Case Study: a large U.S. publisher improves subscriber retention with Mather Economics' Frictionless Stop Initiative

Large U.S Publisher - Customer Case Study

Mather Economics worked with a large U.S. publisher that wanted to improve the subscriber experience and strengthen long-term customer relationships by allowing digital subscribers to cancel online. The publisher was particularly interested in reducing friction for subscribers who may start and stop based on seasonal needs, such as election coverage or sports seasons.

Mather Economics installed Listener and integrated it with the publisher’s tech stack, then tested an online cancellation flow for digital-only subscribers with less than one year of tenure. The response tree asked if they were sure, offered a temporary discount, and then collected a short survey from those who still wanted to stop. The initiative improved restart rate by 45% within six months, raised stop rate by 2.32%, and saved 42% of attempted stops, showing that online cancellation can encourage subscribers to return.