Presentation for newspaper circulation and audience development professionals focused on improving subscriber acquisition, retention, customer service, and profitability

1. Ten
Ways
To
Impress
Your
Publisher
A
checklist
for
the
audience
&
circula<on
team
Create Legendary Customer Service
Catch Subscribers and Keep Them
Measure What Matters
Make More Profit

2. “Success
is
neither
magical
nor
mysterious.
Success
is
the
natural
consequence
of
consistently
applying
the
basic
fundamentals”
~Jim
Rohn

3. Create
Legendary
Customer
Service
1.
Measure
beyond
your
Complaints
per
Thousand

4. Create
Legendary
Customer
Service
The
CPM
only
measures
your
service
by
those
who
bother
to
call
&
complain

5. Create
Legendary
Customer
Service
Conduct
Subscriber
Sa<sfac<on
Surveys
via
email
blast,
on
your
website,
ROP,
on
invoice
remiNances.
Score
yourself.
Talk
regularly
about
your
score!
Train
Customer
Service
Reps
to
ask
“Are
you
pleased
with
your
delivery
service”
before
concluding
every
conversa<on,
regardless
of
the
reason
for
the
conversa<on.
Run
ROP
ads
invi<ng
subscribers
to
call
if
their
service
is
less
than
perfect.
You’ll
be
surprised
how
many
have
consistent
problems
but
never
bother
to
call.

6. Create
Legendary
Customer
Service
2.
Amaze
your
subscribers
with
how
you
make
it
right.

7. Create
Legendary
Customer
Service
Offer
same-­‐day
redelivery
of
missed
or
wet
papers
wherever
possible
and
as
early
as
possible.
Could
you
even
take
it
to
them
at
work
if
they’ve
already
leU
for
the
day?
When
redelivering,
knock
on
the
door,
look
them
in
the
eye,
apologize,
and
give
them
your
card.
Along
with
the
paper,
give
them
a
small
“I’m
sorry”
giU
like
a
restaurant
coupon,
or
a
useful
item
with
your
company
logo
on
it.

8. Catch
Subscribers
&
Keep
Them
3.
Make
it
simple
for
voluntary
subscribers.

9. Catch
Subscribers
&
Keep
Them
Voluntary
Subscriber
Costs
nearly
nothing
to
acquire
Has
the
highest
reten<on
rate
Is
most
engaged
with
your
content
Three
facts
about
the
voluntary
subscriber

10. Catch
Subscribers
&
Keep
Them
How
easy
is
it
for
someone
to
voluntarily
subscribe
to
your
paper?

11. Catch
Subscribers
&
Keep
Them
You
probably
have
hundreds
of
vending
machines
across
your
market.
Every
machine
should
display
a
subscrip<on
call
to
ac<on.
The
subscrip<on
call
to
ac<on
should
be
the
easiest
thing
to
find
on
your
website.
Pay
your
IT
people
a
commission
for
every
subscrip<on
started
through
your
website.
Use
the
“Sign
Up”
buNon
on
your
Facebook
page
to
send
people
to
the
subscrip<on
URL.
Use
the
“Offer/Event”
func<on
to
sell
subscrip<ons
at
$0.00
cost-­‐per-­‐order.

12. Catch
Subscribers
&
Keep
Them
4.
Explore
every
sales
channel
you
can
think
of.

13. Catch
Subscribers
&
Keep
Them
Yesterday
• Telemarke<ng
• Kiosk
• Door
to
Door
• Sampling
Today
• Telemarke<ng
• Reverse
Telemarke<ng
• Kiosk
• Door
to
Door
• Email
• Social
Media
• Direct
Mail
• Every
Door
Direct
• Text
Message
• Groupon
• Affiliate
e-­‐Commerce
• Inserts
• Rewards
Site
• Voluntary
Sampling
• Fundraisers
• Events
Tomorrow
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?
• ?

14. Catch
Subscribers
&
Keep
Them
5.
Act
like
an
adver<ser
to
acquire
customers.

15. Catch
Subscribers
&
Keep
Them
Every
day
businesses
use
newspaper
adver<sing.
Shouldn’t
you?

16. Catch
Subscribers
&
Keep
Them
Work
with
your
team
and
the
ad
design
team
to
develop
an
annual
marke<ng
strategy
for
home
delivery
across
all
print
and
digital
channels.
Build
a
shared
marke<ng
calendar
for
the
circula<on
department
of
all
scheduled
campaigns,
ROP
&
insert
run
dates,
web
ad
dates,
and
discuss
weekly.
Track
results
for
each
campaign
and
channel
with
promo<on
codes
and
use
data
for
future
planning.

17. Catch
Subscribers
&
Keep
Them
6.
Execute
a
life-­‐cycle
reten<on
strategy.

18. Catch
Subscribers
&
Keep
Them
Start
Verifica<on
Call
Welcome
LeNer
or
Brochure
Early
Bird
Renewal
Offer
1st
Renewal
Bill
Automated
Reten<on
Phone
Call
2nd
Renewal
Reminder
Human
Reten<on
Phone
Call
“Final
Issue”
bag
Subscriber
Reten<on
Begins
on
Day
One

19. Catch
Subscribers
&
Keep
Them
Be
obsessive
about
keeping
contact
informa<on
current.
Verify
correct
phone
number
with
every
conversa<on.
Get
email
addresses.
Add
value
to
the
subscrip<on
frequently.
Offer
a
Reader
Rewards
program,
free
niche
newsleNers
or
publica<ons,
one-­‐<me
7-­‐day
upgrades
for
weekend
subscribers,
etc.
Automate
expira<on
calling,
with
op<on
to
“press
1”
and
speak
to
a
reten<on
specialist,
to
call
as
many
people
as
possible
in
the
least
amount
of
<me.
Automate
e-­‐mail
expira<on
no<fica<ons
Send
a
coupon
for
an
“early
bird”
credit
with
your
welcome
leNer
to
be
redeemed
for
extra
<me
if
full
renewal
payment
is
received
before
expira<on.
Do
everything
you
can
to
make
sure
the
paper
begins
on
the
day
it’s
supposed
to.
Never
permit
poor
service.

20. Measure
What
MaNers
Does
everyone
in
your
department
understand
your
metrics
and
why
they
maNer?

21. Measure
What
MaNers
7.
U<lize
a
scorecard
For
discussion
&
ac<on.

22. Measure
What
MaNers
Home
Delivery
Trends
Churn
Reten<on
by
Source
Stop
Reasons
Single
Copy
Sellout
%
Return
%
Trends
at
Top
10
Outlets
Customer
Service
Survey
Score
CPM
Poor
Service
Stops
Profit
&
Loss
Acquisi<on
Cost
Rack
Pilferage
Department
Profitability
Digital
Audience
Website
Analy<cs
Conversion
Rate
Social
Media
Stats
Basics
everyone
on
your
team
should
know
and
understand

23. Make
More
Profit
8.
Escape
the
discount
vortex.

24. Make
More
Profit
Addic<on
Subscribers
Cancel
&
Wait
Voids
Your
Regular
Rate
Minimizes
Consumer
Mindset
Value
Four
hard
facts
about
the
effect
of
discoun<ng

25. Make
More
Profit
Offer
a
premium
instead
of
a
discount.
This
retrains
the
consumer
to
pay
your
regular
rate.
Easier
to
budget
premium
expense
than
discounted
revenue.
Create
a
stair-­‐step
rate
structure
to
gradually
move
discounted
subscribers
back
toward
full
rate
over
<me.
Find
ways
to
add
value
to
a
full-­‐rate
subscrip<on
with
reader
rewards,
niche
or
exclusive
content,
etc.

26. Make
More
Profit
9.
Protect
the
revenue
you
have.

27. Make
More
Profit
Good
Samaritan
Fund
When
someone
calls
to
cancel
because
they
are
moving,
or
the
recipient
has
died,
ask
them
if
they
would
like
to
donate
their
remaining
balance
to
the
Good
Samaritan
Fund
which
provides
free
or
low-­‐cost
subscrip<ons
to
those
who
can’t
afford
it.

28. Make
More
Profit
Charge
a
Refund
Processing
Fee
to
offset
your
expenses
and
encourage
reten<on
un<l
expira<on.
Make
excep<ons
for
poor
service
stops,
though
you
should
never
have
one!

29. Make
More
Profit
10.
Create
new
revenue
streams.

30. Make
More
Profit
Three
Examples
of
New
Revenue
Ini<a<ves
• 7-­‐Day
Subscribers
can
add
as
many
addi<onal
Sunday
copies
to
their
home
delivery
for
60
cents
each.
• All
pre-­‐paid
through
the
end
of
their
term.
• Weekend-­‐only
subscribers
upgrade
to
7-­‐days
to
get
addi<onal
Sunday
copies
&
coupons

31. Make
More
Profit
Three
Examples
of
New
Revenue
Ini<a<ves
• Sunday-­‐only
home
delivery,
priced
higher
than
7-­‐day
delivery
to
avoid
frequency
downgrades.
• Highest
priced
home
delivery
op<on.
• Includes
complete
digital
access
all
7-­‐days
and
reader
rewards.
• People
are
actually
paying
premium
price
to
get
the
day
they
want!

32. Make
More
Profit
Three
Examples
of
New
Revenue
Ini<a<ves
• Membership
model
with
addi<onal
benefits,
priced
higher
than
print-­‐only.
• Includes
complete
digital
access,
reader
rewards,
VIP
events.
• Subscribers
on
discounted
offers
billed
at
membership
rates
for
renewal.
• Customer
service
sells
memberships
not
subscrip<ons.

33. Two
Resources
hNp://bit.ly/1BOiW7t
hNp://amzn.to/1bekNd2

34. Create Legendary Customer Service
Catch Subscribers and Keep Them
Measure What Matters
Make More Profit

35. Catch Subscribers and Keep Them
Measure What Matters
Make More Profit
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