Subscription Prescription | Weekly Doses to Boost Ecommerce Revenue

Subscription Doc
  • 4.8 (16)
  • Technology
  • Updated Weekly

Looking to sell on repeat? You’ve come to the right place. Welcome to the Subscription Prescription Podcast where you’ll learn everything there is to know about ecommerce. From establishing your brand identity online to winning the loyalty of your customers and limiting churn, nothing is off the table in these fun and informative conversations. In a world where online selling is the new way to shop, it’s important to stand out from the competition. Tune in each week to learn from industry expert, Matthew Holman, and jumpstart your ecommerce journey today!

  1. 4d ago

    The 90-Day LTV KPI I Use to Align Growth and Retention Teams

    Most established subscription brands run growth and retention as two separate teams chasing two different scoreboards. That misalignment is where profit quietly leaks out of your program. In this episode, I break down where brands past 10,000 subscribers should focus next, and why a time-bound LTV metric is the KPI that finally gets both teams rowing in the same direction. What we cover: • Why subscriptions should sit across growth and retention, not siloed under retention alone • Prioritizing contribution margin and profitability over average vanity metrics • Adding growth-engine complexity with landing pages, quizzes, and bundle builders tied to real buyer intent • The free money sitting in dunning, payment recovery, and processing health (and why 5% recovery lift is thousands in recurring revenue) • Building dedicated onboarding, billing reminder, and winback flows by product line • Introducing product combinations at the right stage to lift AOV and LTV • Testing winback offers by cancellation reason versus staying consistent with strong bundles • Why 90-day LTV with profitability baked in is the northstar KPI that aligns your whole team Every touchpoint, from onboarding emails to billing reminders, should roll up to that one number. When it does, everyone knows what they own and what moving the needle actually looks like. Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly doses just like this one: https://newsletter.thesubscrip...

  2. Sep 8

    Fast Acquisition Hides Churn: Spotting Weak LTV in Deals

    Fast customer acquisition can look like success while masking a subscriber base that never sticks. In this episode, Chad Williams (Head of Strategy at Life Seasons) breaks down how he evaluates supplement brands for acquisition and why weak LTV is the risk hiding behind rapid growth. Chad has bought and sold businesses, run a boutique investment firm, and now leads acquisition strategy for a fast-growing portfolio of supplement brands. We get into what he looks for behind the financials and what founders should fix before they ever try to sell. What we cover: • Why fast acquisition can hide a stickiness problem before the LTV math ever pays off • How to spot weak retention in brands built by great marketers • Getting your financials clean before due diligence (and why it matters even if you never sell) • Cutting costs strategically to lift both profitability and exit multiple • When to use an agency versus building a core competency in-house • Using fractional consultants to close knowledge gaps before hiring full-time • Why brand equity beats a single hit product for long-term customer value • Balancing new product launches against buying an existing brand Guest: Chad Williams LinkedIn: [PLACEHOLDER] Website: https://www.lifeseasons.com Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly doses just like this one: https://newsletter.thesubscrip...

  3. Sep 1

    Why 10% Off Won't Grow Your New Subscription Brand

    A 10% discount is not a subscription strategy. If you are new to subscriptions, that small incentive rarely moves the people who actually stick around and drive real LTV. In this episode, I break down where new subscription brands should spend their limited time and resources. The answer is simpler than most people think: acquire subscribers with a compelling offer, then build a feedback loop that tells you who your ideal buyer really is. What we cover: • Why 10% off falls flat for shoppers new to your brand and product • Building more compelling offers with bulk options and tiered discounts • Using gifts as a cheaper acquisition lever that protects your margins • Collecting feedback through popup surveys, post-purchase surveys, and cancel flows • Identifying your real ideal subscriber (and why it differs from the one you whiteboarded) • Turning customer feedback into ad angles, product page copy, and onboarding messaging • Building a simple billing reminder that adds a little brand and effort • Why product adoption in the first 10 days wins 90% of the retention battle Get the offer right, gather the data, and onboard people to actually use the product. That loop makes every downstream retention problem far easier to solve. Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly doses just like this one: https://newsletter.thesubscrip...

  4. Aug 25

    How Whatnot Became Our Second Biggest Channel at $5m

    Everyone has been predicting live shopping for a decade. Battlebox actually made it work, turning Whatnot into a $5M channel and their second biggest in just over a year. In this episode, John Roman, CEO and founder of Battlebox, joins me to explain why Whatnot succeeds where Tik Tok Shop falls short, and how a live selling platform quietly became a top of funnel engine for their subscription membership. What we cover: • How Whatnot became Battlebox's second biggest channel, bigger than Amazon • Why Whatnot converts 30x more efficiently to the website than Tik Tok Shop • The difference between buying intent on Amazon versus brain-rot scrolling on Tik Tok • How community features like raids and community boost create Whatnot's real moat • Why Battlebox drops a content-first unboxing video that hypes every member • Skipping billing reminders and building anticipation through story-driven communication • Surveying your best customers instead of obsessing over the ones who left • Why six-months-plus buyers deliver higher AOV and LTV through content Guest: John Roman LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-roman/ Website: https://www.battlbox.com See his blog: https://online-queso.com/ Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly doses just like this one: https://newsletter.thesubscrip...

  5. Aug 18

    The 4 Things to Evaluate in Every Subscription Tech Stack

    New tools launch every week, Stripe just entered the Shopify subscription space, and AI-powered analytics are everywhere. So how do you decide what actually deserves a place in your subscription tech stack? In this episode, I step back to look at the state of the subscription industry and share the four things I evaluate in every subscription tech stack before recommending a single change or, worse, a full replatform. What we cover: • Why Stripe's move into Shopify subscriptions signals a bigger play around the purchasing process itself • The trap of fixating on one small feature and losing sight of your whole program • Why replatforming is rarely your best first move (and what to fix instead) • Acquisition and offer strategy: the highest-impact area that barely touches your subscription app • Cancel flow and customer portal testing: where high-volume brands quietly lose subscribers • Processing health and why it depends more on your business than your platform • How third-party dunning and CX involvement improve your processing score and cut chargebacks • Evaluating integrations with tools like analytics platforms and interactive email The bigger point: more data and AI recommendations are great, but they only pay off if you have the bandwidth to work on the parts of the program you actually control. Get these four things right and you set yourself up for a stronger Black Friday, Cyber Monday and a healthier program long term. Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly doses just like this one: https://newsletter.thesubscrip...

  6. Aug 11

    How We Grew Subscription Revenue From 10% to 40% in 3 Months

    Most brands turn on subscriptions and stop there. In this episode, Matthew Holman talks with Arthur Falcone (Tandem Growth, Arlo) about how they took one wellness brand from 10% subscription revenue to north of 40% in about three months. What we cover: - Why activating subscriptions is only step one, and how underused features quietly cap your revenue - Mapping SKUs by cadence, so daily-use products push subscription while topical products get flexible skip options - How adding a skip and suppress option cut churn and extended time between orders (and why that is a win, not a loss) - Reducing one-time purchase visibility on products that make no sense to buy once - Building a milestone rewards ladder, with discounts, full-size upsells, and free merch every few orders - Creating an elite tier after order eight to extend LTV well past the 12-month mark - Using onboarding and cancellation flows to manage expectations for products that take 45 days to work - Why the how, not just the what, is what most founders and platforms miss Bias is real. Even great consultants default to their hammer and nail. We talk through why building trust first matters, why worrying about why people do not stay beats worrying about why they leave, and how an analysis layer can surface the exact recharge features to fix and estimate the revenue lift. Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly doses just like this one: https://newsletter.thesubscrip...

  7. Aug 4

    Back From Break: New Guests, New Tools, Same Subscription Focus

    The show went quiet for the summer. It's back, and the next few months are already booked. I spent the break traveling, running the event business, working with clients, and building new tools for the subscription community. In this episode I catch you up on where I've been, what I built, and who's coming on the show next. What we cover: - Why I stepped back for the summer and what I was building - The new tools at thecancelpage.com: an AI chatbot, an offer library, an email library, and a subscription ceiling calculator - An audit special coming with Flaunt.ai at a reduced cost - Why the fall lineup is built around retention, acquisition, and knowing your numbers Guests coming up on the show: - Arthur Falcone (Arlo AI, Tandem Growth) on using marketing insight to grow subscriptions - John Blair, a fractional CFO, on LTV to CAC and what that math should be telling you - Ben Clark on retention lessons from Humann, Ancestral Supplements, and ARMRA - John Roman of BattlBox on one of my favorite subscription programs New episodes go out every Tuesday. Next week is the first full one back. Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly doses just like this one: https://newsletter.thesubscrip...

  8. Jun 9

    The Hidden Ceiling Killing Your Subscription Growth

    Your subscription program isn't shrinking, but it isn't growing either. You're acquiring exactly as many subscribers as you're losing each month. That's the growth ceiling, and it's one of the most dangerous places a subscription brand can be. In this episode, I break down why subscription programs hit this equilibrium point and which lever to pull first to break through it (hint: it's probably not churn). What we cover: - The three pillars of every subscription program: subscriber count, AOV, and renewals - How to spot the growth ceiling using simple acquisition and churn math - Why equilibrium is a tipping point that can quickly turn into decline - The counterintuitive reason brands with great retention hit ceilings most often - Why brands under 10,000 subscribers should focus on acquisition, not churn - How offer testing (BOGOs, gift with purchase, bulk options) breaks the ceiling - The trade-off between subscriber opt-in rate and retention, and how to find your sweet spot Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly doses just like this one: https://newsletter.thesubscriptiondoc.com

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4.8
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About

Looking to sell on repeat? You’ve come to the right place. Welcome to the Subscription Prescription Podcast where you’ll learn everything there is to know about ecommerce. From establishing your brand identity online to winning the loyalty of your customers and limiting churn, nothing is off the table in these fun and informative conversations. In a world where online selling is the new way to shop, it’s important to stand out from the competition. Tune in each week to learn from industry expert, Matthew Holman, and jumpstart your ecommerce journey today!

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