We anchored this quarter on a complete overhaul of the reader-facing My Account experience (one of the most-requested improvements in Newspack’s history) alongside a new tool that nudges readers to subscribe before they hit a content gate. Here are five of our favorite product updates from Q1.
1. Subscribers can now switch their own plan
Until now, a subscriber who wanted a different plan had limited options: contact your team and wait, or cancel and resubscribe.
We improved the reader experience with the new My Account subscription management flow. Subscribers can now upgrade, downgrade, or switch between subscription tiers directly from their account, meaning no emails, no support tickets, no friction. The checkout experience handles the transition cleanly, prorating the balance of the original subscription and providing clear confirmation so subscribers know exactly what they’re getting.
The result: fewer support requests for your team, and a better experience for the readers who are most invested in your work.
2. Recover a lapsed subscription without contacting support
A subscription doesn’t always end on purpose. Failed payments and expired cards are common, but until now, subscribers had no way to see the problem from inside My Account. There was no messaging, no obvious next step, just a lapsed subscription and a transactional email that was easy to miss.
Now, readers with a lapsed or unpaid subscription can renew, resubscribe, or pay a failed order directly from My Account instead of having to contact you.
3. Add and manage payment methods from My Account
In addition to managing their own subscriptions, your readers can manage their billing information directly from My Account. They can add new payment methods, update billing addresses, and delete saved cards (with a confirmation step to prevent accidental removal).
They’ll also see clear notifications if a saved payment method has expired or is invalid, so they can resolve issues before a payment fails. This means less churn and less time your team spends chasing down failed renewals.
4. A rebuilt My Account experience
We built these capabilities on top of a completely redesigned My Account interface. The previous experience was functional but was much more of an e-commerce-like experience, which was serviceable, but not built for how a subscriber interacts with a digital news outlet.
The new My Account features a custom page template, cleaner navigation, improved mobile layout, and better visibility into subscription details. It’s the kind of account experience that makes subscribing feel like a relationship rather than a transaction, and it’s the foundation on which the My Account experience is built.
5. Let readers know how many “free” articles they have left
If you use Newspack’s metered content gating, your readers now know how many free articles they have left before the paywall kicks in.
The new Countdown Banner appears at the bottom of metered content, showing readers exactly how many free articles they’ve read of their total monthly allowance, something like “3 of 10 free articles this month.” You can configure the message and subscribe button label, choose between light and dark styles, and connect directly to a subscription checkout URL.
It’s a low-pressure way to build awareness before readers hit a wall, and a natural on-ramp to a subscription conversation.
Looking ahead
Q1 was about the foundations that readers and publishers depend on every day. Q2 is where we start building on top of them.
We’re continuing work on a new access control and content-gating system that will be more flexible, more publisher-controlled, and significantly easier to manage. We’re also deep in development on AI-powered editorial tools designed to help your team work faster without compromising the editorial judgment that makes your coverage worth reading.
Read the product highlights from Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4, 2025, if you missed them.
