There are two no ways about it, voice assistant platforms such as Alexa and Google Home as well as the use of chatbots to deliver personalised newsfeeds are revolutionary, groundbreaking methods that publishers alike are dipping their toes into. While adopting new technologies are exciting and certainly worth exploring for the future, it is vital to stay grounded and look at the now. What technologies are publishers currently being using that actually drive revenue?

When industry executives were scrutinised and asked which technologies drove the most revenue for their organisations in 2017, it was reported that it wasn't the shiny new technologies that won out. On the contrary, it was found that it is the tried and tested solutions that have been delivering for publishers for years that delivered the most revenue. The front-winner: email marketing.

In fact, a whopping 34% of publishers showed that a substantial chunk of last years revenue was a result of email marketing campaigns. Email is especially valuable to publishers because of the fact the user's email address has become a direct line of communication to users and a unique identifier for their online behaviour. It becomes the way to track reader behaviour across platforms and using those insights; user profiles can be built making it easier to deliver personalised content; leading to a higher subscription rate.

An example of this is changes made recently within The New York Times. By mapping its consumer data and adding new relevant content verticals such as “Cooking” and “Trump’s Agenda.” As a result, these new additions have seen the number of newsletter subscribers to over 13 million.

Although most newsletter subscriptions are free, the value of converting unknown site visitors its worth its weight in gold. You can start to understand the behaviour of your audience once they become known to you and you can begin to nurture them towards becoming a paid subscription.

Email is becoming publishers primary tool and the most valuable tool to move users down a conversion funnel. New features like personalisation and interactive content make this process incredibly simple and are helping publishers alike capture higher user engagement and conversion through the medium.

Written by Ellen Harvey, 28 September 2017, published on pubexec.com. Read the full article here.