A medium-sized US publisher wanted to move away from time-based mass-marketing campaigns and use customer-level targeting to reach their customers.  Their goals were to increase engagement and improve customer retention.

Mather Economics created customized digital engagement scores/segments and profiles based on the content each customer was reading online.  Customers were grouped into six topics of preference based on how they engaged (frequency of visit, page views, time spent, scroll depth…etc.).  A “lead nurturing” campaign was built to targeted themed newsletters to each customer, matching their content preference.  Once email engagement reached a desirable level, a custom subscription offer was sent to each customer to convert them to a paid subscriber.  Additionally, a “cart abandonment” list was prepared for customers who had registered and interacted with the paywall, but stopped in the middle of the checkout process before converting to a paid subscriber.

The test results showed an increase in open rates from 15% to nearly 57% using a targeted marketing strategy.  Results are still pending; however, conversions are expected to grow from both campaigns as results are measured.