User Experience

Some experts would say that user experience is arguably one of the most important factors to converting anonymous users onto paying subscribers, and to be honest, it would be very difficult to argue this sentiment. User experience is the front line, and therefore needs to be gripping, and exciting enough to make sure that first time users feel the need to stay onto your site.

This blog will look at how and why user experience is so vital, and also the steps you can follow in order to make your user experience as great as possible.

Gaining Trust

In order to successfully convert a user into a paying subscriber, you must ultimately first begin by gaining their trust. This is done a multitude of different ways, such as offering reliable, fact checked content, offering stimulating content, and making the overall user experience as personal as possible. The personalisation strategy that you have in place is very important. developing relationships with audiences and catering for customer needs is a good blueprint to have and consider when doing this, with the main reason being the flexibility it offers when personalising to individual readers. read more on the benefits of subscriptions here

How to increase user experience

Now to delve deeper to ways that publishers can increase their user experience, and in turn convert more readers into paying subscribers.

1) Analyse your audience

Research shows that somewhere between 57 and 98 % of visitors on websites are unknown. When monetising your content it’s important to identify user types in particular, anonymous versus registered users. This is so you are able to engage and target users by audience type. A good place to start looking is third party data and cookies. Cookies are fantastic, as it almost shows a trail of crumbs of where that user has been and what they like to search for, as well as their demographics. With cookies and third party data, this will enable you to see what type of content said user reads and accesses most frequently, giving you a vast array of ideas and tips to successfully personalise content for them  to a high degree.

2) Agree on content for audience groups

The one-size fits all rule doesn't work.  As an anonymous user, the same thing that two people may have in common is that they're both female for example. Shops have more than one choice when it comes to clothes and sandwiches, and the same should be applied online. This should also be done for anonymous users, as we won't know until they hand over valuable data who they are or what kind of content they like to read.

3) Focus on quality content

Content marketing is pushing brands to become publishers in their own right so, and in such a competitive environment,  it's paramount that publishers up their game. A commitment to high quality editorial and focusing on emerging niches will help increase traffic, and ultimately offer a greater audience to potentially monetise. Therefore content has to be top notch and not just repetitive. One The Times of London has noticed this, and as a result decided to pivot away from breaking news, and just focus on quality driven articles that readers will want to read. Read more about this strategy here .