By Morten Suhr Hansen
It often starts with something small. Something that might seem insignificant. A button that doesn’t work. A form that feels too long and overwhelming. Or a system that fails to recognize you, even though you’re logged in. It’s rarely the sort of thing users contact customer service about. But it’s exactly what makes the difference.
The difference between a subscriber thinking, “That was easy,” or “I’m not doing this again.”
In our Scandinavian Subscription Survey 2024, we show that households in Scandinavia now have an average of 20 subscriptions. This means that the competition for users’ attention and loyalty is fierce. Users can choose you quickly, but they can just as easily leave again. Especially if the experience falls short. That’s why user experience and UX design are becoming crucial competitive factors. Not only in the digital interaction with users, but throughout the entire subscription journey. From the first click to every subsequent interaction. Whether it’s the first week or several years into the subscription
The experience is the product
UX is too often seen as a matter of aesthetics or interface design, and something added at the end of a development process. But in reality, UX is much more than that. It’s the total experience of being a customer. And in a subscription business, the experience isn’t just a supplement to the product. The experience is the core of the product.
It’s about making things easy to understand, easy to use, and easy to stay engaged with. About removing barriers and making the value clear. When the experience works and value is delivered, subscribers are more likely to stay longer.
A great subscription business is built not just on transactions, but on trust and relationships. And that’s why UX is so critical: Because the experience you create is what users keep coming back to. Again and again.
So how do you create experiences that make subscribers want to stay?
Four tips to strengthen the user experience
1. Make it easy to get started
The first steps shape the entire experience. A potential subscriber who encounters friction during signup is unlikely to stick around. That’s why onboarding should be short, clear, and supportive. Use simple questions, visual progress indicators, and remove anything that’s not absolutely necessary. Especially early in the user journey, it’s vital that nothing feels uncertain or illogical. Users should feel that getting started is easy and continuing is safe.
2. Show what they get and why it’s valuable
If subscribers don’t understand what they’re getting from a subscription, they quickly lose interest. That’s why the value must be clear at every stage. It’s not just about listing features, it’s about translating them into experiences and making the value obvious. Provide clear overviews. Use examples. Make it easy to track benefits, status, and content. And make sure everything is presented in a language and context the subscriber can relate to.
3. Give the subscriber control without making it complex
Flexibility is a crucial part of many subscriptions. Subscribers want to pause, adjust, and customize their experience. But it must never feel confusing. If options aren’t intuitive, they feel more like a burden than a benefit. Offer clarity and simplicity. Highlight the most important actions first and explain the choices clearly. Subscribers should feel they have control, without being overwhelmed by too many decisions.
4. Continuously optimize the experience
User experience is never “finished.” It’s an ongoing process of learning and refining. Use data to understand where subscribers lose their way, and continuously test small improvements. Often, it’s the small changes that make the biggest difference: A shorter text, a clearer button, an extra step explaining something important. By listening to your subscribers and acting on their behavior, you create an experience that continually improves and fits your subscribers perfectly.
See through the eyes of your subscribers
It’s all about making it easy. Because when getting started feels easy, staying engaged feels easier too.
When a subscription business succeeds in creating intuitive and seamless user experiences, it’s rarely because of one big change. It’s the sum of many small moments that flow effortlessly: a clear button, a reassuring confirmation, a process that just works and evolves with the subscriber’s needs.
Good UX is invisible when it works. And impossible to ignore when it doesn’t.
The question is no longer whether UX is important to your subscription business. The question is whether you and your company are willing to truly see things from your subscribers’ perspective all the way through.
Special thanks to my talented colleague, Josefine Tostenæs, for her valuable contributions to this article. With a background in UX, she’s one of the many Subscrybers who help our clients continuously design and implement better user experiences.
