Need Advice on Transition from Paid to Controlled Circ -

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Permalink Reply by Keith Gregory on January 15, 2009 at 9:21am

even controlled books have an option to pay to receive it. What you seem to be doing is allowing one more method of subscribing to the magazine, e.g., if they qualify to receive it free.

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Permalink Reply by R GRADY on January 15, 2009 at 10:49am

Exactly - going forward it would be free to qualified subscribers, and we're looking to get a substantial number qualified quickly. If existing paid subscribers meet the qualification criteria, should we refund them? Do I offer them the opportunity to try to qualify, or only offer a refund if they ask? They will still be getting what they paid for, and so far everyone I've asked tells me it's perfectly acceptable to send these people a qual form when their paid subscription expires. The publisher comes from the industry the magazine reaches and isn't entirely comfortable with that - so I'm trying this informal survey among people with more experience... Thanks! Any feedback would be appreciated.

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Permalink Reply by Keith Gregory on January 16, 2009 at 12:52am

If someone else doesn't chime in here, I'll dig up a copy of one of my magazines from either my current or old job and see how this is positioned. I don't think it makes sense to refund, because even if a subscriber 'qualifies' for free, that does not guarantee you will send it to him. You may have a target of 20k in circ, and he is unlucky and is 20,001. Thus, you continue to offer the paid option, and you should continue to run renewal campaigns. When they drop off paid, then I would send some kind of qual card.

However, this is a bit aside from my expertise.

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Permalink Reply by R GRADY on January 16, 2009 at 10:23am

You make several really good points. I needed another perspective, and I think your rationale will make sense to the publisher as well. We've been so worried about not alienating a handful of paid subscribers I don't think we were seeing the big picture clearly. It didn't occur to me that qualifying doesn't guarantee delivery of the magazine (as in your example), or that I should continue to run renewal campaigns for the existing paid subs. So - this is really helpful. Thank you.

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Permalink Reply by John W. Rockwell on January 21, 2009 at 10:22am

No refunds ... and, why are you telling customers its "FREE"? You're a paid subscription magazine ... stay that way. If you happen to offer KEY customer groups deep discounts and/or extended trials in exchange for deeper demographic information, that's just a marketing tactic ... it's still a paid product!

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Permalink Reply by Manoj Chaudhary on January 24, 2009 at 12:45pm

Paid subscribers do not have to fill qualification form. Free subscribers have to fill the subscription qualification form and give his/her geoprapfical, demographical and job / company profile through the subscription request form which the publisher builds up in a database to create the reader profile. So keep the paid subscription going till the end of their current subscription term and when their subscription period finishes, send them free subscription qualification form and invite them to continue to receive the subscription copy. Meanwhile if you feel guilty of keeping the subscription money from the existing subscribers, then you can give them extra value like priority delivery, a book, etc so as to differentiate them from the free subscribers. Like John says, you should not declare the publication as free and continue to have a paid subs offer whereas you can simultaneosly start your controlled subs drive.

Cheers,

Manoj
+971 50 4954655

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Permalink Reply by Angela Clark on January 25, 2009 at 4:59pm

Hello,all my name is Angela and I am a new member. I was just reading the info on changing from a paid/controlled circ model and hear are my thoughts. Would it make sense to inform your paid subscribers about your intentions to change your subscription policies? Did you mention in your presubscription info that your policies are subject to change etc....I was thinking that you may say something like We are changing etc., etc., and give them all 3 months to switch to new standards and then worry about the few that may want a refund later?

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Permalink Reply by Eric Rutter on January 28, 2009 at 4:20pm

You are not bound in any way to refund paid subs because you've transitioned to controlled circ.

Also, if paid sub revenue is significant, you may want to suspend all new business activity but continue to renew. This way, your paid sub revenue will slowly decline rather than immediately disappear.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Rock on January 28, 2009 at 4:26pm

Listen to Rockwell. Keep the money. When your publisher finds out how hard and how much money it takes to get qualified Circ - he'll want to keep as many paid people in the mix as possible.

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Permalink Reply by Carrie Eisenhandler on January 28, 2009 at 4:30pm

I would not refund the paid subscribers. I am not sure if you have a reason to take it to an "all controlled" model. You could continue to serve a portion paid and just do renewal efforts. You'd continue to get circulation revenue at very little cost. I have worked on part paid/part controlled and we would handle customer service for those that called to complain that they were paying and others weren't by saying the others were on a free trial and the only way to insure uninterrupted service was to pay. If you are looking to get demographic information and these subscribers don't provide it, you could move them to nonqualified paid. Good luck - always easier to move from paid to free than free to paid!

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Permalink Reply by Keith Gregory on January 28, 2009 at 11:53pm

To highlight one point that I think is important- I think books that have a higher % controlled probably face the most problems with paid subscribers potentially being upset.

R Grady really should be looking to augment their subscriber file by adding qualified subscribers.

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