A New Membership Model: More Than Six Million Strong

1. CRO: State of the Business Update
August 16, 2017
Confidential
A New Membership Model:
More Than 6 Million Strong
Jason Fox
VP & Chief Digital Officer
March 27, 2019

2. Agenda
2
1 Why Membership?
2 What Are the Results So Far?
3 What’s Next?
4 Q/A

3. ● Founded in 1936, 501(c)(3) nonprofit
○ Achieved substantial gains for consumers on food and product safety,
financial and health reform, and other issues
● Independent - CR accepts no advertising or review products
● CR pays for all the products it tests and has a team of “secret shoppers”
● More than 6 million total members
● $27M+ committed annually on purchasing, testing, rating, and reviewing products
and services
● 9,000+ ratings and reviews of products and services available on CR.org
● CR reaches tens of millions of people across print, digital and broadcast media
● 63 state-of-the-art labs at CR’s national product and service testing center
● 327-acre, state-of-the-art Auto Test Center, which used to be a CT race track
CR Fast Facts

4. 4
Why Membership?

5. ● Free “good enough” review sites and fierce direct and indirect competition are
ubiquitous and growing
● Other sites have a different business model that are based on affiliate marketing
revenue and/or advertising
● Moving from transactional to affinity, creating deeper engagement and sense of
belonging
Three Reasons for our Pivot to Membership

6. To remain relevant, brands have to create affinity

7. CR Membership Tiers & Pricing
Basic - FREE (Email Address)
Car Recall Tracker, New Car Savings, TV Screen Optimizer, Share Your Story, You Test
Print - $30
12 issues of magazine +
Annual Buying Guide + Basic
Benefits
Digital – $35/year or
$7.95/month
12 months online access +
mobile app + Basic Benefits
All Access - $55
Print + Digital + Ask CR + Basic Benefits

11. 1000’s of stories shared

13. Ask CR(Optional slide)

15. 15
What Are the Results so Far?

16. Membership
revenue is up
All Access tier is
performing far better
than expected
Ask CR and
Car Recall Tracker
are winners
REVENUE
Record digital
revenue
AVG. ORDER VALUE
+24% YOY
ORDER MIX
13% of new
orders are All
Access, 3X what
we projected
ASK CR
90% customer
satisfaction rate
CARS SAVED
250K
Membership: What’s a Home Run

17. Renewal rates
continue to be strong
Users are participating
Print members are
using digital benefits
DIGITAL AND PRINT
Both CRO and
CRM renewal
rates are up year
over year, and
All Access is
even stronger
MEMBERSHIP
BENEFITS
215K YouTests
completed
700 WTF?!
Stories shared
in 72 hours
WEEKLY ACCESS
187K
Membership: What’s Showing Promise

18. 18
What’s Next?

19. Enhance Basic tier
value proposition
More personalized
experiences
New payment
options & more
Mobilization pilot
➔ “Best time to
buy” guidance
➔ Testing of new
benefits around
cars and other
products
➔ Browser extension
➔ Product locker
➔ Custom content
➔ Push notifications
➔ Amazon Payments
and more
➔ More price testing
➔ “Power users”
collect information
to affect
marketplace
change
Membership: What’s Next

21. Q & A

22. Appendix

23. CR Browser Extension
★ CR travels with
paid members
to major sites
for product
research or
purchase
★ As of 1/29/19 -
Google,
Amazon, Best
Buy, Home
Depot, and
Lowe's

24. Products I Own
★ Store product
information in
one place
★ Ownership for
engagement
and loyalty

25. Personalization
★ Discover new
content and
features most
relevant to you

26. Consumer Movement Pilot
Goal
Grow a community of "power
users" whose on the ground
activity and social builds a
stronger movement of
informed and empowered
consumers.
Pilot
Engage 10,000 "power users"
What Successful Looks Like
Better understanding of what
motivates/engages our users
and provides actionable data
Share your
unfair fees
Send confusing
food labels