The most value your OTT platform gets is not just from the subscriber count you have but from controlled subscriber attrition. For any media house, keeping track of customer attrition is extremely important in order to derive ROI on the efforts made. OTT businesses need to be at the top of their research on why customers are leaving, how much will it cost to replace them and the possibility of retaining customers with minimal targeting.
Subscription churn and fatigue are real challenges for creators and their networks. According to a Vimeo study, average app subscription churn rates are 30% per year across the OTT landscape which makes churn the most significant growth lever for almost every subscription channel.
Whether you are already in the OTT game or are going to launch your platform soon, OTT churn rate is going to play a huge factor. So here are a few key tips to reverse the loss of subscriptions:
Accurate Pricing
In the video streaming business, pricing and packaging is a very valuable strategic tool. It ties directly to revenue generation through new customer acquisition, which increases the value of existing customers and reduces OTT churn rate. But pricing is a tricky discussion. Pricing can be based on number of users or capacity, group plans, concurrent streams or device type. Pricing can also be based on daily, monthly, quarterly and annual time periods. At the end of the day, it is best to keep the pricing simple. Create flexible operational systems that support iterations that allow you to respond to the customers’ changing preferences. A tech partner such as Enveu can build an optimal system to foster such a need.
Content Freshness
Irrespective of the industry, providing new content creates interest and excites your audience. Netflix’s content library is an important piece of its subscriber acquisition and retention strategy. But when other Video On-Demand subscription platforms started competing to own the rights to pieces of content, Netflix pivoted its strategy towards prioritizing original and exclusive content.
Developing Deeper Customer Relations
As a company’s customer base gets bigger, this becomes an important element in the entire business framework. Your subscribers are likely to stay loyal to your platform if they are the recipients of some or the other form of free or promotional content. Presenting bonus content in the form of deleted scenes, rehearsal footage, interviews, director’s commentary etc will make your committed audience feel more valued. Keep communication consistent with your customers as well. Send them exciting newsletters that share statistics about their weekly / monthly viewing data and recommend content that matches their viewing pattern.
Unsatisfactory Customer Support
Many existing or potential subscribers are bound to contact customer support with grievances or queries respectively. A non-reactive support team is highly detrimental to the image and brand value of the business. Even if a support team reaches out to the grieving customer, their response may fall on deaf ears if there was a lack of timely and proactive intervention. Such displeased customers can vent out their frustration over social media and online forums thus causing public damage to the company’s reputation. To prevent such cases, not only does the support team need to be on their toes but software that enables quick record and easy access to registered grievances are required to be up to date. A tech partner like Enveu which executes the backend work on streaming applications can set these tools up for you.
In essence, create good content and engage your subscribers once they sign up. Customers will by themselves get attracted to your OTT platform if it is built on a mix of good technology, partnerships and promotional efforts. Make sure you enlist the help of a technology partner such as Enveu who will have a host of diversified features to enrich your video streaming service and thereby reverse the loss of subscribers and reduce the OTT churn rate with OTT subscription management software. Get in touch with us today!
