Promote your subscription

Almost 40% of subscribers convert on their first day.

Today, most audiences are on their phones (65%) yet, while mobile users click on subscription pages at the same rate as desktop users (1.5%), only 20% of mobile users will actually subscribe – compared to 42% on desktop, according to research by Piano.

💡 Best practices:

• Promote across your site, including mobile
• Offer three subscription package options to make decisions easy
• Highlight your best option and make it the default
• Display options so they’re easy to compare

What information should a subscription page include?

• Your mission
• Options
• Prices
• Benefits
• Length (annual, monthly, weekly)
• Cancellation policy
• Buttons to subscribe

News organisations might feel a little uncomfortable promoting themselves – after all, shouldn’t the journalism speak for itself?

But if your audience doesn’t know you have a subscription, they also don’t have an opportunity to support your journalism.

💡Best practices:

• Add a 'Subscribe' button to an anchored navigation bar
• Use 'Join' or 'Start' instead of 'Subscribe' or 'Sign up' in your buttons
• Add text promotions within articles, especially articles that have the most engagement or are the most popular with subscribers
• If you have display ads, advertise with house ads
• Customise marketing messages for specific audiences

💡 Best practices to share the impact of your news organisation :

• Share the impact that your reporting has in an annual report
• Use a value proposition to highlight your news organisation’s unique contributions
• Add your mission or values to the top of the subscription page, so it’s clear what a subscription supports

It’s tempting to offer more options because logically, your audiences have different needs.

But research has found that if a person is given fewer choices, they’re actually more likely to buy.

The researchers displayed 24 jams at a grocery store on one day and 6 jams on another day.

In the 24 jam display, only 3% of shoppers bought jam – but at the six jam display, 30% bought jam.

It takes time and energy to understand and compare options – reducing the number of options can make it more likely that someone will subscribe

💡 Best practice: offer three options

Your best option is the option you want most of your subscribers to choose, like a digital subscription if you’re a print newspaper, or an annual subscription because you offer a cheaper monthly rate.

Regardless of which option is best, make your best option stand out from your other options.

💡Best practices:

• On mobile, anchor your best option as the first option on the top of the page, so it appears without scrolling
• On mobile, only display benefits for your best option
• On desktop, list your best option in the middle
• On desktop, list the most expensive option first
• Label the best option as 'Most popular' or 'Reader’s choice'
• Use a different coloured button, background or animation to make the best option stand out
• If you offer a discount, use 'Claim' in your button

💡 Best practices

• Show images for each option
• Use images that reference your mission or values
• List six benefits or fewer
• Highlight pricing and savings
• Use bullet points or icons
• Add a button for each option – and follow our button best practices
• Add 'cancel any time' at the top, to your benefits or under each option