Value & Simplicity
Publishers focus their efforts on crafting valuable content for their target audiences. That’s their main purpose.
But the revenue comes from making sure that people are seeing and paying for that content.
Making your content easy to access gives readers more reasons to subscribe. Making the subscription process frictionless increases the likelihood that they’ll do so.
Facilitating subscriptions is why Leaky Paywall is designed to easily integrate with third party services.
The Delaware Business Times is taking full advantage of Leaky Paywall’s flexibility. They couldn’t be more pleased with the results.
Of their experience with Leaky Paywall, Director of Digital Strategies Greg Mathias says,
“We’ve had way more digital subscriptions than we’ve ever had.”
Super Premium Content
The first integration that ZEEN101 put in place for Delaware Business Times was to provide a marketplace for their Book of Lists.
Many publishers—especially those with strong geographical ties—have begun to curate and publish a collection of top leaders or service providers in that area. Depending on the publication’s particular focus it might be anything from a list of the best local doctors and dentists to real estate agents or restaurants.
Delaware Business Times has put together a Book of Lists on local industry leaders in a wide variety of fields from camps to contractors.
It’s basically a super premium subscription level, available either digitally or in print.
They, like many other publications have turned to the expertise of a company called Data Joe.
Data Joe specializes in online lists and directories, chipping in at any stage along the way: from research to software to commerce.
ZEEN101 was able to integrate Data Joe’s product into the existing subscription levels already managed through Leaky Paywall.
It’s basically another collection of valuable content, another revenue stream, provided for the subscriber without requiring extra effort.
An Easy Subscription Process
In fact, Leaky Paywall is great at greasing the subscription wheels. The smoother the subscription process, the less resistance readers have to becoming paid subscribers.
And Fortunately, the Delaware Business Times’ experience proves that, even with multiple media, multiple products, and multiple subscription levels, the process can be simple for you and your readers.
They start by offering two free articles a month. When those articles have been expended, readers are gently offered a choice: providing an email address for two more or subscribing for unlimited access.
(Similar incentives are offered at key decision points, such as the end of each article.
Even if readers don’t subscribe right away, collecting their email address is a great start. An email list is crucial to a digital sales funnel. It starts a relationship with the reader that is ten times more likely to end in a paid subscription.)
If readers forget that they’ve run out the meter, they are treated to a reminder: a blurred out teaser of their next chosen article and a prompt to subscribe, with a good deal to sweeten the pot.
If they choose to subscribe, they are treated to a set of subscription cards that clearly lay out the benefits of each subscription level. Delaware Business Times offers a mix’n’match of print and digital options.
Once a subscription level is chosen, readers are taken to a single payment and registration page.
What they may not notice is that this page actually connects them to Delaware Business Times’ external fulfillment partner, Publisher’s Creative Systems (PCS).
PCS already holds and manages the database and archive of print subscribers. Adding a separate database for digital subscribers in Leaky Paywall would have been needlessly complicated for the publisher.
Instead, new subscribers of any kind are added to the PCS database. When a reader logs in, Leaky Paywall simply queries PCS to see if that particular reader has level access to the content in question.
This integration allows Leaky Paywall to serve as gateway to PCS’s ‘source of truth’, rather than running a second database.
(The integration also allows Delaware Business Times to easily create their mixed media subscription levels with all of the various products that PCS manages for them.)
Once the reader has entered their payment through the PCS page, they are sent to a thank you page that confirms their information and links them to the next step.
That next step is a simple registration back with Delaware Business Times itself, completing the setup of your profile.
The whole process is remarkably seamless for the reader. They are gently ushered from sampling your content all the way to becoming a dedicated subscriber in a few easy steps.
Happy Readers, Happy Publishers
Delaware Business Times has made the most of its tools to increase their digital subscriptions and revenue. They’re offering valuable content, building their email list, and streamlining their subscription process. And, as their own Digital Strategies Director stated, they have seen the results.
Want to see how Leaky Paywall can help you increase your paid subscriptions? Let’s chat.
