A successful subscriber acquisition promotion attracts attention by demonstrating a complete understanding of your prime prospects. It captures interest by focusing on their problems. And builds desire by positioning your title as the best solution. The idea is to create an offer so compelling it inspires an immediate response.
by Richard Riccelli
Expensive but effective, direct mail remains a primary source of subscription sales for established publications.
“Benefit statements” or “savings voucher” formats—which facilitate payment with orders—are among the most popular and proven promotions.
These workhorse packages create a low-cost platform for A/B testing and are generally deployed to price-sensitive audiences familiar with your title.
The look and feel, tone and tenor is transactional and assumptive.
Price per issue and dramatic savings offers are prime response drivers.
Business, professional and speciality titles—that repeatedly promote to a limited universe of prospects—benefit by varying designs to defeat “already-saw-that” response fatigue.
Successful promotions in this style exhibit clear and concise statements of features and benefits.
Sales appeals are more rational and logical than emotional and impulsive.
An effective variation to the format attaches a letter to the order form—adding personal persuasion to the transactional nature.
Deployed to consumer, business and professional audiences alike, these examples also use the back to quietly build brand recognition and reputation.
The look, feel and message of the carrier envelope is at least as important as the benefits inside.
The job of the envelope is to get itself opened.
Designs that mirror other “must-open” mail—utility bills, credit card statements and such—are typically effective.
“I-was-tricked” is the danger to avoid. Prospects respond poorly upon opening a blind or highly-disguised envelope and unexpectedly finding an unwanted subscription promotion.
Postage rates for marketing mail allow for more than a one-page statement and reply envelope.
The allowance opens opportunities to test more elaborate and complete promotions.
Inserts offering a gift upon order. Notes about upcoming editorial features. Bangtail reply envelopes that reward readers who enclose payment—these are some of the popular ways to increase response.
Successful subscription direct mail takes many forms—some of which are “outside the envelope.”
Self mailers efficiently combine all the elements of more expensive packages in a single piece.
The tradeoff is engagement. Envelopes entice with mystery. And readers who open them make a small but telling commitment. Self mailers are all-or-nothing, easy-to-discard, first-impression promotions that balance savings against response.
The price of a subscription does not necessarily determine the cost and complexity of the format.
Simple postcards costing less than 50¢ a piece—here promoting site license subscriptions that can cost thousands of dollars each—proved remarkably effective for both The Chronicle of Higher Education and The Chronicle of Philanthropy
The Week wraps complimentary issues with subscription promotions and sends them to prime prospects.
Discover how this innovative “medium-is-the-message” format became a convention-defying marketing breakthrough.
Even as the cost of postage, printing and mail services rise, experienced publishers continue to field classic 6x9 packages and larger, even more expensive formats.
Strong and sustainable subscription acquisition is a key indicator of a publication’s current health as well as a core investment in its future.
Developing formats that best fit your audience, offer and message is foundational to building a success.
Well-crafted promotions will create a steady flow of new readers who readily pay their bills, renew at high rates, and recommend—if not give—new subscriptions to others.
As publications pursue target audiences online, email and websites have become an important source of new subscribers. For many magazines, newspapers, and newsletters it’s a primary source.
To the surprise of digital and branding agencies, plain text emails that reliably reach primary inboxes—coupled with simple landing pages dedicated to the offer—consistently outperform highly-produced graphic promotions.
