Media and publishing companies go all out to increase their digital subscriptions. However, many face the challenge of finding a working paywall model that effectively converts lurkers into paying subscribers. Handing out a couple of free articles per month results in low conversion rates and content devaluation. Fortunately, there is an alternative...
How Can You Improve on a Regular Paywall Approach?
Information is key. You want to know who is reading what, and if possible, even why someone is reading something. This might sound impossible, but there is software available that can leverage machine learning to gain insights from the collected data. And just like that, you can find the factors that drive readers to become subscribers, as well as identify the subscribers that are at risk of churning.
A CDP (Customer Data Platform), such as BlueConic, provides all the tools to enhance your paywall strategy. It all comes down to these four crucial steps:
1. Use a CDP to Create Customer Profiles
Let's start with the first step to improve your paywall strategy: implement a powerful CDP. A CDP gives you the amazing opportunity to build comprehensive customer profiles that go beyond basic demographic information.
Start identifying and integrating various data sources, such as browsing behavior, reading preferences, and subscription history, to gain a thorough understanding of your readers. And by collecting all this data, you can turn your readers into profiles within your CDP.
With these profiles, you can segment your audience based on specific characteristics, interests, or behaviors, allowing you to deliver more targeted and personalized experiences. You can even expand your segments via look-alike modeling.
2. Personalize Content and Offerings
As soon as you have your profiles and segments in your CDP, you can personalize your content and offerings based on the unique interests and preferences of individual readers.
Leverage all the insights you have gained from customer profiles and serve them relevant content that resonates. Whether it's recommending articles based on their reading history, suggesting related content, or providing tailored subscription offers, personalization truly is the key to capturing and retaining readers' attention.
By tapping into 1st and 2nd party data, you can establish an even better connection with your audience and enhance their overall experience.
3. Optimizing Paywall Strategies
Timing and placement are everything when you implement paywalls. Let your CDP analyze reader behavior and engagement patterns so you can identify the optimal moments to present paywalls.
Let's say one of your readers consistently engages with a specific topic or reaches a certain threshold of article views; it might be a great time to introduce a subscription offer. A well-timed paywall is well-integrated into the reader's journey without interrupting it.
BlueConic provides the tools to implement and manage paywalls effectively, ensuring a positive and frictionless transition for readers.
4. Fine-Tune With the Help of Real-Time Analytics
A CDP is a powerful tool with the ability to access real-time analytics and insights. This allows you to continuously monitor and analyze the performance of your paywall strategies, engagement levels, and reader behavior.
By using analytics dashboards and reporting tools, you can identify trends, measure conversion rates, and fine-tune your approach accordingly. This includes refining your paywall strategy to ensure the best reader experience, and hopefully leading to an increase of subscribers.
On Your Way to Great Results
If you follow these four steps, great results will follow quickly. With a CDP, you can leverage technology and data to provide a personalized, engaging, and seamless experience for your readers. BlueConic gives you all the tools you need to enhance your paywall strategy, capture audience attention, and drive subscription growth.
Don't know where to start? Feel free to contact me. I will happily answer all your questions and get you started.
