Retaining subscribers–less (and more substantial) is best

There is no magic formula for making sure that those subscribers who take their credit card out and pay for an initial subscription with a publication, will stay subscribed.

I sit in meetings almost weekly where a publisher of a newspaper leads the charge to get into the details of how subscribers behave when it comes time to renew subscriptions.

That is why this piece has been so instructive, not because if offers anything much new, but because it validates two main centerpieces of what I have learned and observed first hand when it comes to the type of content that will make subscribers stay with your newspaper:

Consistent and comprehensive coverage of routine local stories will make those subscribers return. Why? Because local coverage is what your readers crave, what is essential in their daily lives, and what they are not likely to get elsewhere. Local, local, local!
Newsletters and other engagement by email is a sure way to keep your content highlighted and in front of the readers. Well organized newsletters that curate content are the key.
Investigative reports tied to local content are also a way of distinguishing your newspaper from the competition, and it is premium content like this that engages readers and inspires them to pay again.

Less is best! Amen!

The piece above highlights a Northwestern study on digital newspaper subscriptions which showed that “less can be more,” that”more attention to a tight curation of your best and most relevant work is more important than flooding readers with as large a volume as possible of local content.”

This is where content managers come in. Every newsroom is going to have 5-6 stories daily that require constant updating, different treatments across platforms and perhaps how such stories flow is the key to making sure that the reader who depends on the information is never let down for lack of actualization of the content.

So, indeed, there are tips on how to retain subscribers. It is not necessarily easy, but there are steps that can be taken to achieve it.

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