How Bloomberg Media grows its subscribers

Jenna Davis, director of product at Bloomberg Media, writes about how it grows its subscribers.

Davis writes, “We were confident that a registration-first approach was the right decision for some of our users, but we knew this choice could have an impact on the rate at which our topline subscription acquisition grew. So, we relied heavily on many months of A/B testing data, and iterative experiments to guide our decision making. After testing different onsite journeys for different user segments, we learned that there is no one size fits all approach. We need to leverage timely and topical insights in order to present users with the best suited experience. For example, when users need the news (think: bank failure crisis), consumers are more likely and willing to subscribe. But in periods where the news cycle is softer, we should consider more moments to capture their emails rather than their payment details.

“We next identified the checkout experience as an opportunity to ‘meet our users where they are’ (e.g. meet their expectations). Digital wallets were the first thought. The team hypothesized that presenting additional options to credit cards, like Apple Pay and Google Pay, would increase conversion rates. When we dove into the data even further – we identified that 70% of traffic lands on mobile web checkout, but only 30% convert – so rooted in these learnings and a handful of others, we thought about ways to better convert mobile users who may be on the go. What do these users need? Clear and concise information, the least amount of friction, and quick performance.

“There were two major onsite checkout points where we could prioritize digital wallet payment methods: on our checkout page and also within our paywall directly, which we call ’embedded checkout.’ Embedded checkout allows the customer to purchase a subscription while remaining on their article.

“Results were strong across the board. Embedding checkout on the paywall drove an 84% lift in conversion rate. Prioritizing wallet payments (over credit cards) on the mobile web checkout page drove a 6% lift in conversion rate. We are excited to continue innovating our acquisition funnel by balancing the latest technology in the space with user needs in order to achieve our business goals.”