The Audiencers is a B2B publication by Poool (a membership and subscription tech platform). Armed with a rich data set of statistics from its users, our Podcast of the Week sees The Audiencers Editor-in-Chief, Madeleine White, discuss some of the very latest subscriber trends. TL;DR: If you’re not using a registration wall, you’re missing an easy win.
A number of audience management platforms publish blogs that make for insightful reading for any media exec serious about furthering his/her expertise on subscriptions – here’s looking at you Zuora, Piano, Twipe, Sophi, et al.
Poool, however, has taken things one step further and launched its own dedicated insights publication, The Audiencers. Based out of Bordeaux, but international in scope, the publication covers the myriad of ways publishers can convert, engage and retain readers. There’s no cotton candy either – the insights are mined from Poool’s rich vein of data taken from across its client base. In short, hard facts.
In this episode for Journalism.co.uk’s podcast, Madeleine talks about some of the latest engagement and subscriber trends. And, if you have five minutes to spare, henna art. In fact, it’s less of a side offering and more of a long entree so if you’re time poor, we’d recommend jumping in on the 10 minute mark!
Critical Timestamps
11.00 – Newsletter Wall: “We offer one article for free, but for the second article a reader needs to fill out their details and subscribe to our newsletter. We did test blocking the first article but conversion rates were lower – you have to allow readers to engage with your content first. Our newsletter wall conversion rates are 25%.”
13.00 – Paywall blindness: “We regularly change the newsletter wall design, and every time we have done so we have seen a significant uplift in conversions. It’s done to counteract ‘paywall blindness’. Many publishers are now starting to counter paywall blindness with regular updates of their paywall designs for festive holidays, local elections, Black Friday, national events, etc. It works.”
15.00 Face time: “By putting a face alongside the request to sign up to our newsletter wall, it brings a human touch to our publication, makes it more relatable. My face is on the English newsletter wall, my colleague Marion is on the French wall. This small change alone boosted our conversion rate up to 60% on certain days, 30% average.”
21.00 Journal du dimanche: “This French newspaper integrated payment directly into the paywall itself, encouraging impulse purchases to read the premium articles immediately. It was a temporary wall, with a countdown clock, and it increased conversion rates by 40% – hugely significant.”
24.00 Registration: “Many publishers still don’t use registration walls, and we really encourage them to do so – registration walls convert anonymous visitors to known visitors and this increases subscriptions, ad revenue, frequency of visits, etc. It’s a key stepping stone from a no user revenue model to a full subscription offering.”
Listen to the full podcast below,:
