Create an entirely new web experience for IDG, Insider Pro a pay subscription site
IDG’s sites generate revenue from advertising, sponsorships, and user data. Year over year, these revenue sources had been in decline. IDG decided to start experimenting with charging users to read its sites. The first phase of this experiment involved creating a new, pay-only brand and site.
The Problem
My role
Would users accustomed to free content pay to visit a site? How could we improve the UX to help them make the decision to subscribe? We also needed to partner with and integrate a third-party system for processing payments.
The team for this project consisted of the UX designer, the VP of Audience Development, front- and back-end engineers, the editor of Premium Content, and a project manager.
As the UX designer on this project, I:
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Learned how a paid site should operate
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Determined reasons why some customers would pay to access to a media site and what might prevent others from joining
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Attended education classes with Piano, the e-commerce provider
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Developed the branding, look, and feel for the new site
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Devised ways we could incorporate links (send traffic) to Insider Pro from within our existing network of technology websites
The Process
Research
I researched many different sites that offered paid access, and evaluated which ones were performing well and which were not. We also sent a survey to a small selection of dedicated readers, asking them various questions about their willingness to pay for a site with premium articles and no advertising.
I also worked to outline the best practices for implementing e-commerce provider Piano into our new site.
Design
As the UX designer on this project I:
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Created wireframes and prototypes for how the site would look and function
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Created user journey maps to identify how users would interact with the site and ultimately move through the subscription funnel
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Created the logo and the look and feel of the site, choosing typography, colors, and animations
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Created a Learn More page to allow users to find more information about the site, incorporating some of the page elements into IDG’s existing websites
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Created email templates to support the site
Outcome
This project took about 6 months to compete. It took some time for the IDG audience to become accustomed to paying for content. Once Insider Pro went live, many users found they enjoyed the premium content and ad-free experience and were happy to purchase a subscription.
In a few months, the team was pleased to see the growing numbers of paying subscribers. After the success of Insider Pro, IDG hopes to incorporate pay subscriptions into their other web properties.