Hanaa Tameez of Nieman Lab looks at how The Wall Street Journal uses algorithms to reset prices on subscription renewals.
Tameez writes, “Last December, one of our readers received a renewal email from The Wall Street Journal. Over the coming year, the email said, she would be charged $76.99 every four weeks for her print and digital subscription — $19.25 a week, or $923.88 annually.
“The renewal email included one sentence in all caps: ‘THIS PRICE WAS SET BY AN ALGORITHM USING YOUR PERSONAL DATA.’ (Subscription prices on The Wall Street Journal’s website are a bit lower: $16.25 per week for a print/digital subscription, after a year at 40% off, or $845 a year.) The reader canceled her subscription.
“You may have encountered dynamic pricing — sometimes referred to as algorithmic, personalized, or surveillance pricing — when booking a flight or buying groceries on Instacart. It’s when a company’s algorithm decides what to charge you based on your purchase history and other. behaviors. And news subscribers are increasingly noticing it when their subscriptions come up for renewal.
“‘Like many businesses, Dow Jones uses data to inform the marketing, positioning and pricing of certain consumer subscription products,’ a Dow Jones spokesperson told me when I asked about our reader’s experience. ‘We do this responsibly, guided by robust governance and compliance protocols. Adherence to these protocols is actively monitored and enforced by stakeholders across the business including legal, privacy and compliance.'”
Read more here.
