche, so you can stay the course or switch things up.

#6 If your subscribers aren't seeing the value in what they've purchased, they'll stop purchasing. Ensure you're consistently solving their problems, your business is constantly evolving, and your content stays immaculate and relevant.

#7 Always keep a clear line of communication open with your readers, whether it's to give them a way to provide feedback or to help them understand exactly what you're doing and why. If they don't get it, they'll get up and go.

#8 Sometimes, things will be a bad fit, and there's nothing you can do about it. That's life, ya know? As long as you're confident in what you're creating and your other customers are happy, keep doing what you're doing.

Feeling free

Do you want to do more for your loyal followers? Yes, your readers are getting their just desserts from all of the great content you create for them, but why not give them a little extra "thank you" in the form of incentives and rewards? Not only does this make everyone feel good about sticking around, but it can also keep people from unsubscribing altogether. And who doesn't love free stuff?

Brad Davis, content writer for Stamp Me, shares some unique ways to reward your customers so they never want to leave.

‣ You can offer discounts to your own content and services, but have you thought about partnering with other publications? This is a great way to network with other brands and collaborate on customer retention strategies. Hand out some coupons for other sites, and they can do the same for you.

‣ Allowing your paying customers to be the first to experience exclusive content, new premium tiers, or VIP webinars is a great way to show them how much you appreciate their business. Letting them be first in line also gives you a chance to gather feedback from those who'll probably tell you the truth.

‣ If someone is in the process of canceling their subscription, present them with a tempting retention offer that will stop them in their tracks. This will help you stop customer churn before it even happens, let you track who took the offer, and ask them for feedback on why they were thinking about leaving.

Ghost lets you **turn on retention offers** to catch subscribers who are on the fence.

‣ Try running a charity event where you donate a percentage of your revenue to your favorite charitable organization. You can also send out a poll to let your followers vote on which org the money should go to. This lets you get more personal with your subscribers and do something nice for your community.

‣ Do you remember your very first paying subscriber? Or do you know who your most loyal and passionate member is? If you've got a ride-or-die, why not honor them by naming a product or a paid tier after them? This is a really fun way to get the word out about your publication and gain even more advocates.

‣ Take the time to feature your most loyal customers by sharing their personal stories, how long they've been a member, and why they love your content. You can send out a survey to see who's interested. This can create more community around your publication, keeping customers engaged.