Are you ready to get behind a paywall?

Online payments have been particularly difficult in India, be it because of the limited bank options or the lack thereof, on the consumer end. With enabling auto payments through UPI, consumers are now able to pay smaller amounts and allow automatic payment with just a registered phone number. In other words, your readers no longer need a credit card to subscribe, and this helps you expand your audience by a huge number.

Studies show that about 80% of digital publishers find it difficult to convert anonymous traffic to subscriber traffic.

An easy way out of this would be to have clarity on the quality of articles you put a price tag on. If you have an effective paywall media strategy, you get to play with the content to your benefit.

While it is easier for bigger media publishers to go behind the paywall, it isn't necessarily the case with smaller media houses. A carefully thought out paywall strategy that fits your content nature would get you out of this dilemma.

What are your options with paywalls?

A paywall allows you to charge a specified amount of money for the content you generate. The most popularly witnessed paywalls are the Metered and the Freemium paywall.

An example of the Metered paywall is The New York Journal or Bloomberg Quint, where the general readers have access to some articles and get sneak peeks of premium articles while the loyal subscriber base is pumped with their best content in all of its depth.

A freemium model on the other hand is very reader-friendly, most articles are free while keeping special stories on the price shelf. Allowing you to stop stressing over losing SEO as you dip your toes into a paywall monetization strategy.

Other paywall strategies include simple subscription, like Bar and bench

Category access helps widen the reader's choices

Campaign-based support

The Dilemma of Payment has been simplified.

With Accesstype, the content monetization tool offered by Quintype, the readers have a user-friendly experience in subscribing to your content. This ensures that the customer isn’t annoyed by the time taken or the complicated series of steps to follow. Accesstype allows smooth transactions over your platform through e-wallets, credit cards and netbanking.

The UPI front makes the payment seamless, quite literally. Having an effective pricing paywall strategy allows you to set different prices for different categories of your readers, thereby ensuring maximum reader engagement.

Accesstype allows you to have a smooth monetization experience. Here are the key functions provided:

• Easy monthly payments,

• Allows you to organize content into customizable subscription plans,

• Provides in-depth insights into revenue,

• Metered paywalls,

• Memberships and donations

• Ad-free experience

• Fundraiser campaigns

• Micropayments and pay-per-article

• Corporate or student subscription

• Recurring subscriptions

In an article by Forbes India, a new study that incorporates data on the four primary revenue components of traditional newspaper companies (print subscription, print advertising, digital subscription, and digital advertising) finds that for companies with high circulations and large amounts of exclusive content, paywalls can increase overall sales, often by increasing demand for print subscriptions.

We have also noticed that paywalls tend to increase the value of ad-impressions as they further streamline the target audience. Takeaway? It's a win-win!

How do you ensure your audience's loyalty?

• Set different payment strategies for diverse social groups. Having a diverse paywall plan allows you to group your audience and then use this data to pump the stories they demand.

• Keep a lookout for any friction in the reading experience. Gated content strategy needs to be fine-tuned regularly.

• Encourage readers to spend more time on your website, have relevant story suggestions, place more stories in popular genres.

• Everybody likes a good deal. If special deals aren't a part of your paywall, your subscribers will switch to other channels. Include annual deals and festival deals to keep your audience active.

Perks of a good paywall media strategy:-

1. Tracking audience -

With a proper pricing strategy, you can categorize your audience efficiently. Asking people to pay for a subscription can start a principled cycle of building a close relationship with readers which can then be used for generating revenue strategies. Having a good understanding of your audience allows you to filter your stories and utilize your resources.

2. The no advertisement strategy -

A recent trend that’s being adopted across various channels is that of premium viewership. While the advertisement revenue is no joke in the publishing world, it is easily balanced by readers who are ready to pay for clutter-free content.

3. Bias control -

The readers enjoy a critical point of view and a daring perspective, this is nearly impossible if your company is backed by funds from elsewhere. It is also easy to understand what the slant of your audience is with increased interactions on the platform or through social media feedback.

Leap of faith.

How sure do you want to be before going behind the paywall?

One way to deal with this issue is by taking baby steps, you can test the water by adopting a metered paywall, or free subscription pricing strategy. You will then have access to a data wall that can help you decide if paywalls would work well or not. Once you have a clear stratification from click baits to solid in-depth stories, you can start rolling out content.

The persistent challenge will always be beating your content with the free content available. One can only wait for the viewers to evolve from the pit of generic stories.

“If you’re a media firm thinking about pursuing a digital paywall sales strategy, you have to make sure you have the reputation and the uniqueness of content to do it, because if you don’t, then you will likely fail.” cautions Chung. (a researcher who analyzed 79 media firms using 10 years of circulation and subscription price data)

People won’t buy something they don't know exists. A good hook to your premium stories can get the reader intrigued. Once you’ve gained enough attention, asking readers to link their subscriptions with their UPI IDs will only take an OTP.

Quintype offers a free, no-obligation consultation on beneficial paywall strategies so you can truly enjoy the digital space. To schedule a demo, visit - http://quintype.com/schedule-demo