How the FT is redesigning its site with the help of readers

Lucia Moses of Digiday writes about how the Financial Times is redesigning its website under the watchful eye of its readers.

Moses writes, “Subscription revenue is core to the FT’s business model — paid-for content accounts for more than half of the revenue — and the publisher has been pushing time-based ads where advertisers are charged based on how long an ad is in view rather than how many people saw it. So how long readers stay on the site is critical.

“That’s why for the next-gen site, dubbed NextFT, the FT is taking its time. NextFT has been in the works for a year, and there’s no hard date for a full public relaunch. In that time, it’s been bringing readers under the hood — about 15 percent of users are seeing NextFT — and tinkering as it goes. There have already been four homepage redesigns, based on reader feedback online and in focus groups.

“‘This is a much more customer-focused process than we’ve had before,’ said Bede McCarthy, director of product. ‘With our last redesign, it was much more about our personal ego. That’s just not how a good digital company operates now.’

“As a result of this process, the FT said its opt-out rate — the rate of testers choosing to go back to the current version — is declining.”

Read more here.