My guess, which has already been alluded to by you and other posters, is that students are using this for a specific project and when that’s over, they don’t need it anymore. That’s the beauty (to consumers) of SaaS products. I subscribe and cancel in a month for SaaS products frequently when I have a one-time need.

I would do two things:

(1) Start some experiments where you offer people something to those cancelling. Maybe it’s a free month of premium, or maybe it’s something like they get a month (or some months) of premium if they refer someone else who signs up. Do a bunch of A/B tests and see the impacts those have on MRR and renewal rates.

(2) You’re successful with students and getting traction there - that’s excellent! However, students are only one potential customer segment. I would really brainstorm and see how I could target people who perpetually need.

For example, I’d think that certain researchers, scientists, and doctors would ideally like a constant feed of new research pertaining to their field. You could probably add a feature for them (if you don’t have it), where they save a search term, and anytime new research related to that subject happens, your product does its thing and lets the customer know.

I think by staying with just one segment, you’re always going to have this issue (especially with students who are cash-strapped/conscious).

Find other segments (target markets) that:

• aren’t as cash strapped (if people do it as a part of their profession, they’ll probably have work pay for it)
• perpetually need research
• are slammed for time

Don’t give up on students, but expand your use cases and target market to new segments.

I’m forced to use Confluence at work and hate it. I’d much rather use a Google Doc or Word.

It frequently overwrites my work with others concurrently making changes and it’s WYSIWYG changes from what I see while I’m working vs after I save (usually the format saves wrong).