How to grow 50% in
digital subscriptions
SGKM 2019 — St.Gallen, April 4th
2019
Marc Isler, tamedia
Jürg Stuker, Namics
E-Business. Namics.

SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
Today we are not speaking about...
Smart
Speaker
Blockchain Augmented
Reality
Virtual
Reality
2
E-Business. Namics.

3
Creation of real user value1.
Business centered design2.
Simplification of the sales-channel3.
Learnings & Discussion4.
...but about real levers of subscription growth
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
E-Business. Namics.

4
But some common sense first
• We are all consumers. Why do we have a tendency to ignore this in
our daily business context?
• Innovation is an exciting word... but most of the time it’s just about
doing the homework
• Avoiding risk is much too risky in a fast changing environment
• Simply belief the numbers...
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
E-Business. Namics.

1. Creation of real user value
5
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
E-Business. Namics.

It’s content that turns users into customers
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
E-Business. Namics.
6

Over 3’000 new users per day convert because of our content
Investigative
Revelation
Practical
Service
Info
Personal
Fate
Regional
Sports
Anxiety
Social
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
E-Business. Namics.
7

To nurture engagement we are (re-)using our “abo+” articles
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
E-Business. Namics.
8

CASUAL
READERS
new visitors
1x month, 2:08
Min, reading 2.3
articles. < 40 years
old.
Challenge - or huge potential? Only 3% of our visitors are
subscribers, 60% are just visiting once per month
9
Source: Google Analytics, Newsnet & ZRZ titles
LOYAL READERS
returning visitors
4x per month,
3:41 Min, reading
3 articles. More
App
BRAND LOVERS
frequent visitors
Daily, 4:53 Min,
reading 3 articles
> 45 years old.
SUBSCRIBERS
digital subscribers
Every 2nd day,
6:26 Min, reading
4 articles. More
tablet
%Visitors
60% 34% 3% 3%
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
E-Business. Namics.

New subscription types lead to growth in new segments
Day Pass for “casual readers”
CHF 2.- to get access for 24 hours
In-App subscription
for “loyal readers”
CHF 9.- / Month In-App Purchase
Automatic renewal
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
E-Business. Namics.
10

+43% subscription growth; plus 100’000 daypasses sold
55.813
49.245
Dez.-17 Jan May
64.051
MarcFeb JulyApr Jun
62.245
Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
50.930
60.749
52.594
70.513
55.843 57.366 58.150 59.759
65.280
+43%
Mobile Abo DigitalDigital Light Weekend 12 App
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
E-Business. Namics.
11

2. Business centered design
12
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
E-Business. Namics.

13
Design is far too
important to be left
to designers
⎯ Raymond Loewy, Industrial Designer
” E-Business. Namics.
13

Step 1: Embrace the change
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
14
E-Business. Namics.
CLIENTS
PRODUCTS &
SERVICES
COMPANY
Digitalization changes Clients
expectations, requirements, needs and
their behavior.
In reaction Products & Services and
business models and have to be adapted or
newly invented.
A the core of the Company processes,
organizational structure and culture has to
change.

Step 2: From insights (only) to action
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
15
E-Business. Namics.
Understand internal
processes and
internal customer
segmentation.
Deep dive into
customer
perspective,
understand
customer journey
and customer pain
points.
Scale up and
validate hypotheses
with a
representative
sample.
ONBOARDING
QUALITATIVE
INTERVIEWS
QUANTITATIVE
INTERVIEWS
DATA
ANALYSIS
PERSONAS &
CUSTOMER
JOURNEYS
Reduce complexity
by clustering
customers into
segments.
Characterize customer
segments.
Inside-Out
Outside-In
...

Step 3: Act on numbers
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
16
E-Business. Namics.
Key performance indicators
% mail form abandonment
# interaction with (specific) mail action
# contact score = search subscription + detail view > 1 # calls interaction
simple contact form interaction
attractive product listing
extensive offering
Goals
Success factors
Activitiescontact form
create search subscription
floor plan
phone call
watchlist
personalized offers
User
engagement
contact
requests
# successfully transmitted
mail forms
App
installations

Step 4: Test, learn & adapt
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
17
E-Business. Namics.
3. CHECK
4. ACT
1. PLAN
2. DO
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDCA, based on Walter A. Shewart (1939)

3. Simplification of the sales-channel
18
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
E-Business. Namics.

Where is spending money a positive experience?
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
19
E-Business. Namics.

Checkout tagesanzeiger.ch 2018 (1/3)
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
20
E-Business. Namics.

Checkout tagesanzeiger.ch 2018 (2/3)
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
21
E-Business. Namics.

Checkout tagesanzeiger.ch 2018 (3/3)
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
22
E-Business. Namics.

Checkout tagesanzeiger.ch 2018
Registration Name + Address Payment Option Overview +
Voucher
-65.66% -28.65% -10.49%
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
23
E-Business. Namics.

Checkout tagesanzeiger 2019: Only eMail, no further details
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
24
E-Business. Namics.

14% 28%
Conversion rate doubled thanks to new checkout
Old Checkout New Checkout
But, it’s only step one in our journey...
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
25
E-Business. Namics.

4. Learnings & Discussion
26
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
E-Business. Namics.

27
Make use of content to sell subscriptions. Test, learn & adapt.
Simplify your buying experience. There are no IT/legal/etc limitations.
Clarify responsibilities. Who drives the full digital experience?
Learnings
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
E-Business. Namics.
Use your products and services yourself as an ordinary customer

Marc Isler, tamedia
Chief Revenue Officer, Digital Paid Media
marc.isler@tamedia.ch
Jürg Stuker, Namics
Senior Principal Consultant
juerg.stuker@namics.com
SGKM 2019 — St.Gallen, April 4th
2019
E-Business. Namics.

Montag
Map
E-Business. Namics.

Dienstag
Sketch
E-Business. Namics.

Mittwoch
Decide
E-Business. Namics.

Donnerstag
Prototype
E-Business. Namics.

Freitag
Test
E-Business. Namics.