How Subscription Marketing Became a Slow Extraction Machine
I signed up for a subscription once.
It promised peace of mind. A safety net I might need.
I used it once.
I never used it again.
But it used me—for 12 more months.
No one checked in.
No one asked if I still needed it.
No one said, “Hey, this thing hasn’t been touched in weeks—still worth it?”
Instead, it just kept billing.
Quiet. Predictable. $29.95, like clockwork. Usually in the middle of the night.
It wasn’t a scam. It was just a system built to outlast your attention span.
Welcome to the New Subscription Economy
From “legal protection” to “AI tools,” “budget apps” to “credit repair,” we’re surrounded by services that:
Help us once
Then quietly monetize our silence
While pretending they’re protecting us
Most of these companies don’t want to retain you through value.
They want to retain you through inertia.
Why It Works (And Why It’s Wrong)
Here’s the trap:
You’re busy.
Life is overwhelming.
Even if reminders are sent, they land in inboxes already drowning in noise.
And these companies know that.
They bank on it—literally.
So what looks like a friendly service is often just a front for a lead funnel. A quiet drip of revenue that funds a bigger business model:
Selling your info to insurance brokers
Nudging you toward higher-priced financial products
Feeding the pipeline of companies who want to “monetize the underserved”
Let’s be clear: this isn’t about service. It’s about scale.
And the longer you don’t cancel, the better it works for them.
The MAC Standard: Subscription Models with Integrity
At the Marketing Accountability Council (MAC), we don’t believe all subscriptions are bad. But if your retention strategy depends on people forgetting, avoiding friction, or staying confused?
That’s not sustainable. That’s shady.
Here’s how ethical companies should run subscription models:
Make value obvious.
If your user can’t name what they got from your service this month, it’s on you.
Make cancellation easy.
One click. No guilt trip. No “but wait!” screens. No phone call required.
Remind people with context, not clutter.
"Your subscription renews in 3 days" is fine.
But “You haven’t used us in 90 days—still want to continue?” is better.
Monitor for dormancy.
If someone’s been inactive for months, that’s not a win. It’s a warning.
Pause billing. Or at least, ask why they haven’t returned.
Own your business model.
If you make money from leads, say that. Don’t pose as a consumer ally if you’re really a sales pipeline.
Take Control: How to Audit Your Subscriptions in 10 Minutes
If you’re feeling this, here’s your action plan.
1. Check your phone’s app subscriptions.
iPhone: Settings → Apple ID → Subscriptions
Android: Play Store → Menu → Subscriptions
Cancel anything you haven’t used in 30+ days.
2. Scan your bank statements.
Look for quiet $9.99s or sneaky $29.95s from names you don’t recognize—or forgot.
3. Unsubscribe with intent.
Ask yourself: Did this service help me this month?
If not, it's probably not worth your money.
4. Set up calendar alerts for annual renewals.
Don’t let a “free trial” become a $99 surprise next spring.
5. Audit physical stuff too.
Meal kits. Supplements. Razors. Dog treats. If you haven’t used it lately, cancel. You’re not failing. You’re evolving.
If They’re Not Helping, They’re Holding On
Subscription-based businesses love to say they’re “empowering consumers.”
But the moment that relationship flips—when you’re no longer using the service, and they’re still quietly billing you—that’s not empowerment.
That’s passive extraction.
We can do better.
We should do better.
And at MAC, we’re going to keep naming this behavior until the industry finally kills the zombie model that’s draining people in silence.
You don’t need a contract you’ll never read.
You need a service that checks in and says:
“Still getting what you need?”
If the answer is no, you should be free to go.
No tricks. No guilt. No games.
Because forgettable value shouldn't cost you anything.
🪦 This is a part the Graveyard Series: where marketing strategies that rely on confusion, pressure, or inertia come to rest.
Next up: The Free Trial That Was Anything But.
#SubscriptionMarketing #GraveyardSeries #MarketingAccountability #EthicalGrowth
Fun topic, thanks Jay!
Deceptive subscription tactics are a myopic play. Since the FTC has ROSCA to call out and collect cash from corporations, accountability is now profitability. Take Adobe: although they evaded the FTC class action suit (for now), in technical terms, it's a "real bad look" that permeates their customer base and massively overshadows those extra subscription revenues.
What Saas providers can glean from this article is that as product market fit changes, churning can be reframed as a valuable tool. Marketers and product leaders will learn that often the problem isn't you(r product), it's them. Here's one of many great posts from Switch Insight's Aaron Young that speaks to this: https://shorturl.at/EYlRd
The way to extract value in the long-term is through strategic, sustained data collection and healthy detachment from the ego blow of an unsubscribe trend. The info you collect can build a larger context to explore potential for better alignment.
Your customers aren't one-dimensional, their lives aren't linear, and you aren't that big of a deal(!). If you're not meeting them where (or how or when) they're at, then you need to break up (or go on a break). Don't take it personally, but do get closure: record, reflect, and incorporate your findings to grow. That growth should lead you to evolve your product to perform more effectively or shift your target audience.
When you make those changes, and if it makes sense, maybe that customer will find you again. But they will never come back if you lied, deceived, or stole from them.
The same tactics can be applied to dating, your career, family dynamics, or your relationship with yourself. I constantly fail to silo my opinions, and that was an example of me bringing this back to the imperatives of context, awareness, and stoicism.
In closing, insert the idiom/lyric/quote of your choice:
"If you love something, give it away"
"Don't take it personal"
"Stop trying to make 'fetch' happen"