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$4 Million for 35 Subscribers: Does Newsday’s Online Newspaper Have a Sales Conversion Problem?

March 20, 2010 on 10:59 pm | In ConversionCast | 1 Comment

Conversion analysis reveals some missed opportunities

The New York Observer paints a pretty stunning picture of one attempt to launch an online newspaper Web site. Was it to be expected, or is this an online sales conversion problem?

The article states that, after a $4 million overhaul and redesign, newsday.com, the online arm of the Long Island daily Newsday had attracted only 35 subscribers in three months.

Author John Koblin also writes that, since moving the site content behind a “pay wall,” traffic has dropped from 2.2 million monthly unique visits to 1.5 million in just three months. This may not be surprising, since there is little free content available from the online newspaper.

Does Content Want to be Free?

I don’t think so. The price people will pay for content is determined in part by:

1. The price placed on it – What do others think it is worth?

2. Relevance – Should I care about it?

3. Timeliness – Am I getting information when I need it?

4. Uniqueness – Can I get the same thing somewhere else for free?

If your content wants to be free, then you haven’t branded it with at least one of these aspects.

Newsday’s content should pass the test with flying colors.

1. Price: They’re pricing it at $5 a week.

2. Relevance: It is certainly relevant to residents of Long Island.

3. Timeliness: New stories every day and breaking news.

4. Uniqueness: How many online news sources are there for Long Island?

As you will see in my Website review of Newsday.com (see video) they didn’t make the case. To some extent the content – stories, videos and applications – should make the case by itself. However, the site has the same categories, layout and value proposition of many news sites.

So far, all Newsday.com has done is put a price on it’s content.

The proper way to charge for online content

What Newsday’s designers and developers failed to tell management is that newsday.com runs on computers, and computers can monitor the activities of those reading the online edition. This means you can test just about anything in the court of public opinion.

Instead of changing everything, newsday.com should have tested their way into the new business model.

Test the variety of business models to be available: micropayments, donation strategies, “pay for everyone” strategies, as well as the “pay wall” approach.

Test how much “free” content is needed to keep site traffic up.

Test how to present pricing.

Test the price points that will deliver subscribers.

Of course, a testing strategy doesn’t deliver a $4 million pay day to an agency and development team. There are few incentives for patience. If management didn’t think they had the time for a measured rollout before, they certainly don’t now.

Newsday.com Reacts

Blog BobBlitz.com posted a chart showing four possible layouts for the Newsday.com site. It appears that newsday.com is “enhancing its website” by “updating its color scheme.”

I don’t believe this is going to help.

It’s great that they are asking their readers what they think, but Newsday’s problems are elsewhere when you look at it through the eyes of a Conversion Scientist.

Here is my Key Page Review of Newsday.com. Watch to find out where I believe Newsday has gone worked to prevent subscribers from completing a transaction on their site.

Would you like a similar analysis of your site? Request a Conversion Sciences Key Page Review.

Science by Email

ConversionCast: Convert Someone to Your Valentine at Flavia

February 5, 2009 on 10:37 pm | In ConversionCast, Effective eCommerce | 1 Comment

Is Flavia going to help us get some x’s, o’s and some !’s?

It’s time for another special ConversionCast compliments of our friends at Flavia. We look at the three strategies that will make or break an eCommerce site:

• Categories
• Product Pages
• Checkout Process

We also take a hard look at their Home page.

Flavia has one thing going for them: they have metrics installed. In fact, they are double covered with metrics from Omniture Site Catalyst and Google Analytics. This means they know if a change will make a difference in their sales.

More ConversionCasts

Will their customers be their Valentines by buying their products? I’ll try to find out for you.

You can submit your site or landing page for a ConversionCast. Don’t miss our ChristmasCast if you’re into Holiday conversion.

“Valentine” courtesy Daniel Adam Johnson via the Podsafe Music Network

Science by Email

ConversionCast: eCommerce Site Gradware.com

December 30, 2008 on 3:10 pm | In ConversionCast, Effective eCommerce | 3 Comments

In this ConversionCast™, we take a look at academic software and hardward eCommerce site Gradware.com, an academic software and hardware eCommerce site.

What are the key strategies you want to get right if you’re running an eCommerce site? I offer my opinion in the workshop “Identifying Your Key Conversion Strategies,” which you can listen to free. You can also subscribe to The Conversion Scientist Podcast for more on conversion and Web strategy.

The eCommerce Web Site Pattern

When we’re looking at an eCommerce Web site pattern, we want to focus on the following key strategies:

• Product Pages
• Category Navigation
• Transaction or Shopping Cart

For this ConversionCast, we don’t have the time to dive into the purchase process, so we’ve focused on the Home Page, Product Pages and Category Navigation.

More ConversionCasts

Tell us what your eCommerce site offers in the comments below.