Conversion funnel for the media: the ultimate guide for your subscription strategy
Find out what a conversion funnel is and how it can help media businesses come up with a strategy to convert readers to subscribers.
In recent years, digital subscriptions have posed a major challenge for the media. The vast majority have replanned their digital strategies and have added new roles to their teams, for example, specialists in business development, digital marketing, data or product design.
One of the most important tools to develop digital businesses is the conversion funnel. Protecmedia has tailored this guide to the media, to help publishers boost reader acquisition and loyalty and increase subscriber conversion and retention.
The conversion funnel for the media is a guide for each media outlet to adapt their subscription strategy to their business model and user response.
What is the conversion funnel?
It is a digital marketing-specific tool that helps visualise the stages that users go through in their relationship with a product or service, from the moment they find out about it until the goal is fulfilled (a purchase, submitting a form or a subscription), even remaining loyal over time.
What is the conversion funnel when applied to the media?
This digital marketing tool is applicable to the media business.
The conversion funnel for the media represents the stages that users go through, from their first contact with a media outlet until they become subscribers and consumer motivators.
What are the phases of the conversion funnel?
Each of the phases indicates the level of users' commitment with media and offers tips about possible actions to take according to their current phase:
1. Awareness
The first phase is awareness. This phase includes users who have just found out about us or who know about us but have not established a bond with us.
2. Consideration
The second phase, consideration, includes users who found out about us and show interest in what we offer.
3. Conversion
The conversion phase includes users who are prone to reaching the established goal or who have just converted: registered their data, bought a product, signed up for a service, became subscribers, etc.
4. Loyalty
The users in the loyalty phase have converted and remain loyal over time, and even act as prescribers for other users.
The phases in the conversion funnel help us understand that any user who has just visited us does not have the same involvement as a recurring user, who has known the outlet for a while and usually returns to get information.
“It’s important to leverage every step of the funnel because while you’re busy attracting new audiences, other folks are constantly leaving” (Lissa Cupp, Blue Engine Collaborative, Facebook Accelerator)
How do I apply the conversion funnel to my editorial business?
Each media outlet is unique so it is important to bear in mind that success is only possible after trying different actions and analysing the results.
Protecmedia has created this practical guide to audience acquisition, loyalty, conversion and retention. Our technology is designed to help media teams initiate actions and measure results along every step of the conversion funnel.
Contact us if you need advice or to update your technology to implement your subscription strategy by applying the conversion funnel.