(UPDATE: Just a quick clarification that the example below was sent to expired subscribers. So these folks had already received — and not responded to — a renewal series. That’s why I put the response in the 1 - 3% range, vs. what one might expect as part of an actual renewal series.)
Print-based magazines are constantly managing subscriber churn. Every year one group of people lets their subscription lapse, while others either renew or subscribe for the first time. Similar to almost any type of revenue-generating enterprise, the magic is keeping attrition rates low and managing the cost of acquiring new customers or keeping existing ones. E-mail marketing is one way to approach a lapsed campaign at a lower cost than a typical direct mail.
For example:
- If your publication decided to send a simple direct mail package to 2000 lapsed subscribers, you could easily invest $1000 or more on the printing, lettershop services, and postage costs.
- If that campaign delivered what I understand to be the industry average of 1%, you’d be lucky to get 20 returning subscribers.
- In this scenario, each returning subscriber came at a cost of $50.
To me, that seems like a pretty high price to pay. Though the lifetime value of that customer may work in your publication’s favour in the long run, it would certainly be nice to be able to invest less in encouraging that subscriber to come back.
Now, let’s say that your direct mail outperforms the 1% rule and gets up to 2% or 3%, reducing the cost per returned subscriber to just $25 or $16. Well now we’re talking, right? Wrong: what if you could achieve the same results for $25? Not $25 per returned subscriber — but just $25 for the whole campaign! Interested? Keep reading…
So, the key ingredients in our example e-mail-based lapsed-subscriber campaign are:
- A really simple HTML e-mail: just a nice, easy-to-read font, some careful underlining / highlighting, and only two links in the message. (Basically, following the form of a typical direct mail, or e-mail campaign.)
- Link #1: The “subscribe now for just $36” link.
- Link #2: If you can’t subscribe now, please forward this offer to a friend.
- A lapsed subscriber list (in this example, we just needed their e-mail address, as we didn’t personalize the message).
- A secure special offer Web page that subscribers visit to fill in their info.
With e-mail marketing, the results typically come in quickly — days, not weeks — so the trend was obvious immediately. However, after just one week, this is how our lapsed subscriber e-mail campaign did:
- 1,801 recipients
- 385 people opened the e-mail (31% of of all recipients)
- 89 people clicked one of the two links (23% of those who opened the message)
- 10 of the recipients have unsubscribed
- 557 emails bounced back (that’s 30.93% of all recipients)
- 14 forwards (where subscribers forwarded the e-mail to another person)
And — last but not least — 23 subscriptions. That’s a decent 1.2% response rate on the campaign, with a total campaign cost of just $25. At just $1.09 per subscriber, we could even do a follow-up!
Do you have results from a similar campaign that you’re able to share? If so, post ‘em in the comments below.
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Hi Phillip!
Just a short comment about copy/approach, to go along with the email medium.
I've been telling people for years now, at my seminars, that the most successful e-renewals I've done have taken advantage of the unique legitimacy of email -- it's not snail mail so it can ask whether snail mail is working. Here's my usual e-renewal pitch (subject line and first couple of paras):
"RE: Your Opera Canada subscription
Dear Ms Parker,
We never received your response to the expiration
notices we were sending you about your subscription
to Opera Canada magazine.
I just wanted to check that your mailing address is
still correct, and that you have been receiving the
magazine (and our renewal reminders!).
OPC 51375 R0182RR06
Mary Jo Parker
Los Angeles Opera
135 North Grand Ave
TORONTO ON M6J 2J7
Please let me know if any corrections are necessary.
And if you've been meaning to renew, just reply to
this email, or call our subscription department
TOLL-FREE at 1-800-222-5097. I'll resume your
subscription and send you an invoice. (Please do NOT
send your credit card information via email.)"
[then the offer, some editorial highlights of the upcoming issue, etc.]
"If you reply right away, I can still send you our
exciting Fall 2004 issue (see note from our editors,
below) ... as well as our upcoming annual Opera Canada
Awards issue, celebrating the career achievements of
mezzo Judith Forst, bass Joseph Rouleau, and
conductor Mario Bernardi.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Yours,
Jon Spencer
Circulation Manager, Opera Canada magazine
P.S. Your privacy is important to us. This is the only
time we'll be contacting you by email, and the
last time we'll inquire about your subscription."
I have often done these as plain text, no links whatsoever, just like a personal email. In fact, for Opera Canada in particular, with very few email addresses on-file, I've usually sent them out myself in little batches of a few dozen, one email at a time since I have no sophisticated eblast software at my disposal. So they really ARE a personal email from me.
Although sent out when all renewal efforts have already been mailed, and our usual renewal response rate has been roughly achieved, these emails get anywhere from 7% to 11% renewal response (it varies from magazine to magazine, as well as by source and ancientness of expire), with some very appreciative comments from customers who don't feel like they've been marketed at, but realize instead that we have gone the extra mile to ensure their subscriptions are well served. Subscribers really DO move, they forget to tell publishers, etc. A typical response:
"Pardon me for not having replied to your previous notices. Yes, please renew my subscription to the OPERA CANADA magazine for the next 2 years at the $49.00 rate. The address you have on file is correct and I look forward to receiving the Fall 2004 issue. Thank you for your patience."
Of course, most people don't renew, but because of the nature of the correspondence, they often reply with their reasons, so it serves as a useful mini-survey. An example:
"We have decided not to renew. Too many magazines and newspapers are coming in and I'm not reading them. Thank you for checking."
Someday, I hope to get around to doing a head-to-head test of one approach versus the other, and see which one is better. Or you might want to try testing it out yourself and see how it works on two randomly-selected groups of expiring customers, while controlling for all other variables (prior source, age of expire etc.).
I think this approach works well when contacting fairly recent expires (I usually go back a year or so with this kind of pitch). Older lapsed expires might not be quite as amenable to this approach, without some copy tweaking.
All the best,
-- Jon