OLD Media Moves

Inside The Information’s paywall strategy

Jessica Lessin

Simon Owens examines how tech news site The Information gets readers to subscribe in a conversation with CEO Jessica Lessin.

Owens writes, “I asked Jessica what’s the leading conversion channel that entices someone into becoming a paid subscriber. Many publishers, for instance, have found that getting someone signed up for a newsletter will make them more likely to subscribe. ‘It’s our articles, it’s our scoops, it’s our features. Today it’s a story that gets inside the next generation of leadership at Amazon and reports on some of the lesser known executives who are really rising now that there’s this changing of the guard with Bezos preparing to step aside. Yesterday it would have been some scoop about something else, but it’s really our articles in general that bring new subscribers in.’

“Sometimes a major scoop will create its own momentum. ‘Big stories will pull in a lot of subscribers, and in addition to pulling them in directly, we’d see very elevated subscriber growth in the weeks following big stories as well. Sometimes it’s the actual piece, but sometimes that piece has this sort of halo effect, if you will, and people are finding us through different channels after that.’

“One peculiar thing I noticed when visiting The Information’s homepage is that you have to scroll down rather far before you encounter any headlines. Instead, it tries to get you to sign up for a newsletter. ‘Our reason for doing that is simply to build a direct relationship via email. So I think there are actually a lot of ways that readers decide to give us an email. Some might want to read a newsletter. We also unlock at least half of our stories that can be read in exchange for someone giving us their email.  I think one of the great lessons in subscription funnel economics that we’ve certainly learned is the value of building that direct relationship via email, and then continuing that relationship with the reader over time.'”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

Recent Posts

Dynamo hires former Business Insider executive editor Harrington

Former Business Insider executive editor Rebecca Harrington has been hired by Dynamo to be its…

5 hours ago

Bloomberg TV hires Kerubo as desk producer

Bloomberg Television has hired Brenda Kerubo as a desk producer in London. She will be covering Europe's…

5 hours ago

Jittery CNBC staff reassured by new boss

In a meeting at CNBC headquarters Thursday afternoon, incoming boss Mark Lazarus presented a bullish…

6 hours ago

Making business news accessible to a wider audience

Ritika Gupta, the BBC's North American business correspondent, was interviewed by Global Woman magazine about…

6 hours ago

Rest of World hires Lo as China reporter

Rest of World has hired Kinling Lo as a China reporter. Lo was previously a…

6 hours ago

Bloomberg rises to No. 7 biz news website

Bloomberg News saw strong unique visitor growth to its website in October, passing Fox Business…

7 hours ago