We are now two days into Subscription Show 2020, and we are so pleased at the great feedback we’re getting from conference participants about the content and format. We want to thank our speakers and sponsors who have done a fantastic job of being transparent and direct about their successes and challenges. Whether they come from a small but mighty team, or a company with many departments, our speakers have been open and honest about what has worked for them, what hasn’t and where they are working on next.

As participants, we’ve gotten great insights, ideas, advice and examples. Perhaps more importantly, we’ve heard a lot of optimism in spite of the state of the world and our economy right now. We aren’t waiting for the sky to fall. We’re going to be brave and hold the sky up together instead!

Here are a few highlights from today’s sessions.

Exclusive VIP Q&A Session with Geoff Colvin

Conference attendees with VIP passes had an opportunity to talk with Geoff Colvin, a best-selling author, senior editor at Fortune magazine and a contributor to CBS Radio. This was an exclusive opportunity to ask him how we forge ahead in times like these. Here are a few things Geoff shared with the group:

• When evaluating feedback about your subscription product or service, ask yourself what kind of information you’re getting and where you’re getting it. Make sure you hear from a variety of stakeholder types.
• In a crisis, people will never forget what you did – good or bad – so do what you want to be remembered for.
• “Aristotle said courage is the greatest virtue. I think that’s true. It’s what we need most. Be brave enough to go ahead anyway. It does pay off.”

Other Subscription Show Keynotes and Sessions from Day 2

Keynote:  Rafat Ali, Skift: “Pandemic Pivot: Skift’s Journey to ‘Subscription First’”

Session: Melanie Stout, Paul Larsen Consulting and Patrick Kelly: “Mastercard Fireside Chat”

Panel discussion moderated by Peter Figueredo of House of Kaizen and featuring Erik Zenhausern, Newsday; Jen Taylor, A&E Networks; Kerry Saretsky, HarperCollins; Rakesh Tondon, Le Tote: “The Key to Retention: Customer/Subscriber Centricity in Action”

Session: Danielle Gotkis, Recurly and Ben Zvaifler, PupBox: “Driving Exponential Growth: The Secret Sauce”

Session: Rameez Tase, ANTENNA: “OTT Trends & Metrics That Matter”

Session:Megan Conahan, Direct Agents and Imran Hassan, Eaglemoss: “Subscription Acquisition: How to Break Through Diminishing Returns”

Session: Ro Bhatia, Sticky.io and Kathy Greenler Sexton, Subscription Insider: “Growth Hacks to Increase Subscription Revenue”

Session: Steve Durney, Ethoca and Kathy Greenler Sexton, Subscription Insider: “New Hobbies, New Risks: Safeguarding Against Chargebacks”

Session: Darryl Hicks, Flexpay: “Understanding the Power of Lifetime Value”

Session: Instant Ink: Anthony Napolitano, HP; Jorge Simal, HP; and Kathy Greenler Sexton, Subscription Insider: “Transforming HPs Retail Business into a Recurring-Revenue Leader”

Subscription Show extras

• Coaching Zone with 30-minute 1:1 sessions with industry experts (please sign up in advance)
• Speed Networking
• Networking Lounge
• Fun Zone
• Virtual 3D Exhibit Hall
• Vendor demos from Brightback, Verifi, Wiland, ACI Worldwide, Chargeback Gurus, Vindicia, J.P. Morgan, Zuora, Sticky.io

For more highlights, follow us on Twitter. We’ll be tweeting throughout the conference.

Key takeaways

Here are a few pieces of advice to take away from today’s sessions:

• Visualize worst case scenarios to eliminate fear and create “what if” scenarios and potential solutions.
• When transitioning to a subscription model, get rid of the fear that you were giving it away before. Who cares now? You just have to jump in.
• When collecting personal data to improve the customer UX, be up front with customers about what information you are collecting and what you plan to do with it.
• Identify your ideal customer and learn about their journey.
• Nurture customers at the point of acquisition.
• Empower customers to manage their own subscriptions. This is a great retention tool, and it helps build subscriber trust.
• Use a two-step checkout process where you collect contact information in part 1 and payment information in part 2. If a customer abandons the purchase after part 1, you will have their contact details to follow up to try to retain the sale.
• Listen to your customers. It seems intuitive, but not everyone does it.
• Learn where our customers are in the customer journey, find out what they want, and what they don’t know about your subscription product or service. This information can help you improve your onboarding process and long-term retention.

For tomorrow’s agenda, visit SubscriptionShow.com/Agenda.

“This show is simply amazing, it’s beautifully set up, and I am having the best time and learning so much!” ~ Conference Attendee

Tickets are still available

If you missed today’s session, we’ve still got four days to go (Oct. 7 and 13-15). We’ve also got lots of ticket options to fit your schedule and budget – VIP passes, on-demand-only tickets, keynote tickets, live tickets with different pricing for Subscription Insider members. Check out the options on our Tickets page to join the conference!