This summer, a Pew Research study reported that 62% of Americans get their news via social media. That’s up from 49% in 2012. For digital media properties, this loss of connection to reader audiences translates directly into fewer pageviews and lower revenue. Worse yet, in 2015 65% of digital ad revenue went into the pockets of non-media tech entities, including Facebook, Google, Twitter and Yahoo. But media properties should not despair: there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Online Readers are More Loyal than You Might Believe

Online readers are more loyal than you, or they, think. Consumers say say they’re not particularly loyal to any news source but their behavior says otherwise. While 48% of those surveyed by Pew say they’re not particularly loyal to a specific news source, 76% say they typically turn to the same source for their news. That’s a big opportunity gap for digital media to capitalize on.

How Can Publishers Convert this Unconscious Loyalty into Reliable Readership?

At Marigold Engage by Sailthru, our strategy team has tested strategies and studied the success of hundreds of digital media customers. We’ve compiled the results of this work into a guide for creating unique experiences that make readers want to return. Our Increasing Repeat Visits strategy guide includes details on implementing high-impact, proactive reader retention strategies, including:

  • Personalization
  • Onboarding
  • Expanding reach and engagement
  • Re-engagement
  • Optimizing cadence, creative, channel and content

While we can’t guarantee that all these approaches will be equally effective for all publishers, we can say that digging into the details is worth the time and effort.

Finding the right strategy depends on matching resources, organizational priorities and past experience with the available options. In addition to specifics on each strategy, we’ve included micro case studies that illustrate how specific digital publishers have increased subscriber engagement and visit rates using these strategies.  

Download your guide to increasing repeat visits and see how these strategies can help you keep your audience coming back!