Winning On-line Circulation Promotions By Anne & Josef Kottler Email this Article  |  Back to Articles On-line and e-promotions are the most cost effective way to test new creative to sell and renew magazine subscriptions. Results are quick, responses are fast, and on-line tests are far less expensive to execute than print promotions. In addition, paperless transactions are another way in which you and your customers can do your part to “Go Green” and help the environment. Your web site is the natural place to solicit on-line subscriptions. People who order a subscription on-line are more likely to respond to e-promotions than those who typically respond to print promotions. Plus, it costs you virtually nothing to sell a subscription online other than the initial cost to create effective communications, such as eye-catching banner and button ads. Your website is also a great place to test out a partnership offer before spending money on printing costly mailings. Banner Ads work best if they have quick call to action messages such as the ads for TV Guide or Smithsonian. For best results, place your on line ads above the fold and use actionable words on click through tabs, such as “Renew Now & Save” or “Click Here For Best Savings.” For effective e-mail promotions, the key is cultivating a strong in-house list of deliverable e-mail names. To help collect email addresses, U.S. publishers are offering a variety of on-line promotions including downloadable freemiums, sweepstakes offers, and FREE e-newsletters. Offering a digital edition of your publication is also an effective way to collect e-mail names — by requiring online sign up for delivery. In the U.S., Texterity offers FREE companion digital versions of both B-to-B and Consumer magazines. The beauty of their Coverleaf Program is that the entire magazine can be viewed with a simple click through from an e-mailed link. This service will soon be available in the UK and Austrailia. In addition, Zinio offers digital versions in the U.S. that can be downloaded, but only by subscribers who pay an additional fee. In addition, offering a digital edition may give a boost to both new business and renewal mailings. This fall, two U.S. publishers are testing this premise. Inc. magazine is mailing a dedicated digital direct mail package with a version of their control voucher plus a 4c buck slip promoting the advantages of their companion digital edition. MacLife magazine, a Future Inc. title, is testing a similar 4C buck slip in one of their renewal efforts. Results for these tests will be known by early 2009. Add e-renewals to your renewal series to reduce costs and boost response. Renewals, your most profitable source of subscription orders, are even more profitable when generated online! Plus, you can read the results within just a few days after launching your promotions. To some extent, the same best practices that work in print also work with e-renewals: • Keep your message simple and to the point. • Remind subscribers of your key benefits. • Give readers clear instructions on how to renew online. • Alternate the look of your e-mails from effort to effort. In addition, be sure to use an urgent sounding subject line, such as: “Final Issue Notice, Your LAST ISSUE is in the mail.” As far as the timing goes, many U.S. publishers have found two key spots in their renewal series that seem to work out best: early in the series (around effort 2), and just before expiration. Note: The best time to send e-renewals is approximately 10 days prior to the corresponding print effort. Another strategy to boost e-renewal response is to offer a downloadable premium or freemium by re-purposing edit pages from your print edition. For example, Cooks Illustrated offers a “FREE” downloadable freemium in conjunction with the e-renewal sent out before effort 2. Their easy-to-use Buying Guide to Supermarket Ingredients is a bonus that gives subscribers a very positive feeling—since they are getting valuable information at no extra charge! Another key to the success of e-renewals is to design your landing pages so that they deliver clear and simple directions for submitting your renewal order. Use E-bills to train readers to do business with you online. Using e-bills save on paper, printing, and mailing costs. Plus, it creates an on-line transaction that provides you with e-mail addresses while putting immediate cash into your account. Many U.S. publishers offer their readers an incentive to pay their bill online, such as bonus issues or a price discount incentive. In addition, downloadable freemiums similar to those being used with renewals and acquisitions can be tested. These offers are best communicated with a buck slip inserted into your standard print invoice package, as well as via e-bills to those subscribers who have provided their e-mail address. Hot Tip: Include an up sell offer in your e-acknowledgement confirming that the e-bill transaction has been completed. Typical up sells offer additional term to the order (renewal at birth), gift subscriptions, or links to other profit centers at your web site, such as a cover store. Use Print Promotions to Drive On-line Activity. Another goal of your online marketing program should be to increase traffic at your Web site. One simple thing you can do is to add an insert to renewals and bills telling readers to go online—and giving them incentives to do so! For example, Canadian Living uses a simple one-sided insert with invoices that shows visually how paying online saves on trees, checks, and postage. Other U.S. publishers use more elaborately designed inserts to get the same basic message across. Another thing you can do to encourage your subscribers to pay on-line is to list a dedicated URL in three different places on mailed packages — on the forms, on the flap of outer envelopes, and on the BRE’s. Doing this will not only save you money on postage, but will also help you collect your revenues faster. Advertise your Web site in the pages of your magazine. Often overlooked, print ads in your magazine are a powerful way to drive web traffic and online e-mail data collection. One approach is to offer a free companion digital edition that you simply need to sign up for at the Web site. Another is to offer sweepstakes prizes or other contests that to enter you have to go to the Web site as well. Both strategies have the benefit of providing publishers with a concrete way to increase their e-mail database as well. Doing business online is the “green” way to subscribe. Another benefit of training your readers to conduct their subscription transactions online is that it plays into the growing environmental awareness — and is a small thing people can do to reduce their carbon footprint. Whether you are buying your subscription, renewing, or paying your bill, all of these actions reduce paper usage and enable you and your readers help keep the earth green! Top of Page < Back to Articles © 2006. Sage Communications. All Rights Reserved.