Delivering the value subscribers thought they signed up for, and addressing churn, are two problems familiar to most publishers.

Aftenposten in Oslo, Norway has addressed both with an engaging and customer-centric onboarding experience delivering promising results, Therese Grieves and Ekaterina Zelina say in an INMA Ideas Blog.

The manager of onboarding & engagement and experiment specialist say that while Aftenposten has maintained a steady pace in sales, high churn rates remain an issue that needs to be addressed.

“User interviews underscore that subscribers simply aren’t getting enough value out of their subscriptions, and many face challenges in discovering content that aligns with their preferences or the content that prompted their initial subscription,” they say.

In short, they had to solve the challenges of declining renewal rates, and unclear return of value.

A cross-functional team, Lifecycle, was formed with members from product and tech, editorial, CX/CRM, and data and analysis, and the goal of addressing these challenges, focussing on initiatives and strategies that educate new subscribers on the benefits of a subscription.

Four user needs targeted were:

-make me feel like becoming a subscriber was a great idea;

-help me get the most value out of my subscription;

-show me the Aftenposten content universe; and

-help me find content I like and want to read.

An initial experiment was the First Step Guide, which introduced an onboarding flow immediately after purchase, and addressed two out of the four identified user needs (1 and 2). In four steps, it promoted app downloads, subscription sharing, text-to-speech articles, and newsletters.

“All of these are actions we know have a positive effect on both usage and churn,” they say. “Alongside the FSG on-site, we designed an onboarding process linked to the user’s actions via email and in-product messaging (via our marketing automation system, Braze), where we personalised messaging according to each new subscriber’s actions.

“The FSG had a positive effect on subscription sharing and app downloads, but this engagement was only seen in the 16 per cent of trial subscribers who completed or engaged with the guide.”

The next experiment aimed to boost this percentage while also addressing additional user needs in the trial subscribers’ journey (3 and 4).

If subscribers use Aftenposten in the first week after purchase, there’s a higher chance they will continue using it in the second, third and fourth weeks. “We’ve also learned from earlier experiments that users who make an active choice tend to be more engaged and have higher renewal rates.

“Therefore, in the new experiment (active personalised onboarding), trial subscribers encountered a list of topics on the receipt page, providing them with the option to follow their preferences. We selected topics known to positively influence habit formation, incorporating content typically less prominent in daily front-page displays.”

Upon toggling the preferred topics, subscribers would get a widget, ‘Articles for you’ on the front page, showcasing the latest published articles within the chosen categories. Users also have the option to edit the topics.

Results of the campaign have seen active personalisation onboarding result in a 25 per cent higher completion rate (21 per cent vs 16 per cent), with app usage significantly higher among the group with FSG (30 per cent vs 18 per cent).

There was no significant difference among the groups for subscription sharing or digital activity. The first renewal rate is seven per cent higher for the group with the FSG onboarding (38.5 per cent vs 35.7 per cent).

“Based on the results, we are now working on combining the FSG onboarding with active personalisation, leveraging the strengths of both. This hybrid approach aims to leverage the engagement strengths of FSG with the inclusivity of active personalisation for a more effective onboarding experience.

“Additionally, we are aiming for a more seamless experience beyond the initial 30 days. By expanding on the user journey within our marketing automation system, we can leverage their actions throughout the first 30 days and start working on engaging the users from day 30 to 100.