We tried it out… The Guardian - “New Subscriber” onboarding

What does it mean to welcome a customer? Imagine welcoming a guest at a party. You wouldn’t say to them: ‘Here is the entry code to the building. Now sort it out for yourself.’ You’d probably say: ‘Great that you came! So pleased to see you again. I’m going to introduce you to Lucy who works in the same sector as you. Marc’s son will attend the same secondary school as your son from next year onwards. By the way, do you still like Margarita cocktails? Nice, come inside the kitchen, on the right, I’ll make you one!” So, welcoming subscribers means making them feel welcomed and remind them of the content they have paid for. This is done factually, of course, (access to this and that) but also in a witty way and while reasserting your mission and your values. We tried out onboarding scenarios of 11 important newspapers worldwide focusing on the first 15 days after subscription as well as on the email channel.

Libération (France) → Read our article
Les jours (France)→ Read our article
Brief.me (France) → Read our article
Heidi.news (Switzerland)→ Read our article
The Guardian (UK)
The Economist (UK) → Read our article
The New York Times (US) → Read our article
The Atlantic (US) → Read our article
The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) → Read our article
Financial Times (UK) → Read our article
The Athletic (US) → Read our article

Please be aware that:

We subscribed between the end of April and the beginning of May 2020 to the media we are analysing. So in the time lapse between our subscription and your reading, publishers might have changed elements of their onboarding.

Some publishers can offer personalised scenarios according to the location of users and other criteria of segmentation. The experience we’re sharing is the one of our consultant based in Geneva and therefore isn’t necessarily representative of the “overall” strategy of a media.

Lastly, we aim at writing these articles in the most neutral fashion possible. Thus, we will neither voice our opinion nor make recommendations on marketing practices.

Each week, we will publish another onboarding experience. Tenth of our series after Libération, the Financial Times, The Athletic, The New York Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, Brief.me, The Economist, Heidi.news or The Atlantic: The Guardian.