Converting Online News Visitors to Subscribers: Exploring the Effectiveness of Paywall Strategies Using Behavioural Data

Our study investigates how newspapers’ paywall strategies are associated with whether visitors (1) begin and (2) finish the process of taking out an online news subscription. Firstly, we investigate correlations between showing various “teaser” elements on paywalled articles and whether visitors start the subscription process by clicking a “subscribe now”-type button. Visitors clicking that button are usually shown specific subscription offers. We also investigate the associations between these offers and whether visitors finally subscribe. We find that showing a standfirst/deck or introductory paragraph/sentences on a paywalled article significantly reduces the odds of visitors clicking the “subscribe now” button. Some visitors may believe they have gathered enough information from these teaser elements and decide not to subscribe to read further. Regarding finishing the subscription process, our results show that offering a discount significantly increases the odds of people paying for subscription. The other subscription offers—offering an ePaper, base subscription price, length and cost of trails, and offering smart devices or small gifts—were mostly not associated with the decision to subscribe. This study has practical implications for paywall design. Reducing the information density of teaser elements on paywalled articles and offering discounts may help newspapers increase their online subscriber numbers.