Building a subscription program from zero

A DTC air purifier brand with almost no subscribers. I built the program, then cut churn as it scaled.

40x subscriber growth in 21 months

~

2% to 27% of revenue from subscriptions

~

45% lower monthly churn

~

40x subscriber growth in 21 months ~ 2% to 27% of revenue from subscriptions ~ 45% lower monthly churn ~

Brand: DTC air purifier brand with a replacement filter business

My role: Launched and own the program: strategy, flows, copy, and analysis

Platforms: Recharge, Klaviyo, Shopify Plus

The situation

Customers needed new filters on a predictable schedule, but almost none of them were on a subscription. Subscriptions made up 2% of revenue, and replacement orders depended on customers remembering to come back.

What I did

  • Launched the subscription offer in Recharge, so filter buyers could subscribe at checkout.

  • Built winback flows for cancelled subscribers, and rebuilt them twice as the data came in.

  • Added a cancel-and-save flow that catches cancellations before they happen.

  • Built failed payment recovery for declined renewal charges.

  • Launched a referral program that rewards purifier owners for each referral.

Results

  • 40x subscriber growth in 21 months

  • Subscriptions grew from 2% to 27% of revenue

  • Monthly churn down 45%, from 2.2% to 1.2%

  • Renewal rate up from 67% to 70% while scheduled renewals grew 11x

  • 46% of failed renewal payments recovered

What this means for your brand

A replenishment product without a subscription leaves repeat revenue to chance. The first job is getting customers to subscribe. The harder job is keeping renewal rates up as the program grows, and that takes recovery, save, and winback flows built from day one, not added after churn shows up.

Next

Why Subscribers Leave: A Churn Analysis