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 organizations 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
• Customize marketing messages for specific audiences

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

• Share the impact that your reporting has in an annual report
• Use a value proposition to highlight your news organization’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, you 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 colored 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 anytime” at the top, to your benefits, or under each option