Subscription Prescription | Weekly Doses to Boost Ecommerce Revenue

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149

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Aug 2026

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About the show

Looking to sell on repeat? You’ve come to the right place. Welcome to the Subscription Prescription Podcast where you’ll learn everything there is to know about ecommerce. From establishing your brand identity online to winning the loyalty of your customers and limiting churn, nothing is off the table in these fun and informative conversations. In a world where online selling is the new way to shop, it’s important to stand out from the competition. Tune in each week to learn from industry expert, Matthew Holman, and jumpstart your ecommerce journey today!

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60 recent

August 25, 202640 min

How Whatnot Became Our Second Biggest Channel at $5m

Everyone has been predicting live shopping for a decade. Battlebox actually made it work, turning Whatnot into a $5M channel and their second biggest in just over a year. In this episode, John Roman, CEO and founder of Battlebox, joins me to explain why Whatnot succeeds where Tik Tok Shop falls short, and how a live selling platform quietly became a top of funnel engine for their subscription membership. What we cover: • How Whatnot became Battlebox's second biggest channel, bigger than Amazon • Why Whatnot converts 30x more efficiently to the website than Tik Tok Shop • The difference between buying intent on Amazon versus brain-rot scrolling on Tik Tok • How community features like raids and community boost create Whatnot's real moat • Why Battlebox drops a content-first unboxing video that hypes every member • Skipping billing reminders and building anticipation through story-driven communication • Surveying your best customers instead of obsessing over the ones who left • Why six-months-plus buyers deliver higher AOV and LTV through content Guest: John Roman LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-roman/ Website: https://www.battlbox.com See his blog: https://online-queso.com/ Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly doses just like this one: https://newsletter.thesubscrip...

August 18, 202613 min

The 4 Things to Evaluate in Every Subscription Tech Stack

New tools launch every week, Stripe just entered the Shopify subscription space, and AI-powered analytics are everywhere. So how do you decide what actually deserves a place in your subscription tech stack? In this episode, I step back to look at the state of the subscription industry and share the four things I evaluate in every subscription tech stack before recommending a single change or, worse, a full replatform. What we cover: • Why Stripe's move into Shopify subscriptions signals a bigger play around the purchasing process itself • The trap of fixating on one small feature and losing sight of your whole program • Why replatforming is rarely your best first move (and what to fix instead) • Acquisition and offer strategy: the highest-impact area that barely touches your subscription app • Cancel flow and customer portal testing: where high-volume brands quietly lose subscribers • Processing health and why it depends more on your business than your platform • How third-party dunning and CX involvement improve your processing score and cut chargebacks • Evaluating integrations with tools like analytics platforms and interactive email The bigger point: more data and AI recommendations are great, but they only pay off if you have the bandwidth to work on the parts of the program you actually control. Get these four things right and you set yourself up for a stronger Black Friday, Cyber Monday and a healthier program long term. Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly doses just like this one: https://newsletter.thesubscrip...

August 11, 202629 min

How We Grew Subscription Revenue From 10% to 40% in 3 Months

Most brands turn on subscriptions and stop there. In this episode, Matthew Holman talks with Arthur Falcone (Tandem Growth, Arlo) about how they took one wellness brand from 10% subscription revenue to north of 40% in about three months. What we cover: - Why activating subscriptions is only step one, and how underused features quietly cap your revenue - Mapping SKUs by cadence, so daily-use products push subscription while topical products get flexible skip options - How adding a skip and suppress option cut churn and extended time between orders (and why that is a win, not a loss) - Reducing one-time purchase visibility on products that make no sense to buy once - Building a milestone rewards ladder, with discounts, full-size upsells, and free merch every few orders - Creating an elite tier after order eight to extend LTV well past the 12-month mark - Using onboarding and cancellation flows to manage expectations for products that take 45 days to work - Why the how, not just the what, is what most founders and platforms miss Bias is real. Even great consultants default to their hammer and nail. We talk through why building trust first matters, why worrying about why people do not stay beats worrying about why they leave, and how an analysis layer can surface the exact recharge features to fix and estimate the revenue lift. Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly doses just like this one: https://newsletter.thesubscrip...

August 4, 20264 min

Back From Break: New Guests, New Tools, Same Subscription Focus

The show went quiet for the summer. It's back, and the next few months are already booked. I spent the break traveling, running the event business, working with clients, and building new tools for the subscription community. In this episode I catch you up on where I've been, what I built, and who's coming on the show next. What we cover: - Why I stepped back for the summer and what I was building - The new tools at thecancelpage.com: an AI chatbot, an offer library, an email library, and a subscription ceiling calculator - An audit special coming with Flaunt.ai at a reduced cost - Why the fall lineup is built around retention, acquisition, and knowing your numbers Guests coming up on the show: - Arthur Falcone (Arlo AI, Tandem Growth) on using marketing insight to grow subscriptions - John Blair, a fractional CFO, on LTV to CAC and what that math should be telling you - Ben Clark on retention lessons from Humann, Ancestral Supplements, and ARMRA - John Roman of BattlBox on one of my favorite subscription programs New episodes go out every Tuesday. Next week is the first full one back. Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly doses just like this one: https://newsletter.thesubscrip...

June 9, 202612 min

The Hidden Ceiling Killing Your Subscription Growth

Your subscription program isn't shrinking, but it isn't growing either. You're acquiring exactly as many subscribers as you're losing each month. That's the growth ceiling, and it's one of the most dangerous places a subscription brand can be. In this episode, I break down why subscription programs hit this equilibrium point and which lever to pull first to break through it (hint: it's probably not churn). What we cover: - The three pillars of every subscription program: subscriber count, AOV, and renewals - How to spot the growth ceiling using simple acquisition and churn math - Why equilibrium is a tipping point that can quickly turn into decline - The counterintuitive reason brands with great retention hit ceilings most often - Why brands under 10,000 subscribers should focus on acquisition, not churn - How offer testing (BOGOs, gift with purchase, bulk options) breaks the ceiling - The trade-off between subscriber opt-in rate and retention, and how to find your sweet spot Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly doses just like this one: https://newsletter.thesubscriptiondoc.com

June 2, 202614 min

Your BFCM Subscription Playbook Starts in the Summer - Here's What to Do Now

Black Friday is months away - and that's exactly why you should be working on your subscription strategy right now. In this episode, I walk through the three things subscription brands should be doing this summer to set themselves up for their biggest sales period of the year. What we cover: Why blanket discounts box you into a corner during BFCM How to mine your subscription data for high-LTV product combos Using customer conversations to uncover what's working (and what isn't) How to build an offer testing flywheel before the fall rush What to look for in first and second month LTV when evaluating test offers Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly doses just like this one: https://newsletter.thesubscriptiondoc.com

May 26, 202611 min

Why Most Subscription Brands Are Afraid of SMS (And What They're Missing)

Most subscription brands avoid SMS because they're afraid it'll remind people to cancel. That fear is costing them long-term LTV. In this episode, I break down why SMS is one of the most underused tools in the subscriber journey, and how to use it the right way. What we cover: Why fear of SMS is really just loss aversion in disguise How SMS drives product adoption in the critical first month Using text to give subscribers control: skip, swap, pause Why SMS recipients show higher LTV even with an initial churn bump Tools worth testing: Attentive, Klaviyo, Blueream, Recharge Concierge, and Skio What to remove from your SMS flows (and where to send people instead) Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly doses just like this one: https://newsletter.thesubscriptiondoc.com

May 19, 202644 min

The Ad Buying Math Most Subscription Brands Get Wrong

Most subscription brands are setting a ROAS target and calling it a strategy. Trevor Crump, co-founder of Bestie Media, breaks down why that's leaving serious growth on the table - and what to do instead. What we cover: Why ROAS constraints strangle your Meta spend before you ever hit your ceiling How to calculate what a subscriber is actually worth - and use that to make buying decisions Lead vs. lag metrics: what ad buyers track vs. what actually moves the business The cash flow math founders miss when modeling customer acquisition Why discount-based offers produce lower-value customers (and what to do instead) How creative has become one of the most important targeting tools on Meta Guest: Trevor Crump, Co-Founder & CEO of Bestie Media LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevorcrump/ Website: [https://www.bestiemedia.co/ Podcast: The Unstoppable Marketer Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly doses just like this one: https://newsletter.thesubscriptiondoc.com

May 12, 202610 min

How Grüns Built an Exit: LTV, Product, and Retail Done Right

Grüns just got acquired by Unilever - and there are real lessons here for every subscription brand paying attention. In this episode, I break down the three things Grüns did exceptionally well that set them up for an exit like this. What we cover: How Grüns used a 3:1 LTV to CAC ratio to grow profitably at every stage Why product obsession is still the most underrated retention strategy How retail expansion and multi-channel brand building created the opportunity Unilever actually bought Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly doses just like this one: https://newsletter.thesubscriptiondoc.com

May 5, 202633 min

Stop Obsessing Over Email: The Real Levers for Subscription Retention

Josh Tay has spent years in retention at Common Thread Co., No Limit Email, and now as VP of Strategy at Chronos Agency — and his take on email might surprise you. What we cover: Why email is a secondary channel, not the starting point for subscription growth The three real levers that move the needle: front-end offers, retention, and upsells How to think about causation vs. correlation when brands see churn spikes from email Why LTV is really about acquisition capacity, not profit for profit's sake How siloed growth and retention teams hurt subscription performance The membership models non-consumable brands (jewelry, apparel) are using right now Welcome kits and starter kit offers that actually drive commitment Guest: Josh Tay LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-tay/ Subscribe to our newsletter for weekly doses just like this one: https://newsletter.thesubscriptiondoc.com