One of the biggest challenges was nudging users that had clicked through to an article on a Facebook post into completing their sign-ups. Thats where the most drop-offs would occur. Reducing the number of fields they had to complete for free access helped. Requests for phone number and location, which the publisher could infer from IP addresses, were therefore dropped.
Those who registered automatically received the Times daily email newsletter, which features editorially curated highlights from that days editions. The email was particularly useful in driving people to their second free-access article.
Users didnt respond well to the use of loud colors and aggressively worded messages in overly prominent places, so the Times adjusted accordingly. Those who returned a third time were sent more urgent prompts to subscribe, including a full-page message informing them that their free access had ended and that to see the article they had clicked on, they would need to subscribe.
The Times is considering making video available to non-subscribers, Petrie said. That said, the publisher wont succumb to the scale trap anytime soon.
There comes a point when you stop looking at the big reach figure and only care for the conversions. The target is making a channel that drives weekly subscription acquisitions, Duncan said. A lot of our targets will be around the efficiencies and sophistication of how we tell when people are ready [to convert].
Written by Jessica Davies, 21 June, 2017, published on digiday.com. Read the full article here
