Subscription Stories
True Tales from the Trenches
Subscription models are crazy powerful. Savvy small companies can easily deploy them to knock huge Goliaths off kilter. We’ve seen it in entertainment, software, hardware, news, retail, hospitality—the list goes on. In her podcast series, Robbie Kellman Baxter interviews the leaders of this revolution about how they’re using subscription pricing and membership models to redefine the biggest industries and generate predictable recurring revenue along the way.
LISTEN TO THE SEASON 7 TRAILER
Episode Blogs
How Zumba Balances Instructor and Consumer Subscriptions with Yael Dornbusch, Zumba’s Chief Subscription Officer
Zumba is a phenomenon since its founding in 2001. The addictive fitness dance program with a Latin beat has taken the world by storm. As of 2022, the company claimed 15 million people taking Zumba classes weekly at 200,000 locations in over 180 countries. At its core...
The One Medical Story with Dr. Joseph Michelli, the Author of All Business is Personal: One Medical’s Human-Centered, Technology-Powered Approach to Customer Engagement
If you've ever had to wait for your doctor first in the waiting room and then in the examining room, or struggled to get an appointment or had trouble getting a prescription filled while on the road, you know why primary care in the United States is in such desperate...
Building Evergreen Companies with Dave Whorton, Founder of the Tugboat Institute and Author of Another Way: Building Companies that Last…and Last…and Last
Something I've noticed over the years is that there's a natural membership economy mindset among many family-owned businesses and organizations, not on the venture-backed IPO acquisition path. Companies that aren't on a tight timeline to an exit have the ability to...
A Behind-The-Scenes Look at Adobe’s Journey to Subscriptions with Mark Garrett, the CFO Who Architected That Transformation
In today's episode, we're exploring one of the most ambitious and successful business model transformations in modern corporate history, the shift of Adobe from a traditional software company selling packaged products to a thriving subscription powerhouse. And who...
How to Build a Strong Subscription Business While Maintaining a Compelling Free Tier with Chess.com CRO Adam Mayer
Chess.com is one of the most popular freemium platforms in the world, offering millions of users free access to an engaging online chess experience. But how do you encourage players to upgrade to a paid tier when the free version is already so compelling? Adam, with...
Controversial Topics in Subscription Pricing with Mather CEO Matt Lindsay
Pricing is probably the trickiest, most stressful part of managing a subscription business. How do you balance revenue and profitability? How can you keep your pricing simple to communicate and execute while personalizing it to optimize for elasticity of demand and...
2025 Trends in Subscription Businesses with Recurly CEO Joe Rohrlich
When I wrote The Membership Economy, I knew that nearly every organization could build trusted recurring revenue relationships with their customers just by focusing on a forever promise. I really saw a huge future and hoped that companies would follow this path. But...
Season Six Wrap-Up and Season Seven Sneak Peek
As we wrap up Season 6, we’re reflecting on the amazing guests we had and all of the wisdom that was shared. --- Listen to the podcast here: Season 7 is launching soon, but while you wait, catch up on our most recent season. Some of Season 6's most popular episodes...
How to Price for Both B2B and B2C Subscriptions with American Home Shield’s Braeden Russell
Making pricing simple can be really complicated, especially in the world of subscriptions, where every pricing change can affect how much your members trust you. How do you manage different pricing for different segments? And how do you change that pricing over time?...
How Membership is Transforming Magazines with Katie Vanneck-Smith, CEO of Hearst UK
The subscription stories of publications like The Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Tortoise Media have one person in common, Katie Vanneck-Smith. In her latest role, Katie is going beyond subscriptions. She's leading Hearst UK's efforts to create deep, valuable...
Learn How to Bring Membership to the Mass Market with Venessa Yates, SVP & GM of Walmart+
With over 4,600 stores and nearly 1.6 million associates in the United States alone, Walmart is the largest retailer in the world. Walmart+, their membership program, is redefining the contours of paid memberships. I recently had the chance to interview Venessa...
Using Behavioral Data in Subscriptions with Nancy Harhut of HBT Marketing
Budgets are tight and competition to get and keep subscribers has never been more fierce. But what if I told you that there was a way to nudge your prospects and subscribers to help them engage more deeply and rapidly? It's possible. Today's guest, Nancy...
How SaaS & Subscriptions are Transforming Farming with John Deere’s Justin Rose
One of the hottest growth areas for subscriptions is farming. Surprising? Maybe. But with small margins and big numbers, efficiency matters. And farming has become an increasingly high tech, high stakes business. Justin Rose is the President of Lifecycle...
Scaling a Bootstrapped Membership with James Schramko
Many subscription entrepreneurs lament their lack of fancy software and dashboards to allow them to better manage their business. But if you know your ideal member and understand their pain points, and if you're always tinkering and adjusting your offering to...
Everything You Wanted to Know About Involuntary Churn with Butter Payments’ Vijay Menon
One of the great mysteries for me is why so many otherwise sophisticated companies don't focus on involuntary churn. Also known as passive churn or accidental churn, involuntary churn happens when a payment issue raises a flag that causes a merchant to cancel a...
Get the 7 Critical Growth Strategies for Subscription-Based Businesses
Trying to build a more predictable and lasting relationship with the people you serve? This is a guide to a better business model.
You'll also receive periodic news and updates from Robbie Kellman Baxter.