We’ve talked before about how larger news and media organizations are not the only ones turning to paywall solutions as an integral part of their reader revenue strategy. One of Pelcro’s huge advantages is that it offers an affordable solution for any size organization to begin monetizing content. Pelcro recently received the New(s) Ideas Award from News Media Alliance, and we’d like to highlight just a few of the innovative ways Pelcro offers an affordable paywall solution to publishers.
Addressing the Main Challenges of News Media Organizations
Pelcro began because we witnessed firsthand the struggle of publishers and media companies as they tried to compete with Facebook and Google for ad space. Sharing 99% of the digital advertising growth in 2017 between them, advertisers continue to flock to these platforms because of their incredible data and targeting abilities. It’s clear that other platforms like Amazon, LinkedIn, and Yelp are also poised to take on a large share of whatever is left. Unable to compete directly, another business model will have to develop, one that focuses on revenue generated from readers through paid subscriptions. In order to help publishers succeed at this new business model, we developed Pelcro.
One of the main challenges that publishers have to overcome is the access to technology they can easily afford and implement. The New York Times has successfully grown their subscription revenue so that it actually surpasses their advertising revenue, but most organizations can’t afford the over $40 million dollars, not to mention 14 months, it took to give their strategy a successful start.
Pelcro offers an alternative that publishers can afford and implement quickly. It’s not just a technology, it’s a comprehensive solution that was developed with publishers’ needs in mind. The platform offers four different key tools that news media organizations can incorporate together or separately to help them succeed at building reader revenue.
Dynamic Paywall: Served through a simple but powerful script, Pelcro’s dynamic paywall uses advanced technology that allows publishers to target their users at a much more granular level than regular paywall technologies. The paywall integrates with a host of payment processors such as Apple Pay, Paypal, Google Pay, Stripe, and more and will automatically tailor offers based on device or payment preference in order to increase conversions.
Machine Learning: Machine learning is the next phase in paywall development. It combines data and insight to create prediction tools that help publishers easily optimize their subscriptions. Pelcro will predict a user’s subscriber likelihood score and offer them special discounts to help tip them towards conversion. Say, for example, a subscriber has a score of 80 percent likelihood, a special offer could push them over the edge to subscription.
CRM/Support: Because reader relationships are at the forefront of any reader revenue strategy, Pelcro incorporates an intuitive platform for publishers to manage reader relations from a central location. Refunds, discounts, cancellations, or coupons can be offered directly through the platform, and the CRM offers a host of integrations with popular support, accounting, and email marketing tools like Zendesk, Quickbooks, MailChimp, and more.
Analytics: With the shift in priority from pageviews to loyalty and engagement, publishers need more granular insight into audience preference and behavior. Pelcro’s platform allows for A/B testing of anything from different price points to messaging in order to see what a given audience most responds to.
Incorporating Pelcro is simple because we can plugin easily to existing systems with our numerous integrations. The software does not require any special equipment, instead it is deployed via software development kits (SDKs). To make the transition as seamless as possible, Pelcro also offers consulting during the transition to a reader revenue model. We’ll help set strategy for pricing and marketing and even team roles and the various other aspects required to set up a successful strategy.
What does the future have in store?
We’re very excited about a Machine Learning model that our data scientists are working on which will combine subscriber data alongside world events to recommend high conversion potential content to editorial teams. Our machine learning experts are exploring the possibilities around this while keeping in mind the delicate balance needed between free and premium content to have a healthy subscription funnel.
For the industry as a whole the switch to reader revenue can only serve to strengthen the quality of storytelling as organizations return to a model where quality content, not clicks, drives revenue. With the right tools at their disposal, we look forward to media companies rising strong in the years to come.
Are you interested in using a dynamic paywall or any of our other tools to increase your reader revenue? Contact us to learn more.