A primer on targeting
There is a lot of low-hanging fruit available in building your paid subscriptions and most of it has to do with targeting. You have two types of readers: casual and paid. You want them both to do different things. It only makes sense to speak to them separately.
This episode of the Paywall Podcast, Easy ways to level up your website to build paid subscriptions – Part 2, walks you through the basics of the different ways to reach out to your different types of subscribers and what to say to them.
The Highlights
- Be sure to promote your own paid subscriptions on your site.
- Generally, the value of a paid subscriber far outweighs the revenue from an ad. Use your banner ads, side bars, or use the Ad Dropper add-on to place subscription ads in your content.
- The Conditional Display Notice allows you to customize a header bar with the messaging of your choice.
- Use the targeting functions of Ad Dropper and the Conditional Display Notice to target your ad copy based on the type of subscriber.
- Messaging for casual readers or logged-in free-level subscribers should promote the paid subscriptions.
- Messaging for current paid subscribers should encourage gift subscriptions or friend referrals. (Based on print statistics, gift subscriptions should really constitute about 20% of your subscribers.)
- Both messages — for paid or gift subscriptions — should offer a coupon code for a limited-time discount on the purchase.
- Pro-Tip: Coupons should always, always be time-limited. It creates the sense of urgency that encourages actions.
- Sneak Peek: coming soon, Subscriber Pop-ups, complete with targeting, customizable content, pre-scheduling, and much more.
- You can also target your messaging via email. Most email services, including MailChimp, allow for audience segments.
- Send a coupon code for paid subscriptions to all the email addresses your free registration level has captured. It’s a low effort for a high reward. Ditto for current subscribers and gift subscriptions.
- On social media, you can experiment with the existing paid targeting options. Aim for casual readers who may register for the free level.
- Use the push notifications for your app to send out the same messaging, either manually or automatically, based on reader category.
Did you miss an episode?
Our past episodes answer common publisher questions, provide explanations on making the most of your paywall, show off how other unique publishers have found success, profile the growth of a successful publication, and provide a wealth of tactics for growing your subscriptions:
- Why have a paywall?
- How to set up your paywall to convert more paying subscribers,
- 6 examples of successful publication & product launches,
- An interview with Street Photography Magazine,
- How to generate more paid subscriptions with promotions,
- An interview with Greg Wolfe on magazine renewals and gift subscription strategies,
- An interview with Todd Moen of Catch Magazine,
- Local news publishers: subscriptions v. memberships v. donations,
- Exciting things we’ve been working on,
- An interview with Wally Wallace of 50Fish on social media,
- Paid subscriptions and virtual conferences with Hal Niedzviecki of Broken Pencil Magazine,
- An interview with Greg Grisolano of Land Line Media,
- Easy ways to level up your website to build paid subscriptions – Part 1: Touchpoints.
Stay tuned for the next episode of the Paywall Podcast, available on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, and Pandora.
