In 1999, MarketWise sprouted from a core principle that continues to guide its every decision: empowering investors with the respect and knowledge access they deserve. 

This belief in democratizing access to investing fuels MarketWise’s commitment to expanding their subscriber base across 12 primary customer-facing brands, including InvestorPlace, Stansberry Research, and TradeSmith. MarketWise offers nearly 200 products and serves a community of more than 16 million free and paid subscribers. The company provides high-quality insights, powerful analytical tools, and sophisticated software – all designed to equip investors with the resources they need to navigate the financial markets with confidence and unlock their full wealth-building potential.

A key element of MarketWise’s success is how it uses and regularly assesses its business tools. That process led to the recognition that it needed a new partner for fraud protection that could handle its scale and complex business needs. In 2024, MarketWise found that partner in Zuora.

Finding the right fit

MarketWise’s primary concern was detecting and preventing bad actors from using stolen card data on our website, explained Ryan Herzek, Director of Revenue Operations at MarketWise.

“We also aimed to identify, where possible, chargeback fraud based on consumer behavior, leveraging community data from other merchants,” he said. “Additionally, the enhanced approval (auth boost) tool was of significant interest. As our company scaled, we needed a proactive approach to protect both our customers and our business from fraudulent activities, including preventing chargebacks and reducing involuntary churn due to payment issues.”

MarketWise’s non-negotiables included:

• Ease of implementation: The solution needed to integrate seamlessly with its existing payment processing systems.
• Advanced AI and machine learning: MarketWise sought a solution that utilized cutting-edge technology to detect and prevent fraud effectively.
• Sufficient customization: It was crucial to have enough control to prevent false declines of good customers.
• Cost-effectiveness: The solution could not be cost-prohibitive.
• Reliable customer support: MarketWise needed dependable and responsive customer service to assist their team during and after implementation.

What prompted a shift? The company’s previous fraud protection solutions were too rules-based and rigid, Herzek said.

“They did not integrate well with our existing systems and failed to account for variables and data points relevant to subscription businesses,” he said. “These tools were primarily designed for physical products, which require different fraud prevention strategies. In our industry, instant decisions and the ability to adjust strategies to avoid impacting good revenue while blocking bad actors are critical.” 

Moreover, the community data from these previous tools was insufficient, and they provided little visibility into their “black box score” calculations, leading to a high rate of false declines, Herzek added.

MarketWise ultimately landed on Zuora Fraud Protection. It was the right choice for several reasons, including:

• Ease of integration: Zuora seamlessly integrated with MarketWise’s existing systems.
• Testing and benchmarking: Zuora allowed MarketWise to test and benchmark its solution before fully committing.
• Powered by Microsoft: The large base of community data on cards and devices provided by Microsoft was invaluable.
• Excellent customer service: The customer service during and after our testing phase was exceptional, a stark contrast to MarketWise’s previous provider.

Zuora partnered with FiveBy to get MarketWise live — a rapid and smooth experience, Herzek said.

“FiveBy provided actionable recommendations that made our rules more targeted and effective,” he said. “We greatly appreciated the support from both Zuora and FiveBy during this process.”

The results

After five months of working with Zuora Fraud Protection, MarketWise saw striking results.

“Since implementing Zuora Fraud Protection, along with other mitigation tools, we’ve seen a significant improvement in our dispute and chargeback metrics,” Herzek said. “Comparing the same months of the current year to the previous year, we experienced a 37% reduction in disputes and chargebacks. This improvement highlights the effectiveness of our comprehensive fraud prevention strategy and our dedication to maintaining a healthy payments ecosystem for our subscribers.”

MarketWise is “very happy” with these results, Herzek said.

“Zuora Fraud Protection has been a crucial part of our overall strategy, alongside other tools like RDR and CDRN, helping us achieve the healthiest state in our payments ecosystem in years, with improved authorization rates and lower chargebacks,” he said.

What’s next for MarketWise? Working with Zuora more.

“We are focusing on orchestrating payments across multiple processors for strategic purposes such as cost control and authorization rate optimization,” Herzek said. “Zuora is developing a tool for payment orchestration, which we believe will help us recover lost revenue from subscription declines and further enhance our payment processing capabilities.”