NYT halves its free monthly articles to 5. The most significant paywall change since 2012.

Any ad revenue declines that result from fewer page views are likely to pale in comparison to the revenue gains from new subscribers. Their bet is that creating a controlled targeted sampling experience will improve subscription acquisition conversion rates. My experience from conducting similar experiments at the Financial Times is that it will.

http://www.niemanlab.org/2017/12/the-new-york-times-has-halved-its-free-monthly-articles-to-5-its-most-significant-paywall-change-since-2012/

Did we resolve your problem?

The New York Times has set up what it calls a “learning lab” where six customer service execs sit in a dedicated space in marketing, and experiment with ways to improve customer service and roll them out across the subscriber base.  This retention focus is leading to better integration and innovation in customer service.

Two key things I've learnt from managing marketing and customer services teams are
1) customer service teams must have access to a single view of the customer, and the data and insights that the marketing team has. You don't want your customer -facing teams to start out on the back foot when customers call in with queries or complaints.  As the first line contact you want them to be able to engage with customers, and provide recommendations and advice that are customised to the individual’s buying preferences rather than generic advice. And it's also important for customer feedback to flow back into the organisation in a structured format so that it can be used to drive product innovation or enhance the user experience.  

And 2) if your organisation collects too many customer service metrics, you won't be able to see the wood for the trees;
I came across this article here which lists the top twenty five customer service metrics a company should care about. In my experience that's just too many data points to monitor on regular basis and it's better to focus on a few KPIs that you can really dig into and use the insights to improve business performance. 

For singlemindedness and focus I like this one from Amazon.The key metric Amazon customer service teams are measured on is Negative Response Rate to the question: Did we resolve your problem?  

That’s it. Power to the customer.

Are your payment solutions optimised for millennial customers?

It surprises me how few businesses that generate revenue from recurring payments are offering e-wallet payment solutions. We all know that millennials’ shopping journey involves multiple devices so it’s key to optimise your website, and payment process, for web, mobile and tablet.  

Millennials' use of mobile means eWallets payment solutions should definitely be included.  Offering payment options such as Paypal or Apple Pay for small recurring purchases or paid trials are important to include alongside established payment options such as credit cards and bank transfers like direct debit.

When it comes to subscriptions, one publisher I spoke told me that 30% of paid triallists used PayPal.

In North America, Apple Pay is already the most popular alternative payment method in terms of retail acceptance. According to research from Boston Retail Partners, the service was accepted by 36 percent of North American retailers by December 2016, with another 22 percent saying they plan to accept it within the next 12 months.

If you are working on your product development roadmap you'd be wise to consider  e-Wallet payments with Apple Pay or Paypal being the most popular.

Here’s an infographic showing % of retailers in North America that accept alternative payments such as Apple Pay. 

https://www.statista.com/chart/11576/retail-acceptance-of-digital-payment-services/

As more and more customers embrace subscriptions for services and products that are one-time purchases today, we’ll see most spending take place with regular vendors on a recurring basis.  In summary this means:

• Recurring pull payment methods will continue to gain market share

• Simpler consistent user experience will yield higher conversion rates than fragmented journeys

• Credit cards will remain popular and major eWallets will gain ground

• Bank Transfers will continue to rule in certain regions but global standards around authentication and guarantees are needed for it to gain more acceptance.