You're reading The Audiencers' newsletter #53 sent out on December 11th, 2024. To receive future newsletters straight to your inbox every two weeks, sign up here.
It’s our final newsletter of 2024 (🥹) so we’re back with The Audiencers’ best-of, bringing you the most inspiring must-reads of the year.
The most read by you
A clear winner, the Der Spiegel team’s research on identifying which editorial and product features lead to regular and deep engagement definitely caught your attention.
The goal: to be able to prioritize which features should be promoted and explained during onboarding, and incorporated into product design considerations
Results: All features are mapped on the usage-preference matrix below using two axes. The Y-axis shows the observed usage values from our website tracking tool, while the X-axis shows the preferences that fans indicated in the survey.
8 features can be identified as engagement boosters…
> Apps & push
> News & update
> Opinion
> Debate (I interviewed their team about the debating feature here)
> Quiz
> Video
> Thematic Entry
> Recommendation boxes
What do they plan to do with this information?
1 – Increase the number of engaged readers by strategically nudging those with lower usage towards key engagement drivers and support the adaptation of ritualized interactions with these features
2 – Enhance the visibility and ease of access to these engagement drivers on the homepage
> More detail on the methodology and results in this brilliant article by Alex Held and Angelika Zajac.
The article to take into 2025
One of the central topics in the industry this year has been acquiring and engaging young audiences. And if you’re working on this topic, you HAVE to follow Denuta Bregula and Liesbeth Nizet, authors of Youthquake and stuff newsletter.
Amongst plenty of other insights, they’ve found that we’re shifting from a linear model to a more dynamic, engaging approach that reflects the ways Gen Z and Gen Alpha interact with content and more important, that starts from a belonging perspective.
Which is why they reshaped the traditional marketing funnel into a youth-friendly version, using success stories from both inside and outside the media world.
The deepest read
Clearly an important topic, this article on how to choose your CMS had by far the most time on page
I mean it makes sense, as the central piece of this tech architecture, connected to most of the other components either feeding them with content (Newsletters, notifications, print, etc…) or being the receptacle of content from elsewhere (cards, data-viz, video production, user-generated content…), choosing the right CMS is essential.
The most popular Festival session recap
Traditionally reserved for advertising, the end of an article is perhaps the most lucrative real estate, and a place that The Guardian has really made their own.
Today, the famous Guardian ‘Epic’ is their primary acquisition channel, and the subject of our first session on stage at The Audiencers’ Festival London.
What makes these Epics such a success?
> Powerful copy that translates supporter motivations, leans into the news cycle, speaks to events and sometimes plays around with some tongue and cheek
> Speak to the story you’ve just read, making it feel personally
> The innovative article count feature, a form of ‘fitbit for news’
> Integrating payment flow into the Epic
> Testing pricing strategies – optimize for recurring revenues via choice, gently pushing people where you want them to go, show the different and flexible ways to support
> ‘Remind me later’ emails – over half of one-time contributors said they were willing to be reminded to give again in the future, under certain conditions
Full insights shared by Julia Hinds & Jim Scutt at in this article
And as for 2025…
Well, you’ll be pleased to hear that The Audiencers’ Tour is back next year for a new round of Festivals (and in some new locations 👀), alongside plenty more opportunities to engage with fellow Audiencers, a fresh lick of paint on the site and maybe even our own subscription model… Stay tuned. In the meantime, we hope you have a wonderful end to 2024 – enjoy time with family and friends, and we’ll see you in the New Year!
Madeleine & Marion
