5 simple hacks for publishers to increase paywall conversion rates from Poool’s CEO, Maxime Moné

KPIs to track to measure success at this step:
- Paywall visibility rate: no. of paywalls viewed / no. of paywalls loaded on the page
- Click-through rate on the paywall

I still see too many paywalls that simply read “This article is for subscribers only, subscribe now.” How can you possibly convince someone to pay $10 a month if you don't tell them why? If you don't have any clear arguments, a well-defined value proposition, a description of your product… in these examples, the publisher isn't making the effort needed to sell (and so won't succeed in this endeavor). 

This hack isn't difficult, it's marketing. And it hides huge potential – publishers who have worked on their value proposition with Poool, explaining their product offerings and testing wording have increased conversion rates by more than 30%. 

To do the same, make sure that you correctly present: 

• The benefits of subscription and customer pain-points that you solve – go back to Marketing 101 to work through Alexander Osterwalder's value proposition canvas, pairing the customer profile with your product
• Your offer – is it a temporary special offer? If so, specify the end date. Is it personalized to the individual (e.g. a student offer)? Let them know! 
• Your product features: access to content, of course. But what about the services provided? UX features such as the ability to save content for later? Ability to leave a comment? An ad-free experience? Don't let anything remain a secret
• Your USP: do you cover unique stories that readers can't get elsewhere? How about a famous editor? Exclusive content? An independent publisher? It'd be a shame to keep this quiet

A/B test the performance of these texts, the way you display them, supporting images and what information you include. We can't promise that you'll find the perfect formula straight away, but this will put you on the right track. And, in particular, don't forget hack #3.

KPIs to track to measure success at this step: 
- Click-through rate on your main CTA “Subscribe”
- Exit-rate when faced with the paywall

Hack #3: regularly change your paywall

It's well known in the advertising industry that if we're exposed to the same visual for too long, we become blind to it. It's the same with your paywall, what we call paywall fatigue. If your wall always looks the same, CTR will stagnate, then decrease. If, on the other hand, you regularly update your paywall, such as by altering the design or messaging, you'll see a 15-100% increase in clicks in the weeks following. 

How can you master this hack? 

• Add it to your calendar, make this wall update part of your routine, at least once a month
• Identify opportunities in your reader journey and editorial line, making the most of local, national and international events. One of our clients, ELLE Magazine, changes their wall for sales, Christmas, summer, Black Friday, Mother's day…
• Prepare designs in advance. With Poool's platform, we made it a priority to give marketing teams autonomy in being able to change wall design in minutes. You'll no longer need to wait for the dev team to find the time to help you. With this feature, the opportunities are endless, and preparing these in advance means you're ready to launch at any moment
• Promote special offers. Even if it's as simple as changing the color of your wall or adding a date for the end of the offer, the importance lies in surprising your reader's gaze with a new wall

KPIs to track to measure success at this step:
- Click-through rate on your paywall (making sure to mark the dates when you made changes to the wall)
- User-to-subscriber conversion rate

Hack #4: integrate the subscription offers into the paywall

Instead of adding another step to the funnel and asking readers to click-through the wall in order to actually see the subscription offers, integrate them into the wall itself. This removes a potential friction point and has proven to increase conversion rates.

What does this mean exactly? 

• Select 1-3 offers to promote, those that are particularly valuable to your business model or ones that lead to high retention rates
• Create a paywall design that allows you to place subscription offers one next to the other
• Launch, and congratulate yourself for removing a step in the purchasing funnel

KPIs to track to measure success at this step:
- User-to-subscriber conversion rate 

Hack #5: integrate payment into the paywall

In the same mindset as above, save clicks and steps in the conversion funnel by adding payment directly into the paywall. 

What happens when you do this? 

• The reader will add their payment details into the paywall, without having to be redirected or click-through any steps. They stay on the very article that made them convert
• As soon as the payment has been confirmed, the article will unlock

KPIs to track to measure success at this step: 
- User-to-subscriber conversion rate
- To compare performance of this wall vs a traditional wall, you can also track exit-rate

🌟 The bonus hack

The ultimate hack underlining all the other hacks – don't measure overall user-to-subscriber conversion rate, instead cut the tunnel into smaller steps.

In fact, there's quite a few issues with the traditional conversion rate metric, found by dividing the total number of new subscribers by the total traffic: 

• Firstly, well, it's depressing. There are far too many zeros after the decimal
• It's not useful for telling you exactly what you need to improve, or the specific spots that aren't leading readers to the next step
• You can't compare yourself to other publishers with this metric – there's just too many different factors at play

My advice: split conversion into 5 steps

1. Total audience 
2. % of users exposed to the paywall
3. % of users who see the paywall
4. % of users who click on the paywall
5. % of users who pay to subscribe

This is the framework used at Poool to support clients in continuously optimizing conversion performance: 

We also release a Conversion Funnel Benchmark Report each trimester, sharing market trends for each step and providing benchmark metrics from our clients, allowing publishers to compare themselves with others in the industry. By tracking these 5 steps, you concentrate efforts on smaller, more manageable problems, working through them to make incremental improvements on the bigger picture at hand.