| Subscription discovery is the moment when someone first comes across your service. The setting that person is in matters because what they’re doing at that moment shapes whether your subscription feels useful and timely or intrusive. That makes moments connected to a task, and periods of change, worth testing as places for an offer. |
Every subscription discovery happens in the middle of something else
Teams can spend a lot of time refining an offer, from the price point and trial period to the words on the button. Yet every subscription discovery also happens somewhere, while the person is busy with something else.
Picture the same streaming offer inside the same banking app at two different moments. In the first, it pops up while someone is checking their balance the day before rent is due. In the second, it appears while they’re opening a new account after moving.
The offer is identical, but it’s easy to guess which one feels more welcome. That moment, and the setting around it, is the discovery context. We look at why it’s important, which moments can work in an offer’s favor and how to find the ones that suit your service.
Relevance depends on what someone is doing when they find your offer
Research into online video advertising helps explain the gap between the two moments shared above. In a 2021 experiment with US college students, Freeman, Wei, Yang and Shen found that when ads interrupted a video partway through, ones related to the video were seen as less intrusive, and provoked less anger, than unrelated ones.
That study looked at video ads, so applying it to subscription offers is an inference. Still, it suggests that an offer connected to what someone is already doing may feel less intrusive.
Life changes affect established choices
Moving house, starting a new job, having a child or retiring can disrupt routines and prompt people to reconsider the brands and services they use.
In a 2018 study of three years of purchase records from a consumer panel, Koschate-Fischer and colleagues found that major life events changed how much people bought from their preferred brands. Sometimes it was more and sometimes less, with first-time events having stronger effects than repeated ones.
Moving can reset habits too. In a 2019 study of university students, Haggar, Whitmarsh and Skippon found that when people who had moved changed how they traveled, the new choice became more automatic and the old one less so.
Neither study looks at subscriptions, but together they suggest that periods of change can affect existing choices. Other moments, such as choosing a new phone plan or opening an account, can create a natural point for a related offer, and they can happen inside a partner’s product.
Routine moments in the consumer purchase journey may need a lighter touch
Paying a bill, doing a grocery run or checking a balance come around regularly and are easy to plan for, which makes them attractive places for an offer.
In a routine moment, though, someone may simply be trying to finish a task. The same 2021 experiment with US college students found that ads which broke into a video midway felt more intrusive than ads shown before it began, and that the anger they provoked lowered purchase intent.
That suggests a lighter offer may be more appropriate; one that’s short, connected to the task and easy to come back to, such as a perk shown once a purchase is complete.
To shape subscription discovery, map the moments when your service is most useful
Putting this into practice starts with your service. For each part of your audience, ask:
- When do they most need what you offer, and what are they usually doing just before?
- Which of those moments are life changes, and which are routine?
- Whose product are they using at that point, such as a phone plan, a banking app or a retailer’s checkout?
- Would your offer help with what they’re doing, or interrupt it?
The answers point to a short list of moments worth putting to the test. Our guide to non-telco bundling partners shows which partners can put you there, and the guide to embedded distribution explains what happens once someone accepts the offer.
Before you refine a subscription offer again, check the moment it will be discovered in
The streaming offer mentioned at the start didn’t change between its two moments, but only one of them gave it a fair chance.
So, before refining the price or the wording again, take two moments from your list and put the same offer in both, ideally within the same partner’s app or plan. That keeps the partner brand constant and removes one important source of variation. Results across different partners can still show which setting performed better, but they can’t prove the moment alone made the difference.
FAQsWhat is subscription discovery? Subscription discovery is the point where someone first comes across a subscription service and decides whether it’s worth a closer look. It can happen through search, an app store, an ad, a recommendation or a partner’s product, such as a phone plan or a banking app. The setting it happens in shapes how relevant the offer feels. What does discovery context mean? Discovery context is the situation someone is in when they find your offer: where they are, what they’re doing and what they need at that moment. The same offer can feel useful in one context and intrusive in another, so the setting is worth planning as carefully as the price or the wording. What is the consumer purchase journey? The consumer purchase journey is the path someone takes from first noticing a need to buying something and using it. For a subscription, it runs from discovery through sign-up to everyday use. Discovery context matters at the very start, because it shapes whether someone takes the next step. Why do life changes matter for subscription businesses? Moving, starting a new job, having a child or retiring can disrupt routines and prompt people to reconsider the brands and services they use. These major life events can change how much people buy of their usual brands. That makes them worth testing as moments for a relevant offer. How can you test whether a discovery context works? Offer the same subscription, at the same price, at two or more moments, and compare how many people take it up. Comparing moments within the same partner’s app or plan keeps the partner brand constant and removes one important source of variation. Comparisons across partners can show which setting performed better, but not that the moment alone caused the difference. |
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