Importance of Loyalty Programs in Digital Subscriptions

Writer : Rashmi Singh

The traditional wisdom tells us that loyalty programs boost sales for product-selling businesses, be it offline or online. Amazon, after all, revived its monopoly by getting over 100 million Prime Members. But that is an e-commerce business. The relevant question for us is — do loyalty programs work the same in digital subscriptions for digital publishers?

In a world where readers are just one click away from your competitor’s website or app, retaining paid subscribers is more important than ever. Down below is a list of how loyalty programs can play an important role in digital subscriptions:

Loyalty programs are a time-proven technique to increase customer lifetime value (it might be called user lifetime value in the case of digital publishers). On the surface, it seems that the incentives are the driving force behind increased value but in reality, the core reason why users return to the brand is because of the emotional connection.

The repeated behavior generated by loyalty programs helps build a connection between the brand and the user. If digital publishers can also ‘personalize’ their offers, users will be more inclined to foster a connection with the brands.

Acquiring new users is a way more difficult task than retaining the existing user base. Many studies and anecdotal evidence prove that an existing user is more likely to engage with your website or app than new users.

Most digital marketing campaigns focus on acquiring new users. While getting new users is important for long-term growth, retaining the existing customer can get a high ROI. So, digital publishers who want to generate cash flow should focus more on retaining users through loyalty programs.

Yes, we just discussed how retaining old users is relatively easier but that does not negate the value of getting new users. As it turns out, loyalty programs are also helpful for getting new readers that ultimately turn into subscribers.

Sharing an article, video, or any piece of content is just a click away. But despite the ease, people share only a few pieces of content publishers by their favourite brands. If you can manage to satisfy your subscribers with loyalty programs, they will bring in new users via word of mouth. The best part – their family and friends will listen to them more carefully and they will listen to your marketing message.

Loyalty programs benefit both sides: digital subscribers and digital publications. With the help of the right tool, publishers can view real-time data about their readers turning into subscribers and how those subscribers engage with the website or app later.

Access to information about how your users’ engagement with your brand enables you to further make the loyalty program better. Specific incentives in your loyalty programs that do not receive engagement can be dismissed while incentives that work can be boosted further. This way, loyalty programs in digital subscriptions act both as a marketing technique and a form of market research.

Loyalty programs are still being experimented with in the world of digital publication. But no one can argue that loyalty programs bring in benefits like user insights, loyalty, and new users. If digital publishers use the right set of tools, they can generate high ROI from loyalty programs in digital subscriptions.

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