5 components that publishers should consider for their digital success

Many publishers are missing out on the opportunities offered by digital products. This is because a large number of online readers get stuck on the homepage without delving deeper into the content and reading articles regularly. For most readers, a subscription is not an option. But there is enormous potential here that often remains untapped. It is therefore all the more important for publishers to design digital products that are actually used and offer readers added value in the long term. In this article, you will find out which five strategic components are essential to make digital products not only high-quality and successful, but also future-proof.  

1. Consider user needs

User needs enable editorial teams to create targeted, appealing content. The concept of user needs is not new - the BBC World News Service introduced this model back in 2016. It defines the typical reasons why people consume news. The driving factors of user needs are fact- and context-oriented, emotion-driven and action-oriented content.  

Eight user needs can be derived from these four factors. Editorial teams can adapt these depending on their target group and based on their tasks. The integration of these needs changes the way editorial teams work and their approach to content creation. New, innovative formats are emerging alongside traditional news pieces.  

User needs that editorial teams should consider:  

• ‍Update Me: Classic, fact-oriented news formats inform the audience.
• Educate me: Background and explanatory pieces help the audience to better understand complex topics. They offer deeper insights that go beyond what traditional news formats can provide. These formats fulfill the need for well-founded information and orientation, offer real added value and strengthen trust in reporting through thorough research and expertise. 
• Give me perspective: Analyses and commentary pieces help the audience to better classify and evaluate topics, events and developments. They go beyond the mere communication of facts and fulfill the need to engage critically with a topic. 
• Help me: Formats such as guides answer specific questions and provide helpful tips. Announcements of relevant events inform the audience and make planning and participation easier. 
• Divert me: For many people, entertaining formats are a welcome distraction from their often stressful everyday lives. They fulfill the need for light, appealing reading that can be informative and enjoyable. Editorial offices thus offer a balanced mix of content. 
• Inspire me: In an often negative news world, encouraging and solution-oriented formats offer the audience hope and options for action. They promote solution-oriented thinking and reduce the feeling of powerlessness with constructive perspectives.  

Data from management consultancy Highberg shows a clear discrepancy between the content that editorial teams are currently writing and that which interests readers. Traditional reporting is less important in the digital world, while new narrative formats are becoming increasingly important and achieving a higher media usage time. Encouraging and solution-oriented formats (Inspire me) as well as in-depth analyses and commentaries (Give me perspective) are particularly in demand.

2. Create a broadcast schedule

Another step towards focusing on user needs is the creation of a digital "broadcasting schedule". This determines when which formats are published. This plan is based on user needs and other key figures such as user behavior and conversion rates on certain days of the week or times of day. By adapting the broadcasting schedule to the needs of the readership, editorial teams can achieve several goals.  

The more relevant the content produced, the stronger the loyalty of the readership to the brand in the long term. It also increases organic reach and engagement, as relevant content is shared and recommended more frequently. In the long term, this can also increase the conversion rate and the completion rate of subscriptions or other offers.  

3. Offer personalization

Many digital articles that specifically address the needs of readers do not reach them. This is due to several factors: the homepage is the most frequently used overview page in digital media, but the articles displayed there change quickly. As a rule, they only remain visible for one to two hours and therefore remain the focus of the readership. In addition, 80 percent of readers scroll to a maximum of the sixth article on the home page - content placed further down receives significantly less attention.  

Editors can significantly increase the relevance of their articles through personalized content. Various personalization approaches play a role here:  

Content can be displayed according to topics and sub-local interests (topic personalization) or according to geographical aspects (geo-personalization). For subscribers, this means that personalized and relevant content appears on the homepage. According to data from Highberg, this leads to significantly more intensive use of the content.

4. Produce a newsletter

Newsletters are another key component for the success of digital products. They enable direct communication with the readership and offer the opportunity to personalize content. They also open up additional revenue opportunities through targeted advertising and thus support the monetization of published content.

One particularly successful example is the New York Times, whose largest and most popular newsletter, The Morning, a daily briefing, reaches more than 17 million subscribers.  

The New York Times' extensive portfolio includes around 100 newsletters covering a wide range of topics, from health and wellness to parenting, politics, sports and the climate crisis. This diversity appeals to the different interests of the readership. The newsletters pursue different goals: They bring readers to the website to continue reading, or offer a compact version of what the New York Times has to offer directly to their inbox. Newsletters written by selected columnists also offer additional added value. Exclusive newsletters for subscribers also contribute to monetization.  

5. Use artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence offers editorial teams a wide range of opportunities to improve the quality of their digital products. AI can be used to efficiently process large volumes of content and create personalized content. 

For topics that develop over a longer period of time, AI can create new content, such as summaries, by bundling articles. These summaries can also be personalized, providing additional value to the readership. By using AI, editorial teams can make their content more relevant to paying readers and thus create further incentives for subscriptions, which increases the attractiveness of the product.

Daily editorial work also benefits from AI applications. Our Digital Publishing Platform Purple enables publishers to perform repetitive tasks and optimize workflows with one click thanks to integrated AI - whether it's revising texts, creating headlines, social media posts, SEO titles, metadata or excerpts and much more. Integrated AI prompts for various use cases can also be managed and set directly in the Purple Hub.

At Purple, we support you on your digital transformation journey. Do you have any questions? Contact usus today.