The VIP Loyalty Strategy That Works, and Why Your Subscription Might Be Illegal

Let’s be real. Subscriptions aren’t just about shaving kits and snack boxes anymore. The Shopify brands that are winning are the ones treating subscriptions like a long-term relationship, not a quick sale. In this episode, I chat with Adam Levinter, author of The Subscription Boom and winner of the 2025 Subscription Impact Award, to unpack what’s working in subscription commerce right now... and what might get you slapped with an FTC fine. We’re talking about the $1 trillion subscription economy, why your cancellation flow could be a legal landmine, and how to create loyalty programs that don’t suck. If you’re running a Shopify store and want to scale smarter, retain longer, and sleep better at night, this one’s a must-listen.

Key Take-aways

• The subscription economy is projected to hit $1 trillion by 2028. Shopify brands should absolutely care
• The FTC's Click-to-Cancel ruling is already live. If your cancellation flow is confusing, you're at risk
• Paid VIP memberships outperform free loyalty programs in retention and revenue
• Most subscription churn happens early. Your onboarding game needs to be tight
• Referral strategies are massively underutilized by Shopify brands
• Voluntary churn and payment failure churn are two different beasts. Treat them accordingly
• Amazon is no longer the enemy of DTC. It’s a smart secondary channel for Shopify growth
• If you're afraid to email your subscribers, your offer isn’t valuable enough

🫶 Please support the amazing sponsors that make this show possible 🫶

Omnisend - I personally use Omnisend for every Shopify store I manage! I’ve tried them all and Omnisend is hands down the easiest way to set up email and sms automations and campaigns, leverage segmentation to personalize them, and A/B test everything to optimize conversion. The push notifications and gamified email collection tools are just the icing on the cake 🤌

(plus most report paying about half the price of Klaviyo 🤫)

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Bold Commerce - Maximize your Shopify sales with Bold's suite of powerful apps. From AI Upselling, to powerful Subscriptions, Memberships, and VIP Pricing tools, Bold has everything you need to Maximize your Shopify revenue!

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Resources & Links Mentioned in the Show

• Adam Levinter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-j-levinter-sbase/ 
•  Scriberbase (Subscription Consulting): https://www.scriberbase.com
•  Axis Brands Group (Shopify and Amazon Growth): https://www.axisbrandsgroup.com
•  SubSummit Conference: https://subsummit.com 
•  The Subscription Boom (book): https://a.co/d/8IGyh9A 
•  SKOOL - Subscription Scale Course: https://www.skool.com
•  Bold Subscriptions App: https://www.boldcommerce.com/subscriptions
•  Judge.me Reviews: https://judge.me
•  Gorgias Helpdesk: https://www.gorgias.com
•  Liquid Death (case study example): https://liquiddeath.com