The right technology is vital for market research publishers to grow their business via subscriptions and build a quality service for subscribers.
Digital technology continues to drive subscriptions growth
During the pandemic, streaming services and news subscriptions boomed, and publishers with already successful digital subscription services thrived.
Online video streaming services, for example, reached 1.1 billion for the first time, and companies like Netflix experienced historical growth. According to Zuora, a subscription management company, subscription revenue for publishers grew by 16% in 2020.
Subscriptions may have been around for years, but it’s digital technologies and subsequent changes in consumer behaviour that drives continued growth. As a result, how publishers of market analysis deliver research is also changing.
The pandemic made it even more apparent that publishers can no longer depend on advertising or selling one-off reports or data for growth. Being subscriber-first brings benefits, including less reliance on more fickle revenue sources.
But moving from a transactional to a recurring revenue model, or improving on an existing service, requires the right publishing technology. It should enable publishers to develop a relationship over time that moves subscribers from one-off trial transactions onto a subscription.
From transactional to personalised: The four types of commercial relationships for high-value market analysis products
Here are five ways Publish Interactive can help niche publishers to develop subscription services and enable subscribers to maximise usage:
- Shift focus from acquisition to retention
Subscriptions enable a research publisher to forecast the minimum monthly income accurately. This brings assurance and a shift in focus.
With predictable monthly revenues, the sales team need not be preoccupied with making sales to meet core revenue targets. Their time can be better spent developing customer relationships and finding opportunities to up-sell and cross-sell, based on usage data built into the Publish Interactive platform.
- Tools help users gain maximum value from their subscription
For an individual subscription to be worthwhile, the user must feel that it benefits them. It must help them do their job better and save them time.
Workflow tools such as search, snippets, and clippings help users achieve this with simplicity and ease. These tools also allow the publisher to understand subscribers better and develop content and services that meet their needs.
- Deliver more personalised content
Technology gives publishers the flexibility to serve various customer groups, each with different requirements. It enables them to offer users several ways of accessing content, encouraging them to deepen their relationship with the publisher.
It enables publishers to manage subscriptions but also allows them to give content away for free, perhaps on a trial basis, and allows transactional sales too.
4. Build subscriber trust and deepen relationships
Once a relationship is established, it becomes easier to find out what else they and their employer may need. Often, an individual will act as an advocate to help publishers win greater trust within their organisation, which supports the growth of a subscriber base within that business.
This is when the quality of a subscription software can really make a difference. It can help develop a lasting partnership with customers by allowing them to access new services quickly and easily.
5. Gain a new understanding of subscribers
The most valuable aspect of adopting a subscription model is how it enables publishers to reach a powerful new understanding of subscriber behaviour.
Analytics underpins every aspect of an intelligent publishing platform. It enables a subscription model to exist, but more importantly it adds value to that subscription, or alerts the sales team to declining renewals.
“Subscriptions may have been around for years, but it’s digital technologies and subsequent changes in consumer behaviour that drive continued growth.”
Director of Marketing, Publish Interactive
There is huge opportunity to drive subscription revenue
The pandemic has favoured digital publishers with high quality and trustworthy content. Importantly, delivered with the high level of service that consumers have come to expect from all digital services, including research firms.
With the right technology partner, publishers can confidently take advantage of the continued growth in subscriptions and build a subscriber-first business.
Read the whitepaper: Becoming a subscriber-first market analysis provider
