One road to digital media success is using technology to its greatest effect. While many publishers already have email newsletters and mobile apps for driving traffic, they don’t always get their full potential. This limits their impact on repeat visits. Expanding uses of email and mobile platforms can increase reader reach and engagement, ultimately leading to more pageviews and revenue.

How The Washington Post, The New York Times and Bustle Do It

As one example, The Washington Post has increased increased email subscribers by 1 million and pageviews by 129% in the past year. How did they do it? With 50 different newsletters that cover everything from general news to special interests to single topics, such as North Korea or poetry.

The New York Times also uses its 33 email newsletters, some of which have a 70% open rate (as compared to the media industry’s 38.5% open rate), to drive loyalty. The publication says that email subscribers are twice as likely to become paid subscribers. While these email newsletters produce ad revenue, their primary benefit is audience development.

Bustle recently introduced a new mobile app that has increased both engagement, to six minutes on average, and repeat visits. The online pub’s unique strategy for repeat is to generate Twitter and Snapchat feeds during both live televised events and TV show episodes. This second-screen engagement creates a three- to four-fold increase in use, significantly increasing repeat visits.

Bustle mobile app

Focusing on its mobile app is a smart move for Bustle. A recent report from comScore reveals that use of mobile devices for engaging with digital media has increased 53% since 2013. The mobile apps of the top 1,000 digital media properties has also grown audience sizes by 36%. Clearly, mobile is critical to bringing in modern online readers in and get them to come back again and again.

How You Can Do It

Using our guide, Increasing Repeat Visits, publishers can learn more about using email and mobile to increase reader reach and engagement. Tactics we recommend include:

  • Expanding email newsletter topics beyond general-interest news to increase subscriptions
  • Pushing time-sensitive, personalized news alerts to readers via both email and mobile platforms
  • Creating email and mobile app triggers personalized to readers favorite columnists

Download the guide for more details on how onboarding can be the start of a beautiful relationship.