Executive Summary. Lest there be any doubt, is alive and thriving as a marke6ng tac6c for subscrip6on content sites!

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2 Executive Summary Lest there be any doubt, is alive and thriving as a marke6ng tac6c for subscrip6on content sites! Over the past 3 years how is your marketing performance trending? As our survey of 70+ subscrip6on site execu6ves and marketers from a variety of subscrip6on sites found, marke6ng is posi6vely trending for most subscrip6on, membership and paywall sites. 35.0% % % 28.6% That s no surprise, given that our 2013 Online Subscrip6on Benchmark Report found that marke6ng was the #1 subscriber acquisi6on strategy (see page 6) % % And this is probably why most marketers are using as the primary vehicle to gain new subscribers. Furthermore open rates really soar aqer the subscriber is acquired: sta6s6cs show that customer service s and onboarding s (i.e., s sent aqer subscribing) get the highest open rates: 5.0% Very Slowly positive, increasing increasing Little change Slowly declining 1.4% Very negative, declining 1

3 What is your average Unique Open Rate? Customer Service s Onboarding Reten6on Newsle]ers Marke6ng upsell/cross- sell offers Marke6ng Subscrip6on Offers 48.7% 42.9% 33.9% 24.6% 20.5% 15.1% Now, that doesn t mean subscrip6on sites shouldn t keep sending their marke6ng s. An industry average open rate of 15% on a promo6onal is quite solid However, there is room for subscrip6on sites to improve their bo]om lines by using marke6ng more for reten%on purposes, especially since onboarding s had the second highest open rates, yet most subscrip6on sites only sent one onboarding to new subscribers (best prac6ces recommend four within a week): How many welcome messages do you send to new members? 2

4 Our report also has a number of Easter egg charts hidden gems that get into the ni]y gri]y of what works (lightbox overlays for capturing s) to what doesn t (third- party lists). When you ll buy the report, you ll get helpful data on how effec6ve each of the following tac6cs have been for marke6ng programs by other subscrip6on content sites: Lightbox overlays On- page sign- up boxes Free downloads Limited access to content Webinars Business card collec6on Facebook or other social media logins We also give you industry- wide informa6on, such as the most popular service providers (ESPs) among paid content sites and how Gmail s new Promo6ons tab has affected open and click- through rates. How effective have lists from third parties been in acquiring new subscribers? 48.3% 24.2% 27.5% Very effec6ve Somewhat effec6ve Somewhat ineffec6ve Very ineffec6ve How has Gmail s new inbox design affected your stats? 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 32.8% 67.2% Open rates 21.0% 79.0% Click-through rates Increase Decrease Decrease Not Not affected Affected 3

5 In short, this is a concise but informa6on- packed report that s sure to take your marke6ng program to the next level. Plus, we collected data from a variety of sites, both B2B and B2C, in the following niches: Business/Industry News & Informa6on Directories & Databases Financial Sites & Investment Newsle]ers elearning & Professional Training Sites Consumer Publica6ons & Enthusiast/Fan Sites Newspapers Online Streaming Music/Video & Gaming Sites If you re using to market to any of these niches, or even if you re not, this report will shed light on the effec6ve use of to sell online subscrip6ons for digital content and service. And if you think the five charts in this execu6ve summary are informa6ve, you ll definitely want to buy the whole report, which contains 30 charts, plus lots of helpful tac6cal advice. I promise, you won t be disappointed! Minal Bopaiah Execu6ve Editor Subscrip6on Content & Subscrip6on Site Insider 4

6 Table of Contents Sec$on/Chart Page Execu6ve Summary. 1 Chart 1: Most Cost- Effec6ve Acquisi6on Sources. 6 Chart 2: Percentage of Sites Requiring Login. 7 Chart 3: Site Visitor Conversion to Paying Subscriber.. 7 Chart 4: Par6cipant Informa6on Niche. 8 Chart 5: Par6cipant Informa6on B2B v. B2C v. Both 8 Chart 6: Par6cipant Monthly Volume.. 9 Chart 7: Campaign Trends 10 Chart 8: Signup Trends. 11 Chart 9: Campaign Objec6ves. 12 Chart 10: Types of s Sent 13 Chart 11: Opt- in Strategy. 14 Chart 12: Industry Average Open Rates 15 Chart 13: Industry Average Click- Through Rates 17 Chart 14: Number of Campaigns per Week 19 Chart 15: Best Days for Sending Chart 16: Average Unsubscribe Rates 21 Chart 17: Concerns About Over- Mailing.. 22 Sec$on/Chart Page Chart 18: Effec6ve Marke6ng Tac6cs 23 Chart 19: Who s Op6mizing for Mobile?. Chart 20: Effec6ve Opt- in Tac6cs Chart 21: Are Third Party Lists Effec6ve?. 28 Chart 22: Autoresponder Effec6veness. 29 Chart 23: Number of Onboarding s Sent. 30 Chart 24: Industry Standards for Double Opt- in. 31 Chart 25: Industry Standards for Whitelis6ng.. 32 Chart 26: Template Design Preferences 33 Chart 27: Most Popular Service Providers. 34 Chart 28: Effect of Gmail s New Inbox Design.. 35 Important Lessons Learned 36 Chart 29: Open Rates for Free Users (2013). 39 Chart 30: Open Rates for Paying Subscribers (2013) 40 Summary: 16 Tips & Tac6cs for Be]er Marke6ng 41 Methodology & Acknowledgements.. 42 Copyright & Purchasing Informa6on