Hugo MarinChief Product Officer · Essays & perspective

Hugo Marin / Chief Product Officer

Three arguments about what a subscription should let its customers see

Perspectives from a life in leadership.

The latest essay

Subscription design and pricing5 min read

Show the listener the meter you are already running

Any subscription whose costs rise with use already meters its customers, usually in a spreadsheet they never see. Audio services should sell visible bands of listening and price unlimited honestly, rather than hiding a limit inside a fair-use clause.

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The archive.

Subscription design and pricing

  1. Subscription design and pricing5 min read

    Show the listener the meter you are already running

    Any subscription whose costs rise with use already meters its customers, usually in a spreadsheet they never see. Audio services should sell visible bands of listening and price unlimited honestly, rather than hiding a limit inside a fair-use clause.

    Open essay

Recommendation and editorial obligations

  1. Recommendation and editorial obligations5 min read

    Give every row on the home screen an owner the listener can name

    Recommendation teams are often asked to meet commercial and cultural commitments by adding weights to a ranking model. Each obligation should instead have its own labelled, capped place on the screen, so that listeners and boards can see who decided what.

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Accessibility and older audiences

  1. Accessibility and older audiences5 min read

    Give older listeners a second front door

    Universal design is the right starting point for any consumer app, but it is not enough for a service with a large audience over seventy. Those customers should be offered a deliberately reduced way into the same service, which they choose and can leave, beside a main app that is accessible in full.

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