Engagement strategy benchmarks for digital content producers

There is a direct correlation between engagement and revenue – as a user becomes increasingly engaged in your content, they yield gradually more revenue to your business:

More page views for advertising revenue
More likely to create a free account, meaning you can charge more for targeted ad spots
Higher propensity to subscribe in the future
Potential to become a brand advocate who recommends you to others

Engagement is therefore essential for any publisher to track and seek to develop throughout the user journey, moving users from Volatiles (only visiting your site an average of once per month) to Fans (who visit 19+ times a month) and later subscribers.

Take inspiration from some of the most successful publishers in the business on how they engage audiences:

The Independent engagement — The Independent blocks users with a registration wall

Le Monde engagement — Le Monde encourages recirculation with recommended content

BBC engagement — The BBC News app sends push notifications

Channel 4 engagement — Channel 4 on demand allows registered users to save content for later

FT engagement — Financial Times lets users follow topics

L'Oreal engagement — L’Oreal’s brand publication Makeup.com includes quizzes to increase engagement and collect data

Le Drench engagement — Le Drench asks users to vote in articles that are laid out as a debate

Men's Journal engagement — Men’s Journal asking questions to users on the home page

South China Morning Post engagement — South China Morning Post social sharing options are placed at the side of content

The Guardian engagement — The Guardian games app

The Sydney Morning Herald allows commenting for registered users

The Washington Post engagement — The Washington Post ‘The 7’ habit-forming newsletter sent at the same time every day

Best practices for increasing engagement:

Form habits through regularity: e.g. newsletters sent at the same time every day to either form a new habit or fit into an existing one (such as the commute to work or a morning coffee)
Balance frustration with engagement to increase the value of your users. Engagement is great, but you also need to monetize your content!

Employ strategies that encourage recirculation so that users remain on your site
Offer as much personalization as possible (such as for newsletters , push notifications, ect) to make sure users are only getting content that interests and engages them rather than frustrates
Provide value in exchange for conversion steps – for instance, registered users could be offered additional UX features, exclusive content, a lighter ad experience, etc
Interactive content is your new best friend! Engaging users with games, quizzes or personality tests will help to keep them on page for longer and coming more frequently, especially if there’s something to be gained from it (such as a discount, especially if you’re a brand publisher)

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