Why should publishers focus on the anonymous users of their website?

On average, 97-98% of visitors to a website are anonymous. These are all visitors who haven't created an account or provided an email address for a subscription. These anonymous visitors could be both new and returning customers who haven't made a decision to sign up for your services yet. This implies that the only information you have about this site visitor is the pages they have visited on your website. These anonymous visitors are a problem for many businesses because it is difficult to determine whether they are qualified leads or not, let alone whether they can be converted into registered users or subscribers. 

Due to the enormous potential of anonymous users, publishers investigate anonymous user monitoring. Given how many of them visit a website, learning even a little bit about each of them might be tremendously illuminating. There is also a lot of potential to provide them with a more individualised experience if they are correctly viewed as individuals rather than a portion of visitors. As a result, they have a more positive customer experience that fosters trust. Their loyalty increases as a result of this, and they begin to feel that you are still providing them with value. They feel obligated to sign up at this stage, making them more qualified leads.

Knowing this offers the value of anonymous users a completely different perspective. This step in the subscription funnel might really be regarded as one of the most crucial ones since it is where the bulk of devoted viewers begin. In fact, a continuous flow of anonymous users who later convert into regular subscribers is necessary for a subscription funnel to be successful and long-lasting. If churned users weren't replaced, subscription income would gradually decline in the absence of these crucial interactions.

In order to prevent you from losing out on additional revenue, we'll explain three methods you may use to improve the value for visitors who browse your site anonymously. Making the most of these first encounters can be the secret to maintaining a profitable subscription business.

Audience segmentation

You have a wealth of passive behavioural data available to you, even for anonymous users, that may be leveraged to develop audience groups. This could include information about the visitor's device, referral source, browser, actions they take once they reach the website, and more.

For instance, you may be aware that a user reads articles from your homepage on a tablet at lunch, or only access URLs that have been shared on social media after office hours. Or they read a fresh sports story every day in the early morning. With the aid of this data, you can create user profiles and give the aforementioned user a special identity for cross-device identification. Once you've discovered certain trends or patterns, segmenting these profiles might help you target user groups with specialised engagement strategies with personalised engagement tactics.

Personalise the on-site experience

Personalising each user's experience on a publisher's website is a great step toward increasing engagement and brand loyalty. This presents a particular problem for anonymous readers because publishers are unaware of their preferences. Contextual information can be used to tailor their experience as a means to get around this issue.

Publishers can begin to develop a picture of where a user may be located, for instance, if they read an article on an event in a specific location. From there, the publisher can increase the likelihood of engagement by recommending articles that feature nearby locations in the "suggested reading" section.

Depending on the website they visit and the articles they read, this contextual data may also include information on the country they are in or their demographics. On the basis of the device being used to visit their site, publishers can even provide content recommendations. e.g. The publisher may display condensed versions of articles, videos, and mobile-friendly content if the anonymous visitor is using a mobile device. 

To lean more about audience segmentation and personalisation click here.  

From unknown to known, bridge the gap

You must present the chance now that you've given your anonymous user a motivation to reveal their identity. There are numerous methods for collecting emails, ranging from stealthy signup forms to startling pop-ups. If you provide them a fun experience, they'll happily sign up for more.

Better understanding users requires ongoing effort; it is not a one-time goal. Your audience uses a variety of devices, and over time, their choices change. Your goal is to create the most complete, up-to-date profile you can on every user, known or anonymous. 

The Welcome Series

The next step, known as the Welcome Series, begins when the user registers by providing the necessary data, including name, email address, and date of birth. Email plays a significant function in boosting connection and engagement with new users.

Designing a welcome series is one strategy to encourage new users to open emails and visit your website on a regular basis. A welcome series is a collection of emails sent over time to new subscribers. A welcome series' primary goal is to familiarise the new registered user with your business, establish rapport and trust, and begin establishing a long-term connection.

A welcome series doesn't have to be complicated; it might consist of just 3-5 emails distributed over a week or two. The secret is to focus on adding value to each email you send. An excellent welcome series will introduce the subscriber to various content kinds, including blog articles, infographics, videos, tutorials, etc.

At the end of the welcome series, a publisher might choose the opportunity to prompt a user to take the next step and become a paying subscriber.

Final Words 

In the end, anonymous users shouldn't only be considered a variable for which a business has no control. In truth, the hits and site visits represent a significant reservoir of potential. Many publishers struggle to even obtain visitors to their websites, much less keep them there long enough to browse. The time is now to gather all the information you can while these readers are on your website and take advantage of the chance to convert them. Being prepared to welcome the pool of prospective customers who have just entered your building will only boost your chances of increase earnings. 

About Evolok

Evolok helps online publishers increase their revenues and drive audience engagement using Evolok’s end-to-end SaaS solution, which provides paywalls, subscription management, user segmentation and identity management.  Evolok delivers a selective ecosystem to drive user engagement and mobilization. Evolok helps its clients increase readership and revenue by engaging and personalizing content, protecting valuable content through paywalls, utilizing login and social data to incrementally know customers and finally targeting products and pricing to boost subscriptions.

If you need any help with your subscription journey or you are thinking of migrating your publishing business to the subscription business model contact us today.