A subscription and circulation bureau that knows publishing

Running subscriptions properly is a lot of small jobs that never stop. New orders, renewal notices, failed direct debits, a reader who's moved office, a box of returned copies from the mailing house, a printer wanting the file by Thursday. None of it is hard on its own. All of it together eats a team alive.

That's what our bureau does. We've run subscriptions and circulation for publishers for decades, first at the big bureaux (WDIS, CDS Global, Optima, Datateam) and now at Adept. You keep the relationship with your readers. We do the work behind it.

Orders and payments

Every order gets into the system correctly the first time, wherever it came from: your website, a phone call, an email, a renewal form in the post, or an agency. We record the offer, the source and the price paid, so you can see later which campaigns actually brought people in.

We take payments by card, direct debit, invoice and cheque, and keep them reconciled against the subscriptions they paid for. Direct debits are collected on schedule, and when one fails we chase it rather than letting the subscriber quietly lapse. Invoices for company subscribers go out with the right VAT and the right purchase order number, which saves a surprising number of phone calls.

Renewals that actually get sent

Renewals are where most of a publisher's subscription income comes from, and they're the first thing to slip when a team is busy. We run your renewal series on time: notices by email and post, reminders, a last-chance letter and, where you want it, a lapsed-reader offer a few months later.

Continuous payers renew automatically, and the notices they get are the polite "here's what's coming" kind. If you want to test a different price or a different letter, we can split the run and show you which did better. There's more on how we think about this in building a renewal series that works, and the software side is on the Avio renewals and Adeptis subscriptions and renewals pages.

Customer service your readers will notice

Readers call and email about the things that matter to them: a missing copy, a change of address, a question about their invoice, a cancellation. Our team answers in your name, sorts it out, and records what happened against their record, so whoever picks it up next can see the history.

Address changes go straight onto the file so the next issue goes to the right place. Missed copies get logged and re-sent. Complaints come to you if they need your decision, not before.

Gone-aways and data cleaning

Copies come back. People leave jobs, offices move, buildings close. Each returned copy is a reader you're paying to post to who isn't getting the magazine. We log gone-aways as they arrive, try to trace the reader or their replacement, and suppress the address until it's fixed. Our gone-aways and why they cost you post explains why this matters more than it looks.

Behind that is the ongoing data work. Simon, our Data & Audit Specialist, runs regular checks for duplicates, incomplete addresses and job titles that don't fit your terms of control, and merges or corrects records with a clear note of what changed. It's dull work. It's also the reason your circulation figures hold up when someone checks them.

Mailing files for printers and mailing houses

Before each issue we produce the mailing file: who gets a copy, in what format, sorted the way your printer or mailing house needs it, with the counts by country, product and postage band. We send it securely, keep a copy of exactly what was sent, and record the issue against each subscriber's record. If the mailing house wants a different layout, we change it.

The same goes for digital-only subscribers, who need an email and a working link rather than a label. If you'd like us to produce the digital edition itself, see digital editions.

Controlled circulation done properly

Plenty of B2B titles are free to qualified readers. That means asking the right questions, recording the answers and the date, and requalifying people before their answers go stale. We run the qualification forms and the requalification campaigns, keep the demographic data tidy, and make sure every record has the evidence an auditor will want to see.

Records that are ready for an audit

Because everything is recorded as we go (source, date, payment, qualification, address changes, gone-aways), your records are in good shape when the audit comes round. When it does, Simon prepares the figures and the supporting evidence. Our ABC and BPA audit preparation page covers that in detail.

GDPR and your readers' data

We act as your data processor under a written agreement. Your readers' data sits in our own systems, with two-factor sign-in, permissions by role and a log of who changed what. Marketing preferences are recorded with the date and source, and we honour opt-outs and erasure requests promptly. If a reader asks what you hold on them, we can pull it together for you.

The people doing the work

You'll deal with people who've been doing this a long time. Julie, our Circulation & Marketing Specialist, has worked in circulation and marketing at Wilmington, VNU, Datateam and Quantum Publishing. Simon looks after the data and the audits. Kevin, our Systems Manager, has worked on bureau systems at CDS Global, Abacus e-media, WDIS and AI Bureau. Rob, who founded Adept, came up through WDIS, Optima and CDS Global. You can meet the team.

Our own software underneath

The bureau runs on Avio and Adeptis, which our in-house UK development team builds. That matters more than it sounds. If you need a new report, a different renewal rule or a new mailing file layout, we don't raise a ticket with a supplier and wait. We change it.

It also means you can have your own logins to see your subscribers, dashboards and reports whenever you like. And if you'd rather bring the work in-house one day, you can carry on using the same software with your data already in it. Not sure which product suits your size? Avio or Adeptis explains the difference.

Questions