Deconstruct errors of the past: you can build reader loyalty by making tenacious bad habits give way to a more reader-focused approach

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, March 15, 1995 by Bruce Sheiman

I've been in publishing for a mere 13 years, but in that time I've witnessed a seismic change in the mindset of consumer magazine publishers. Ten years ago, just about all that magazine publishers talked about was advertising. Readers were little more than a "market" sold to advertisers, and editorial content was the vehicle used to deliver the readers. Today, that has largely changed. In the recent three-year advertising recession, publishers lost a significant portion of their advertising revenues--in many cases, the incremental revenue that provided much of their profits. As a result, there has been a major paradigm shift. Talk to publishers today, and they will tell you emphatically, that readers are primary; it is advertising that now takes second place.

In one sense, readers don't realize how good then. have had it. For years, they received high editorial value for a very, low price (relative to the cost of producing a magazine) because advertisers paid the difference. Ratebase-driven promotional vehicles such as Publishers Clearing House and American Family Publishers have commoditized magazines and habituated consumers to paying discounted rates. Now, however, publishers are trying to make their magazines' prices more closely match the true worth of their titles without losing a large number of readers--a difficult proposition.

Publishers are realizing that to get more money from their readers, they must give something in return: more value. While this "value" could include more and better editorial, most publishers would rightly argue that their magazines already provide substantial editorial value. Thus, companies are searching for additional means to enhance their relationships with readers and increase the perceived value of their magazines. In some cases, this may be nothing more than helping readers to better appreciate their magazines. In other cases, it may mean magazines offering non-editorial forms of value. In this column, I want to provide examples of some ways that publishers can strengthen reader loyalty.

Let readers know you appreciate them. Readers want to feel that they are held in high esteem by their favorite magazines. But what do publishers do? They make new subscribers wait up to two months to get their first issues, frequently adding insult to injury by allowing the invoice (or acknowledgment letter) to arrive in the subscriber's mailbox before the magazine. I can't imagine a worse way to begin a relationship with readers--unless, of course, a publisher also "backstarts" subscribers (mailing a dated issue) and several months later seeks to renew the subscriber at a price almost double the introductory rate. All of the above is all too common in our industry. No wonder many readers feel taken for granted.

Some magazine and newsletter publishers are remedying this problem by sending out a first issue via some form of special handling as soon as the order is received, bypassing normal fulfillment, so that readers can begin their subscriptions with minimal delay. Where this technique is not practical, it is still important to get something into the hands of subscribers as soon as possible. Some publishers use the acknowledgment mailing as an opportunity to begin the subscriber relationship on an auspicious note. This could include sending a small editorial premium or a subscriber service booklet. The readers who feel "appreciated" are more likely to pay for and renew their subscriptions.

Use surveys to engage your readers. With so much fuss over the information superhighway, let us not forget that magazines are the original interactive medium, enabling readers to carry on a veritable dialogue with the editors and writers. But there is much more publishers can do to involve readers. One is the use of subscriber surveys, either bound into the magazine or mailed separately to groups of subscribers. There are two types of surveys that deepen reader involvement: those that ask readers for their opinions about editorial content, and those that solicit opinions about controversies and issues covered in the magazine (with results to be reported in future issues).

A type of survey sure to alienate readers, on the other hand, is one that seeks data about demographics and spending habits, usually for advertising purposes.

Actively seek reader feedback. most magazines provide editorial space for reader letters--and most also miss an important opportunity by focusing the letters page on the subject matter of the magazine instead of readers' feelings. This approach attests to the fact that readers are a secondary, partner in the "dialog." Further, letters sections tend to be Limited to one page or less.

One notable exception to this formula is Rodale Press' Prevention, which gives readers a chance to voice a much larger range of opinions, experiences and feelings. New York also does an admirable job providing a forum for readers who have a lot more to say than, "That was a terrific (or terrible) article."