Subscription Marketing Glossary

A card network service that automatically refreshes stored card details when a card is reissued or expires.

In practice

Switch it on before anything else in a recovery setup. It prevents failures instead of recovering them.

A product added to an upcoming subscription order, once or on every order.

In practice

The days before renewal are the best time to offer one: the order is already happening, so the customer only has to say yes.

The period after an email or SMS is opened, clicked or received during which a purchase is credited to it.

In practice

Longer windows claim more revenue, so compare windows before comparing programs.

Laws, in several US states and other countries, that set rules for subscriptions: clear terms before purchase, consent to the renewal, reminders and an easy way to cancel.

In practice

Rules differ by state and change often, so check them with your subscription app's settings and your lawyer. A brand that builds an honest offer and an easy cancellation rarely has to worry about them.

Revenue divided by the number of orders.

Calculate

Total order revenue divided by number of orders.

In practice

Subscription brands should track it twice, for new and recurring orders, because the two move for different reasons.

Total revenue divided by the number of active customers or subscribers over a period.

Calculate

Revenue in the period divided by average active customers in the period.

In practice

It mixes order value with order frequency, so read a change in ARPU against both.

A message sent before a subscription renews, saying what is coming and when.

In practice

It prevents surprise charges and disputes, and it is the natural place for a skip, swap or upgrade. Because it invites the stay-or-go decision, give a reason to stay, not just a date.

An automated message sent when a known visitor views products without adding to cart.

In practice

Keep it light: it is a reminder, not a hard sell, and it should not repeat what the cart flow says.

A subscription where the customer chooses which products and quantities go into each delivery.

In practice

It raises order value and gives a bored customer something to change instead of cancelling.

When a subscriber ends their subscription, by choice or because a payment failed and was never recovered.

In practice

Voluntary and involuntary cancellations have different causes and different fixes, so never report them as one number.

The steps a subscriber goes through when cancelling: a reason question, then an offer matched to the reason.

Benchmark

Skio credits YOCTO's cancel-flow redesign and win-back flows with 48% fewer cancellations and 208% more reactivations at Gratsi. Source

In practice

Its job is to resurface value, not to trap people. A subscriber who cannot leave disputes the charge instead, and some states require an easy online cancellation.

The answers subscribers give when they cancel.

In practice

Read them by order number, not as one pie chart. "Too much product" points to the interval. "Not seeing results" often means the customer stopped taking it, which is an onboarding or taste problem.

The question, or short set of questions, a subscriber answers about why they are cancelling.

In practice

Keep it to one required question with fixed reasons plus an optional free-text box. The free text, in the customer's own words, is the most useful copy research a brand owns.

A message sent before a stored card expires, asking the customer to update it.

In practice

It turns a future failed payment into a two-minute task, which makes it one of the highest-value emails a subscription brand sends.

An automated series sent when a shopper adds products to cart but does not check out.

In practice

It is one of the highest-earning flows in ecommerce. For subscription products, answer the subscription question in it: how to skip, pause or cancel.

When a customer disputes a charge with their bank instead of the brand, and the bank reverses it.

In practice

Subscription chargebacks mostly come from customers who forgot they subscribed or could not find how to cancel. Clear billing reminders and a visible cancel option prevent most of them.

An automated series sent when a shopper starts checkout but does not finish.

In practice

It is the strongest intent signal before purchase, so these messages usually convert best of the abandonment flows.

Everything done before a subscriber reaches the cancel button to keep them: onboarding, billing reminders, easy portal changes and payment recovery.

In practice

Most churn is decided before the cancellation flow ever loads. Fix the second order and failed payments before optimizing the save offers.

The share of subscribers lost over a period.

Calculate

Cancellations (plus pauses, the way YOCTO counts it) in the period divided by everyone active during the period.

Benchmark

YOCTO's 2026 benchmarks, counting pauses and measured over the year: median 55.8%, best 26.8%, worst 81.4%. Source

In practice

Your platform's dashboard probably excludes pauses and reads lower than this. Fast billers also churn more by construction, so compare only with brands on your interval.

A group of customers who started in the same period or through the same offer.

In practice

Cohorts by acquisition offer are the quickest way to see whether a promotion brought in customers who stay or customers who leave.

Tracking each cohort's retention, orders and revenue over time, side by side.

In practice

It separates real improvement from the effect of a growing base, which a single churn number hides.

What an order earns after its variable costs: product, shipping, payment fees and discounts.

Calculate

Order revenue minus cost of goods, fulfillment and shipping, payment fees and discounts.

In practice

It is the honest basis for deciding how deep a discount or how generous a gift can be.

What it costs to win one new customer.

Calculate

Acquisition spend (ads plus related costs) divided by new customers acquired.

In practice

It only moves one way over time, which is why lifetime value is the side of the equation a brand controls.

The total revenue, or profit, a customer generates over the whole relationship.

Calculate

For a subscription: average order value multiplied by the number of orders a subscriber stays for. Use contribution margin instead of revenue for profit LTV.

In practice

LTV compared with acquisition cost is the scoreboard that decides whether a subscription business grows profitably. It rests on three things: how many subscribers you gain, how long they stay and what each order is worth.

The account area where subscribers skip, pause, swap, change frequency, update a card or cancel.

In practice

Every small change the portal makes easy is a cancellation it prevents. The one thing it should never hide is the cancel button.

The reason a card issuer gives when it refuses a charge, such as insufficient funds, expired card or do not honor.

In practice

Read the most common code, not the total. Insufficient funds means timing is the lever. A declined retry means your schedule is the problem. Expired cards and fraud flags need a new card, never another retry.

Keeping a subscriber by postponing their next order: a skip, a pause or a reschedule.

In practice

Most dashboards count deferrals as saves. Track what happens when the deferred order comes due before calling it a win.

Whether emails reach the inbox rather than spam or the promotions tab.

In practice

It depends on sender reputation, authentication, list quality and how engaged recipients are. A billing reminder in spam is a failed payment waiting to happen.

A sign-up that requires the subscriber to confirm their email address before joining the list.

In practice

It produces a smaller but cleaner, more engaged list. Worth it when deliverability is already a problem.

The process of recovering failed payments through retries, reminder emails and SMS, and prompts to update the card.

Benchmark

YOCTO's benchmarks, failed charges recovered in the first cycle: median 41.4%, best 64.1%, worst 28.1%. Source

In practice

The gap between best and worst is almost all configuration the customer never sees: retry timing, automatic card updates and reminder timing.

An email asking a customer to update their payment details after a charge fails.

In practice

Make it one tap to a card-update page, send it as soon as the failure is a hard decline, and say what they will miss rather than what they owe.

Subscribers who leave before their second order, often after a deep first-order discount. YOCTO's LTV Parthenon calls them the discount-and-run cohort.

Benchmark

In YOCTO's benchmarks, half of scheduled second orders are never paid at the typical brand, and cancellation before the charge takes a median 19% on its own. Source

In practice

It is KPI 06 of the Parthenon and the most predictive churn number, because subscribers who never reach order two never produce the value that came after.

The share of a brand's total revenue attributed to email.

Calculate

Email-attributed revenue divided by total store revenue, for the same period.

In practice

A useful health check that says nothing about retention or profit on its own, and attribution settings move it.

A scheduled subscription charge that does not go through.

Benchmark

YOCTO's benchmarks, first-attempt success: median 86.0%, range 77.9% to 91.5%. About one charge in seven fails at the typical brand. Source

In practice

First-attempt success was the single best predictor of long-term retention in our data, ahead of every marketing number.

A discount on the first subscription order only, usually deeper than the ongoing subscribe and save rate.

In practice

The deeper it is, the more of your new subscribers leave before the second order. A gift or a bonus product on the first order often converts as well with a smaller early-churn penalty.

A product given free with a subscription, at sign-up or at a later order, instead of or alongside a discount.

In practice

Gifts at the second or third order reward exactly the subscribers who are about to decide whether to stay, which a first-order discount never does.

When a subscriber changes how often their subscription ships.

In practice

Most "too much product" cancellations are really a frequency problem. Put a one-click frequency change in the portal, the billing reminder and the cancellation flow.

A subscription bought by one person for another, usually prepaid for a fixed number of deliveries.

In practice

The recipient is a customer you did not pay to acquire. Their last gifted delivery is the moment to offer them a subscription of their own.

Keeping existing subscribers on their original price when the price goes up for new customers.

In practice

It protects your most loyal subscribers from a reason to reconsider. If you do raise their price, tell them before the charge and give them something for staying.

All subscribers lost in a period, before counting any who came back.

In practice

Report it next to reactivations. A brand can hold its subscriber count flat while losing and replacing a large part of its base every month.

A refusal that will not succeed on retry, such as an expired card, a closed account or suspected fraud.

In practice

Ask the customer for a new payment method straight away. Retrying a hard decline only adds failed attempts.

A test where a random share of customers is held back from a message, flow or offer, so its real effect can be measured against them.

Benchmark

Paper Run measured a 5.2x incremental return on ad spend against a holdout for Gratsi's direct mail with YOCTO.

In practice

It is the most reliable way to prove a retention program creates revenue rather than taking credit for orders that would have happened anyway.

Letting subscribers skip, swap, upgrade or reactivate with one tap inside an email, without logging in to the portal.

Benchmark

Gratsi cut subscriber churn 31% in an A/B test after YOCTO added Zaymo's in-email portal to its billing reminder flow, as published by Zaymo. Source

In practice

It works best in the billing reminder, where the customer is already deciding.

The revenue or orders a marketing activity actually caused, beyond what would have happened without it.

In practice

Attribution reports show credit; incrementality, measured with a holdout, shows cause.

Subscribers lost because a payment failed and was never recovered, not because they chose to leave.

Benchmark

In YOCTO's benchmarks one scheduled charge in seven fails on the first attempt at the typical brand. Source

In practice

It is KPI 05 of the LTV Parthenon and usually the cheapest churn to fix, because the fix is settings: retry timing, card updates and reminders. In our data the payment numbers predicted long-term retention better than any marketing number.

A customer who has not bought within the window their buying pattern predicts.

In practice

Define lapse by product cycle, not a fixed date. A monthly product lapses far sooner than a quarterly one.

Marketing that sends the right message at each stage of the customer relationship, mostly through automated email and SMS.

In practice

Measure it by what it does to retention and lifetime value, not by email revenue alone.

The steady loss of email addresses that stop being valid or engaged.

In practice

Every list decays every year through unsubscribes, bounces and abandoned inboxes, so it needs steady growth and regular cleaning.

A program that rewards customers for purchases and engagement, usually with points, tiers or perks.

Benchmark

Bubblehouse credits YOCTO with Boujee Hippie's loyalty program, where member lifetime value rose 51%. Source

In practice

For subscription brands, tie rewards to staying subscribed rather than to one-off spend.

YOCTO's published model for subscription lifetime value: three pillars (grow the base, keep them, spend more) and nine numbers beneath them.

In practice

Every tactic is judged by which of the nine numbers it moves; if it moves none, it does not happen. It was introduced in Forbes by YOCTO's founder George Kapernaros.

A paid program that gives ongoing benefits, such as lower prices, free shipping or early access, rather than a scheduled delivery.

In practice

A membership sells access, so its churn tracks how often members use the benefits. Remind members of what they saved, not what they paid.

The revenue a subscription business expects to bill each month from active subscribers.

Calculate

Sum of each active subscription's value converted to a monthly equivalent (a 60-day subscription counts at half its order value).

In practice

It hides churn if new subscribers replace lost ones, so read it next to gross churn.

The average value of a customer's first subscription order.

In practice

It is KPI 07 of the LTV Parthenon. A low figure usually means customers are buying one month instead of three, which pricing and bundles can change.

Messages that teach a new customer how to use the product and when to expect results.

In practice

Customers who use the product correctly see results, and customers who see results stay. "Not seeing results" cancellations usually start here.

The share of one-time buyers who later convert to a subscription.

Calculate

One-time customers who started a subscription in the period divided by one-time customers.

In practice

It is KPI 02 of the LTV Parthenon. Below about 20%, post-purchase messaging is usually missing or not asking.

The share of subscribers still active at each order number: second, third, fourth and so on.

Calculate

Subscribers who reached order N divided by subscribers who started.

Benchmark

YOCTO's benchmarks, median brand: 77.0% reach a third order, 53.3% a fourth, 41.0% a fifth and 34.1% a sixth. The best keep about half to the sixth, the weakest one in ten. Source

In practice

It is the fairest way to compare brands, because every order is a decision whether it arrives weekly or quarterly. The steep losses happen between orders two and four.

When a subscriber stops all orders for a period, or indefinitely, without cancelling.

In practice

Most dashboards do not count pauses as churn, though most paused subscribers never come back. YOCTO counts pauses as churn and counts subscribers back in when they return.

A subscription billed one order at a time, each time it ships.

In practice

It is the easiest model to sign up to and the default for most brands. Every charge is also a fresh decision to stay, so the billing moment needs a reason to stay, not just a receipt.

How long it takes a customer's gross profit to repay what it cost to acquire them.

Calculate

Customer acquisition cost divided by monthly gross profit per customer.

In practice

Subscription brands can afford a longer payback than one-time brands, but only if subscribers stay past it. Check it against order survival, not average lifetime.

Timing payment retries to land just after common paydays, such as the 1st, the 15th or Fridays.

In practice

It is the simplest fix for insufficient-funds declines, which are a timing problem, not a card problem.

The share of failed charges that are recovered, by a retry or because the customer updates their card.

Calculate

Failed charges recovered divided by failed charges that reached a resolution. YOCTO leaves out charges still in the retry sequence, rather than counting them as lost.

Benchmark

YOCTO's benchmarks: median 41.4% in the first cycle, best 64.1%. Roughly four in ten recoveries came from a card update rather than a retry. Source

In practice

Most setups are tuned around retries and leave the card-update path unattended, which is half the mechanism.

The set of subscription options offered for a product, such as intervals, quantities and prices.

In practice

Subscription apps like Loop use plan groups to decide what customers see at checkout and in the portal. A longer-interval plan group visible only in the cancellation flow is a common way to save "too much product" cancellations.

A sign-up form that appears over the website to collect email addresses and phone numbers, usually in exchange for an offer.

In practice

It feeds the welcome flow, so its offer shapes the customers you get. Judge it on the downstream value of the sign-ups, not the raw sign-up rate.

The automated series after an order: confirmation, shipping, delivery and how to use the product.

In practice

For subscriptions it is the most important flow there is, because it covers the stretch before the second order where most subscribers are lost.

An email sent in the days before a renewal that offers an upgrade, an add-on or a swap for the coming order.

Benchmark

YOCTO's pre-renewal upgrade program for a collagen brand added more than 700,000 pounds a year, as published by Zaymo. Source

In practice

It is the most valuable silent stretch in a subscription: the customer is already about to pay, so a relevant offer needs only a yes.

The purchase option a product page shows as already chosen when it loads: the subscription or the one-time purchase.

In practice

It is one of the strongest levers on how many orders start a subscription. Pre-select only with an honest, clearly labeled offer, or the gain comes back as cancellations and chargebacks.

A subscription paid upfront for several deliveries, for example three or six months at once.

In practice

It removes several chances to cancel and improves cash flow, usually in exchange for a deeper discount. It works best offered as an upgrade to subscribers who have already stayed a few orders, rather than at first checkout.

An interactive set of questions that recommends a product and collects zero-party data along the way.

In practice

Use the answers to route new subscribers into different onboarding paths, not just to recommend a product once.

When a cancelled subscriber starts their subscription again.

In practice

Reactivated subscribers are customers you already paid to acquire. Lead the reactivation offer with what changed since they left, not the discount they already had.

The share of cancelled subscribers who come back within a set period.

Calculate

Reactivated subscribers in the period divided by subscribers who had cancelled.

In practice

It is KPI 03 of the LTV Parthenon and often the cheapest way to grow the base, yet most brands do not track it at all.

The average value of a subscriber's renewal orders.

In practice

It is KPI 08 of the LTV Parthenon and often lower than the first order once a welcome discount ends. Add-ons and upgrades before renewal raise it.

A program that rewards customers for bringing in new customers.

In practice

Ask after the moment the customer sees results, not right after the first order.

The share of customers who have bought more than once over a period.

Calculate

Customers with two or more orders divided by all customers, over the same period.

In practice

Remove exchanges and replacement orders first; they inflate it.

A message timed to when a one-time customer is likely to run out, prompting a reorder or a switch to subscription.

In practice

Time it from real reorder data for that product. It is the natural moment to offer the subscription a second time.

A subscription that ships the same product on the schedule the customer uses it up.

In practice

Its main failure is a mismatch between the interval and real usage. Product piles up at home, the customer skips, then cancels with the reason "too much product". Defaulting to the interval most customers actually reorder at prevents most of it.

When a subscriber moves one order to a different date without skipping it.

In practice

It keeps the order alive when timing, not the product, is the problem, so it is the cheapest save offer there is.

The share of customers or subscribers still active after a period or a number of orders.

Calculate

Customers active at the end of the period, minus new customers acquired in it, divided by customers at the start.

In practice

For subscriptions, retention counted by orders survived is fairer than by months, because brands bill on different schedules.

The schedule and rules for retrying a failed charge: how many times, how far apart and on which days.

In practice

Retrying too hard and too often triggers issuers to refuse the retries themselves, which brands then misread as a card problem. If "declined retry" is your top failure reason, slow the schedule down.

Subscription order revenue as a share of all revenue.

Benchmark

YOCTO's benchmarks: median 60.3%, with brands anywhere from 14.0% to 99.4%. Source

In practice

It describes the business model, not how well it runs. In our data it said nothing reliable about whether subscribers stay.

A sequence of milestone rewards for subscribers who stay, such as a gift at the third order and an upgrade at the sixth.

In practice

Put the milestones where your survival curve drops. A reward the subscriber knows is coming is a reason to keep the next order.

Segmenting customers by recency (when they last bought), frequency (how often) and monetary value (how much they spend).

In practice

It quickly separates loyal customers from those at risk and those already lapsed, which is where win-back starts.

An offer that starts with a low-cost sample or trial size and converts automatically into a full-size subscription.

In practice

It lowers the barrier to try but invites surprise charges. State the conversion date and price clearly before and after the sample ships.

An offer in the cancellation flow, matched to the reason given, that keeps the subscriber.

In practice

Solve the stated problem first: a smaller pack, a longer interval, a different flavor. A discount should be the last offer, not the default.

The share of subscribers who start the cancellation flow and accept an offer instead of leaving.

Calculate

Subscribers who accepted a save offer divided by subscribers who started the cancellation flow.

In practice

On its own it flatters, because many saved subscribers cancel at the next order. Judge it by how many saved subscribers are still there two orders later.

The share of first-time customers who place a second order.

Calculate

Customers with two or more orders divided by customers with at least one order, for a cohort.

Benchmark

For subscriptions, YOCTO measures how many scheduled second orders get paid: 50% at the typical brand, from 40% at the weakest to 74% at the strongest. Source

In practice

It is the most valuable step in ecommerce retention. Every flow before the second order matters more than any flow after it.

Dividing customers into groups by behavior, value or preferences so each group gets relevant messages.

In practice

Build segments on what customers do, such as order number, recency and subscription status, not just who they are.

Shopify's term for a subscription or pre-order option attached to a product, which subscription apps create and manage.

In practice

If a subscription option does not show at checkout, the selling plan is usually not attached to that variant or market.

The score mailbox providers assign to a sending domain and IP, based on engagement, complaints and bounces.

In practice

A poor reputation sends even good emails to spam. Stop mailing people who never open before it drags the rest down.

When a subscriber skips one upcoming order and stays subscribed.

Benchmark

In YOCTO's benchmarks most brands see almost no skips, but brands with a prominent skip button in the portal run skip rates of 10 to 15% of scheduled orders. Source

In practice

A skip is politer than a cancellation and sometimes saves the relationship. Often it is a cancellation with a delay on it, so track it like churn, not like engagement.

The share of scheduled subscription orders that subscribers skip.

Calculate

Skipped orders divided by scheduled orders in the period.

Benchmark

YOCTO's benchmarks: near zero at most brands, 10 to 15% where the portal makes skipping prominent. Source

In practice

A rising skip rate is an early warning of cancellations, usually on the same interval or product.

A Klaviyo setting that skips anyone who received a message within a set window, to avoid over-mailing.

In practice

It is a common reason a flow appears not to send. Turn it off for transactional and billing messages.

Sending marketing and transactional messages by text message, with the subscriber's consent.

In practice

For subscriptions, SMS earns its place at the billing moment: renewal reminders, failed-payment alerts and one-tap skips, more than in promotions.

A refusal that may succeed if retried later, such as insufficient funds or a temporary issuer block.

In practice

Insufficient funds is a timing problem: the money arrives on payday, so a patient retry schedule collects it.

The standard subscription offer: a discount on every order in exchange for signing up to recurring deliveries.

In practice

Most brands land between 10 and 20% off. The discount decides who you attract: a modest one buys people who want the product, a deep one buys people who want the price, and they cancel when it ends.

An arrangement where a customer is charged and shipped automatically on a set schedule until they change or cancel it.

In practice

In ecommerce a subscription is judged on the orders after the first, not on sign-ups. A brand can have a large subscriber count and still lose half of every new cohort before the second box.

The software that runs subscriptions on a store: billing, the customer portal, cancellation flows and payment retries. Loop, Recharge, Skio and Stay AI are common on Shopify.

In practice

The app's default settings, especially retries and the cancellation flow, shape churn more than most campaigns do. Review them before buying new tools.

A subscription that ships a curated or changing selection each cycle instead of the same product.

In practice

Customers stay for novelty, so retention depends on each box feeling new. Churn tends to arrive when the selection starts to repeat.

How long a subscriber stays before cancelling, on average or by cohort.

Calculate

Average number of completed orders per subscriber, or average months from first to last order.

In practice

It is KPI 09 of the LTV Parthenon. A subscriber who places five orders is worth two and a half times one who places two.

How often a subscription bills and ships, such as every two weeks, monthly or every 60 days.

Benchmark

In YOCTO's benchmarks, billing frequency tracks annual churn closely: a brand billing weekly asks the stay-or-go question about 50 times a year, a quarterly one 4 times. Source

In practice

Never compare your churn with a brand on a different interval. Compare by orders survived instead, where every brand faces the same test.

How a subscription is priced against the one-time price: the discount, the price per unit at each quantity, and any first-order offer.

In practice

Price for the customer you want to keep. A pricing ladder that rewards larger quantities and longer intervals raises order value without deepening the discount on every order.

The share of new orders that start a subscription at checkout.

Calculate

New subscriptions started at checkout divided by all orders. Rebills do not count.

Benchmark

YOCTO's benchmarks find two camps: about one order in ten in most stores, close to one in two in subscription-first stores. Supplements and wellness median: 45.5%. Source

In practice

It is KPI 01 of the LTV Parthenon and is set on the product page, not in email: pre-selection, the offer and how the plan picker reads.

An automated series that re-engages, then stops emailing, subscribers who have stopped opening or clicking.

In practice

It protects deliverability by keeping inactive addresses off regular sends.

A chart of the share of subscribers still active at each order or month.

In practice

It shows where subscribers drop off, not just how many. Most curves flatten after the fourth order: a subscriber who gets there rarely leaves before the sixth.

When a subscriber changes the product, flavor or variant in their subscription.

In practice

Offer a swap whenever the cancellation reason is taste or boredom. It keeps customers who are tired of a product but not of the brand.

How long a customer has been subscribed, in months or in orders.

In practice

Churn risk changes sharply with tenure, so messages and offers should change with it too.

How long it takes a first-time customer to place a second order.

In practice

Time post-purchase and replenishment messages to land just before this point, from your own reorder data, not from a fixed calendar.

When a subscriber moves to a larger quantity, a higher tier or a longer prepaid plan.

Benchmark

YOCTO's first pre-renewal upgrade program for a collagen brand added more than 700,000 pounds a year in upgrade revenue, as published by Zaymo. Source

In practice

Offer upgrades to subscribers who have already stayed, just before renewal, with the saving stated per unit.

Subscribers who choose to cancel.

In practice

It is KPI 04 of the LTV Parthenon. Read cancellation reasons by order number: reasons at order two point to the offer and onboarding, reasons at order six point to the product or price.

The automated series sent after someone joins a list, usually from a pop-up.

In practice

It introduces the brand, delivers the sign-up offer and moves the subscriber toward a first order. For subscription brands it should also explain the subscription before the customer reaches checkout.

Marketing aimed at customers who have stopped buying or cancelled, to bring them back.

In practice

Lead with what changed since they left, such as a new flavor, a new size or a fixed problem, rather than repeating the discount they already had.

Information customers give a brand on purpose, such as goals, preferences or how they use the product.

In practice

It makes personalization accurate without guessing. Collect it in the pop-up, a quiz or the cancellation survey, then use it to choose which messages each customer gets.