NEW DATA: How Subscription Commerce Top Performers Reduce Signup Friction

The results are in.

Merchants in the subscription video on demand/over the top (SVOD/OTT) market continue to dominate the Subscription Commerce Conversion Index. Based on PYMNTS’ findings, the average score for SVOD/OTT businesses is 65.5 out of 100, beating out the average Index score of 63.2. Not only that, but PYMNTS found 15 percent of all surveyed SVOD/OTT merchants ranked among the top 20 performers in the subscription commerce industry.

But while SVOD/OTT merchants are shining, other merchant sectors continue to struggle. Lagging notably behind are consulting and financial services, which came in last again with an average score of 53.3. However, PYMNTS also found that SVOD/OTT merchants have room for improvement. Overall, SVOD/OTT merchants performed worse in the categories of product ratings and rewards. In terms of messaging, consulting and financial services merchants slightly outperformed SVOD/OTT merchants.

The brand new Subscription Commerce Conversion Index, a Recurly collaboration, includes over 300 data points that are based on the websites of 178 merchants. This edition of the Index looks at the performances of the 20 top, middle and bottom performers in the subscription industry to understand what merchants at each level are getting right and where they need to improve.

Here are some key data points from the latest edition of the Subscription Commerce Conversion Index, based on the most recent quarter:

Share of surveyed merchants offering messaging capabilities rose to 94.8 percent

Average subscription time dropped by 7.4 seconds

100 percent of SVOD/OTT merchants implemented passwords for their services

Only 42.1 percent of consulting and financial services merchants offer plan options

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About the Index

The Subscription Commerce Conversion Index, a Recurly collaboration, measures frictions that exist in the digital shopping experience for subscription services and products, and how they affect the final conversion rates for a merchant. This index analyzes why certain websites are better at converting sales than others by examining several pre-payment factors that generate either friction or sales.