Subscription fatigue is commonly understood to refer to the feelings of overwhelm and frustration that consumers may experience when managing multiple subscriptions, which can lead to them cancelling their subscriptions. When the topic is covered in the media, it is usually in relation to entertainment streaming platforms, but it can also apply to a range of other services, including FMCG, and there is anecdotal evidence that subscription fatigue exists in the B2B world too.  

Most consumers think of subscriptions as the simple, monthly fee paid to gain unlimited access to a streaming service or to have one of the popular subscription boxes delivered to their homes. In these scenarios, the price paid is the same each month, save for occasional increases, without any consideration for the actual amount of…

Perhaps it’s not as dramatic as the disco backlash in the late 1970’s, but numerous consumer sentiment studies suggest that subscribers are growing more frustrated with the number of subscription services and the amount of money they are spending each month on these services.

The meteoric rise of subscription service companies has been well documented and publicized. In the past decade, consumer and enterprise customers alike have gravitated to these fixed-price services due to the convenience and cost certainty.

While organizations understand they must add usage-based business models to meet customer demand and stay competitive, many are not prepared to successfully implement them. Introducing usage-based pricing and billing requires an entirely different approach than flat subscription fees. 

As enterprises across industries moved from one-time purchases to subscriptions, they soon realized they underestimated the difficulty.  

Now, many companies seek to take the next step in their evolution by moving to usage or consumption-based business models and may once again be underestimating the complexity.

In the shift from “ownership” to “access”, subscriptions are just the beginning of the journey. Customers also want the option to pay for only what they use.