By Matt Lindsay Special to News & Tech

Imagine if we could observe every customer’s interaction with printed products as we do with consumers of digital content. We would wonder why so many people read one print article and then no others. We would see a lot of anonymous print readers that came from waiting rooms, restaurants, friend’s homes and their parents’ subscriptions.

We might see readers of prior issues that found the printed copy from the previous week in a pile of mail, and we would see an occasional lack of read- ing from many seven-day subscribers.

Undoubtedly, there would be readers that spent hours with the print product every week, reading articles, completing the crossword puzzle and making notes in the TV book. We would see print subscribers that never read an article, but redeemed coupons from several print copies during their weekly trip to the grocery store. Basically, we would see a lot of customer behavior from print readers similar to that observed with the digital audience.

In this example, a print audience would have patterns much more similar to the digital audience of a typical newspaper. About 10 percent of the unique visitors would read about half of the total articles consumed, and about 1 percent of total readers would subscribe. If a print publisher could get millions of non-subscribers to read one of their articles a week, as they do from social media for their digital products, they would consider that a tremendous success. Advertisers would think of print publications with those statistics much differently.

So, knowing that these groups likely behave similarly, how do we use tactics used for sales and marketing on the print side to grow digital audiences? It begins with segmenting the audience and offering products that appeal to those segments.

Divide and conquer

Publishers have long offered product configurations and bundles of print products that are tailored to customer groups with similar preferences. Core customers receive a premium level of service with daily delivery of the product to their home. Aspiring core customers that lack the time to read every day receive partial-week home delivery at slightly higher per-copy prices. Customers that are not as engaged with the content but enjoy special features, such as the TV book, weekly magazine, book reviews and advertising inserts, subscribe to Sunday-only home delivery at a high per-copy price.

Within each of these print product configurations focused on customer segments, publishers have offered new-customer discounts at different term lengths and payment options. As these new customers renewed, publishers offered different pricing and incentives based on the observed behaviors and account characteristics of these customers. These same customer acquisition tactics, and many others not possible with print audiences, are available to digital publishers.

In analyzing digital audiences for publishers, we find that similar customer segments exist in many markets. There is the highly engaged, very loyal core audience that will spend hours with the content every week. There are segments anchored by certain content categories, such as business, sports and local news, that do not read much else outside of their primary interest area. There are customers that come to special features, such as photo galleries, in response to social media referrals and do not read any of the journalistic content. Finally, there are some customers that come to view advertisements only.

So what can publishers do to grow their digital-only subscriber base?

Start with identifying audience segments with similar preferences and purchasing patterns. A significant number of your most engaged digital customers are likely already paying you. These are individuals that have a print subscription either for the asso- ciated digital access or because they like to have access to your content across platforms. There are customers that read as much free content as you will give them, but the act of subscribing is too much of a “cost” to them to get over the hurdle. The sharing of personal information, the entry of credit card data or the time required to complete the process are all costs to these customers, in addition to the monetary transaction, and the total price is too high.

Besides these two groups, there are many other customer segments that can be defined by consumption patterns, platform preferences (smart-phone, tablet, e-edition, browser) and other characteristics that are observable on digital platforms and not print.

Secondly, speak to these segments using specific language describing the package of content and services in a way that appeals to their perception of the brand and relationship to the product. Frame a subscription or purchase using the content they consume most often as the reference point for their decision, such as “see the 5,000 articles on Chicago Cubs baseball we publish every season from spring training through the World Series.”

Finally, develop products and bundles that enhance the value of their relationship, even if that means splitting the monetary from non-monetary costs of the subscription. For example, offer a business e-newsletter to readers in exchange for registration that will enable better targeting. Sell full digital access bundled with access to special events only available to those customers. Develop special advertising offers to be delivered to readers who opt in by providing their email address and personal information. These tactics can help publishers not only acquire, but engage digital customers. Research indicates growing engagement is a requirement to selling more subscriptions, and engagement is enhanced through customized products and services.

Back to the future

As different as digital audiences may seem, the strategies and tactics for monetizing them are similar to what publishers and other industries have done for many years. Use information on customers and their preferences to make your product and services as compelling as possible. And knowing what alternatives to your product, such as free Web products, may appeal to each segment will also determine what to sell and how much you can charge. Publishers are innovating in digital product design and marketing, and digital-only audiences will grow to levels that are able to sustain journalism companies, even as advertising revenue continues to decline. It may take some time, but, to borrow an expression about Rome, print customer bases were not acquired in a day.

Matt Lindsay is president of Atlanta-based Mather Economics, a global consulting firm that applies proprietary analytical tools to help businesses implement effective pricing strategies. He can be reached at matt@mathereconomics.com.