Presentation to be held at SGKM 2019 (Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft) on 4th and 5th April, 2019, at the Institute for Media and Communication Management at University of St. Gallen. At the core Marc Isler (Chief Revenue Officer, Digital Paid Media at tamedia) and me talk about a series of project we performed with the overarching goal to drive digital subscriptions for publications by tamedia.

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

2. 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. 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. 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.

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

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

7. 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

8. To nurture engagement we are (re-)using our “abo+” articles
SGKM 2019 — How to grow 50% in digital subscriptions
E-Business. Namics.
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9. 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.

10. 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

11. +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

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

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

14. 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.

15. 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
...

16. 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

17. 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)

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

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

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

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

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

23. 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.

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

25. 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.

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

27. 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

28. 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.

29. Montag
Map
E-Business. Namics.

30. Dienstag
Sketch
E-Business. Namics.

31. Mittwoch
Decide
E-Business. Namics.

32. Donnerstag
Prototype
E-Business. Namics.

33. Freitag
Test
E-Business. Namics.