Social platforms are limiting news, politics and social change content. The implications are stark for news and nonprofits (not to mention democracy).
It’s harder to find new subscribers and supporters when your organization’s social media posts aren’t seen or shared.
Advertising options are limited if a platform won’t let you post or won’t share those posts (even if you pay them). And advertisers aren’t keen on spending money to advertise on news sites with falling reach.
Of course, some organizations will feel more (or less) impact.
But everyone working with donors, members and subscribers should consider the stakes.
You can’t afford to lose supporters or see subscribers drift into the nether reaches of inaction.
Bringing in new members takes more resources and time. And if you can’t keep folks around long enough to break even then why bother?
Keeping people on your list, in you membership and (more importantly!) engaged in the work has never been more important.
Retention for the practical and adventurous
Last year I took a look at why people stay – in a job, a community, with their subscription or their ongoing donations. It’s a mix of inertia, habit, identity, trust, value and a sense of belonging.
People are inclined to stick around. We want to give something a try. And we don’t want (or are too lazy) to give up on things.
But we’re not looking to build a list of inactive followers. So use inertia to your advantage. Use the inclination to stick around to build a relationship.
Start by learning about your people.
Forms, questions and surveys are your friend. So is a survey tool that connects to your email and membership systems so that it can pre-populate fields like email address.
But most important, be curious, create a culture of conversation and recognize supporters. Denverite wishes happy birthday to subscribers in their daily email:
And if you click “update your preferences” they pre-fill your email address. Easy.
A little recognition goes a long way. You could also use this to send donors (or even non-paying subscribers) a more personal acknowledgment on their birthday – a note and sticker in the mail.
You can ask for other contact info. Mailing address is a great one. Zip code or city/town name is also a place to start.
Give folks a reason to share info. If you’re a news site you could give people local news (or, buzzword warning, hyperlocal news). A nonprofit that deals with environmental, political, educational or economic data could use a zip code or address search provide local or even neighborhood level info on pollution, schools, per capita income trends or more.
Idea alert: Address data isn’t just for subscribers.
Owen Berg, a recent graduate of New York University’s Studio 20 journalism masters program, wrote up a great case study on a local engagement project run New York’s The City, a nonprofit newsroom steeped in service journalism.
The team figured that readers (and potential readers!) were busy living their lives and not necessarily looking for more news sites to follow. And, like many New Yorkers, they might be dealing with high heating costs during the winter. Berg outlines the strategy:
- Match a piece of service journalism to a location.
- Directly deliver impactful information to that area.
- Measure success, and repeat.
They looked at data on city rent and utility cost regulation and set up postcards that simply brought awareness to the issue and sent people to The City’s rent map tool.
Read more about the project in Berg’s Nieman Lab story. Berg acknowledges that this project brings together audience development and journalism. This sort of work is an opportunity for news orgs but also nonprofits that have data but struggle to get it into the hands of residents, community leaders and journalists.
As journalists speculate about whether news is entering a “post-social media” era, we raise a lot of questions about how to move forward with reaching new audiences. I believe local news is in an interesting position to innovate here because of its unique ability to establish a physical presence in the communities it covers.
– Owen Berg
Another way to get more info: just ask for it!
The conclusion of the Chicago Sun-Times’s welcome email to new subscribers uses humor to ask people to share a little more info about themselves:
It’s a great idea. This probably won’t get many clicks buried in the PS. It could also be more transparent about what the information asked for will be and how it will be used to support the reader’s experience. You could also include an offer – share info and receive a coupon for a free drink at Giordano’s (for example). But it sets an expectation and tone. And you know that someone who does click it is interested.
Only email is required (and they already have your email) and it doesn’t acknowledge that you’re getting this because you’re a newsletter subscriber. It’s probably a form used for many purposes (newsletter subscribers, new paid members, event attendees, etc.).
Instead of (or in addition) zip code you could test city name. Chicagoans love to talk about where they live…even if it’s Schaumburg.
Vary the form by newsletter and ask a question tied to that newsletter. Did someone subscribe to “Halas Intrigue”? Ask them who is their favorite Bears player of all time. Subscribe to “Someone in Chicago” (An advice column where Chicago can ask questions on how to navigate life transitions, relationships, family, finance and more.) Let them ask a question in the welcome message. Give them a favorite tip or idea from a recent column.
Do things with and for your people
News organization using events as a revenue stream isn’t new. This 2014 American Press Institute story covers tactics for event revenue. It draws on lessons from the then 5-year old Texas Tribune.
In a 2017 report, Journalism Live: How News Events Foster Engagement and Expand Revenue (pdf), Josh Stearns at Democracy Fund gets into the weeds of tactics, planning, pulling off and paying for different kinds of events. There are even worksheets and templates – super useful for orgs of any kind that are new to planning in person events for their community.
In person events don’t need to be high cost but they are logistical hurdles and you don’t want to set yourself up to fail.
Webinars and smaller, more nimble, online events are great options. You could run regular new member, reader, subscriber events. Invite people to a bi-weekly or monthly live event. Maybe host it at a couple different times. Keep it short. Introduce new readers to people on your team. Maybe give folks a chance to meet each other (zoom rooms!). Give people a call to action – a next step like committing to attend an in-person event or become a paying member.
Basically: Help people feel part of something.
Pay attention to people who click (or even open) an invite email but don’t register or attend. Reach out to them with a special invite or ask them about obstacles to attending or better ways to host an event like this.
Transacting like you enjoy it
Don’t throw away your opportunities to have a conversation, share a bit of humor or ask for more info. Transactional emails – the receipt, thank you and other automated update messages – play a hidden role in retention.
Cory Brown of the 99 Newsletter Project (among other good works) had this to say about transactional messages:
One thing I’d love to see more of: Using transactional emails to reinforce the value proposition for readers, rather than just being another ignorable receipt to file away.
It doesn’t take much to stand out — a receipt email doesn’t need to be 9 paragraphs. But a little personality and thoughtfulness can go a long way.
– Cory Brown
At a minimum: don’t ignore or be casual about transactional emails. Be on point. Don’t be boring. And don’t ever confuse people. I’ve seen “thanks for giving” emails sent from the address and with the branding of the payment processor – a third party that the member/donor has never heard of before. It’s the sort of thing that creates doubts rather than trust.
Retention starts before a member joins or subscribes
Perhaps the moral of the story is retention starts before someone shows up.
First, have a deliberate retention strategy, including some basics:
- A welcome series.
- Events and engagements designed to make people welcome and comfortable early on. Don’t just let them subscribe and throw them into the unnavigable “we need your money now” waters.
- Segmenting and reporting designed to give you a look at retention results at 3, 6, 9 months and so on.
Second, if you want people who stick around look for people like those who already stick around.
It’s easy(ish) to recruit people from an email acquisition service, Facebook lead gen or ad campaign. But good initial results don’t always mean much in the long run. If folks from a certain list or demographic recruited a year or two back didn’t show good retention, don’t go back to that source.
This may mean looking at smaller or more niche audiences and lists. You may want to partner with smaller organizations and/or online media outlets and influencers.
Third, don’t fake people out. Organizations may go looking for a new audiences and offer up a kind of content or focus that appeals to the audience but isn’t what the organization does. This sort of crossover content can backfire.
A recent report by Dr. Francie Ostrower at the LBJ School looked at the results of arts organizations who invested in audience recruitment programs funded by the Wallace Foundation.
The results of one-off programs for the sake of recruiting new audiences were disappoint. Don’t be something you aren’t just to please people (woah, verbatim mom-speak). It’s also a reminder that people don’t immediately attach to a brand or org.
Don’t wait for Elvis to leave the building
Raise your hand if you love planning and running a reactivation campaign to get inactive subscribers or lapsed supporters back in the fold?
Anyone? Yeah. I know a few folks (like me) who actually like this work. But it’s rough. And if reactivation is the extent of your retention strategy then you’re too late to do much good.
Want to keep people around – get to them early. Once someone hits an 18 or 24 month inactive list they’ve almost certainly moved on.
As Frank Page probably realized, people aren’t here for the Hayride. Give them a reason to stay.