In 1856, Singer introduced a novel way to rent their sewing machines for $3 per month. The first at-scale consumer subscription business came with the invention of the telephone a few years later. A hundred and twenty years later, the subscription economy is a $1.5 Trillion business.

A critical point tends to get lost in this macro view. Early subscription models were payment plans. Upfront payment for that item or service was so high that no one could afford it any other way. While we continue to see this today (car leases, home loans, etc.), many subscriptions are now about marginal utility. The consumer is in a state of continuous evaluation of the value of the service to the price charged.

There are three stages to this evaluation. The first stage is the hunt, where the user is looking for something they believe you can provide. The second stage is the find, where the user believes you have something they want. The last stage is the reward, where they consume something you provide. These stages are integral to the consumer's decision-making process and overall satisfaction.

Most of the value creation is in the second and third stages, arguing that services should do their best to get the user to that stage as quickly as possible. If you do not have a deep catalog, your chances of quickly getting the user to that stage aren't great.

We encourage our customers to set up cohorts like “users who spend more time searching than consuming” or “users who do not use search”. You will be amazed at how shallow your subscriber’s attention is and how important it is for you to do something for the users who don’t reach the third stage.