Publishers Making The Most Of Customer Engagement Data

Engagement is the leading approach to acquiring customers and then having the flexibility to monetise to them effectively. It is the frontline of any online monetisation strategy, and as a result of this, it must be a faultless process. So this in turn, presses the question, how critical is consumer engagement?

Why Is Engagement So Critical To An Organisation

Why do organisations need to engage with their user base?  Well, users are on the move, always connected, a sea of data is available to them, and the time to consume is limited therefore, content needs to be pertinent and engaging. 

Many publishers have been in the firing line recently on social platforms and blogs about the lack of engaging and quality content being produced. Publishers are worried about decreasing revenues and churn rates.

The focus needs to shift from eyeballs and ad revenue to engaging with users and driving registrations and conversions. This may also decrease the need for ad blockers! Profitable publishers monetising their content have identified audience parallels and taken users from an anonymous state and successfully managed to convert them.

Using The Evolok Identity Module To Understand Your Users

Evolok’s identity module allows organisations to understand their viewer’s identity and build a profile of the anonymous customers accessing online content. Having this data available provides detailed levels of insight about the user base in order to engage and accurately reach and convert desired segments.

Once key segments have been identified, content can be tailored to user preferences. Marketing tools and campaigns can be used to target key segments, emails, offers and newsletters all triggering meaningful behaviours.

This level of audience intelligence used correctly is very likely to result in revenue increase across web properties. Turning anonymous visitors into known, loyal viewers is expected to have an impact on not just ad revenue, but boost subscriptions.

Engagement is a gradual process and it’s important not to expedite the course in a rush to monetise, this could have a negative impact and put readers off. A level of trust and loyalty is commanded using a process.

Customers Are Engaged What Should Your Company Do Next

As a business, you have taken a leap of faith and you are identifying and personalising your readers. Your readers feel engaged and convert. What now?

As a publisher, a conversion alone does not equate to brand loyalty. If readers feel unsatisfied or disengaged at any point, they are not likely to renew. There needs to be several touch points with your users, at regular intervals and the engagement needs to remain consistent. Don’t overdo it as too many emails, offers and newsletters may deter interest and annoy readers.

The Financial Times has an interesting take on reducing churn. They have been hosting engagement events over the past year in London to build more direct relationships with customers. In the past year alone ten of these events have been staged. Has it worked? Well according to the publisher, the engagement scores of subscribers that have attended an event has spiked 300 per cent on average. The events have covered varying topics, such as Brexit, and they’re designed to enable subscribers to engage with journalists in real time on these topics. 

To conclude, engagement is paramount when it comes to conversion and instilling brand loyalty. Trust is a prerequisite in the publishing business, readers love to feel valued, and not disregarded once they commit to a registration or subscription.