GenomeWeb Upsells Site Licenses With Clever 3-User Trial

GenomeWeb started off with a paid trial for single users, but then converted it into a 3-user trial, thereby turning every trial-taker into a

GenomeWeb started off with a paid trial for single users, but then converted it into a 3-user trial, thereby turning every trial-taker into a site license prospect. Publisher/COO Greg Anderson spoke to us about the site’s clever conversion process, as well as the site’s multi-title pricing strategy. This is a great Case Study for anyone trying to increase its site license sales, especially B2B sites .

Company Profile

Founded: 1997 as BioInformatics. Later changed to GenomeWeb.
No. of Publications: 8 paid newsletters, Free website content and blog, 1 free print publication
Employees: 30+, mostly full-time
Business Model: Hybrid
Paying Subscribers: Undisclosed (in tens of thousands)
Location: New York, NY
Website:
www.genomeweb.com

Target Market

Overall, GenomeWeb targets “the global community of scientists, technology professionals, and executives who use and develop the latest advanced tools in molecular biology research and molecular diagnostics.”

However, GenomeWeb’s audience can be broken-up into two distinct populations. The first consisting of vendors, technology companies and start-ups that sell equipment to research communities. The second population consists of academics and researchers.

Content

GenomeWeb provides readers with in-depth, exclusive coverage in key technology or application areas. These publications include business, technology, and research news; patent and IP information; product launches and upgrades; and job listings and career news. Despite a global audience (with notable penetration in Europe and Asia), all the articles are in English — the dominant language of the scientific industry.

The site has

    • A daily news service. The free content covers news that’s of general interest to the “life sciences tools” community. Content is posted daily, and email alerts are sent twice daily, Mon-Fri.
    • A free daily blog. Email alerts are sent once daily for the blog, Mon-Fri.
    • A free print magazine whose articles are also available online. The magazine covers a range of topics in GenomeWeb’s sub-sections (e.g., Clinical Sequencing, Arrays, etc.) but has original content and briefs.
    • 8 paid newsletters. These are not PDFs — they are only available through the GenomeWeb website. Content is posted daily, and email alerts are sent weekly. These premium newsletters, with titles like InSequence and BioArray News, provide content that’s in-depth and requires original reporting. Often, GenomeWeb is the only place to get news about some of these niche fields, making it especially pay-worthy to biotech companies. As Anderson told us, “It’s not how many articles a subscriber may read, it’s about the one article they read that changes the course of their research or introduces them to new ideas, a collaboration, a partnership.” In fact, many readers have told him they save GenomeWeb’s emails for years.

GenomeWeb has about 18-20 people working in editorial who update the site daily. Some of them have PhDs, but many are just journalists specializing in their beats. They all work on a rolling deadline and at their own pace — some stories are breaking news that have to go up right away, while others will be developed over a longer period of time.

As Editorial Director Bernadette Toner told us, “Having a beat reporter type of model really works for us. [Our reporters are] able to recognize something as newsworthy even if it’s subtle. And from an operational standpoint, it’s great for me because I don’t have to assign stories or keep a close eye — they’re on their own, doing their own reporting.”

Revenues

GenomeWeb makes 30% of its revenue from paid subscriptions and 70% from advertising.

Given its unique audience, the site has an interesting (and complex) pricing model that helps funnel prospects into a site license for multiple titles.

First, the site prices premium content differently based on email addresses of registered users:

    1. Registered users with an email address coming from academic/research institutes or government agencies receive free access to all content. Most of these users are qualified by registering with an email address ending in “.edu,”, “.gov” or “.org.” or their foreign equivalents. This is useful for getting eyeballs for GenomeWeb’s advertising. Approximately 50% of all registered users come from organizations that are qualified to receive free content.
    2. Anyone with an email address not ending in “.edu,” “.gov,”, “.org” or the foreign equivalents has to pay according to the pricing structure below.

Specifically, for access to one premium newsletter, the site charges:

    • Up to 3 users = $985/year
    • Up to 10 users = $1970/year
    • Up to 25 users = $3455/year
    • Up to 50 users = $5180/year
    • Up to 100 users = $6910/year
    • Up to 200 users = $8635/year
    • 200 or more users = $10,365/year

If an organization wants to subscribe to more than one title, Genome Web offers the following discounts:

    • 10% off the 2nd title
    • 15% off the 3rd title
    • 20% off the 4th title
    • 25% off the 5th and any subsequent titles

Of all of GenomeWeb’s subscribers, 41% are individual subscribers (i.e., one registered user), while 59% have a site license package of some sort (three or more users). And of the eight premium newsletters, the most popular title is InSequence (across both paying and free subscribers).

GenomeWeb has not conducted tests on the actual pricing of its newsletters, but Anderson did tell us that switching from one registered user to three during the trial period (see Conversion Tactics below) helped with the site’s renewal rates and to sell multiple titles in bundled packages. In fact, most clients move from a $95 trial to a $985 1-year subscription for three users, and then to a $1970 subscription for up to 10 users in year two.

Marketing Tactics

SEO
About one-third of GenomeWeb’s new site traffic comes through organic search. Most search traffic comes through article pages not the homepage, and since GenomeWeb’s articles use specific, industry jargon in headlines (like “Team Explores PacBio for Fragile X Sequencing; Sees Potential for Diagnostics, Newborn Screening“), the site gets decent search results for longtail keywords.

Social Media
GenomeWeb has a presence on Facebook (1,212 likes) and Linkedin (287 followers), and several Twitter accounts, such as @GenomeWeb and @DailyScan, each of which have thousands of followers.

Anderson feels social media has been most effective in spreading the reach and distribution of GenomeWeb’s story. The site found that moving the social media links from a box to the right to under the headline has helped facilitate sharing (see image).

Trade Shows
GenomeWeb usually has a booth at relevant trade shows. Anderson told us that their booths get a lot of traffic, not just from potential advertisers, but from readers who tell them how great their content is.

Separately Branded Blogs
The site had four blogs — Cancer Minute, Informatics Iron, The Daily Scan, and The Sample — but recently eliminated all of them except The Daily Scan, which has the most traffic. GenomeWeb found the aggregator model works best for the blog; the other blogs had more original news, making it hard to distinguish from the newsletters.

Conversion Tactics

Site visitors are allowed to view one premium article (total, not monthly) before being asked to register with an email address. The registration page also asks them what topics/newsletters might be of interest to them. GenomeWeb gets about 1000 new registered users a month.

Registered users can then access the site’s free content.

If the user doesn’t register with an email address qualifying them for free access, they are run through a complex conversion process.

At the bottom of the next premium article the registered user tries to view, they are asked to sign up for a 3-month paid trial for $95.

They are taken to a new page that asks them what titles they’d like to subscribe to. Information is presented here that they can have three users on this trial, but it’s quite hidden.

They are then taken to the checkout page. Here, users are given a direct person, email and number to call for help. They are also asked to invite two other colleagues to join them in the trial (the “Did You Know?” box). Lastly, they are asked to include their phone number (required) and fax number (optional); this information is used later on in the conversion process.

The trial is limited to one per company per publication. But the automatic three-seat license helps convert a number of trial-takers into site license clients. If a trial-taker doesn’t offer names at the trial stage, the Customer Service department manually looks at its database to find out who else at the same organization may be subscribing or registered to the site’s newsletters. The site then sends a customized welcome email, inviting the trial-taker to invite their colleagues, or to let GenomeWeb know if the registered user they have on file is still working at the organization.

All trial-takers receive a welcome email after sign-up.

One month before the trial expires, GenomeWeb sends trial-takers an email with a number of subscription offers, such as one title for three users or one title for 10 users. Director of Business Development Allan Nixon told us that offering options has been a key conversion tactic: “If you give them a choice, they tend to pick something instead of saying no.”

However, given the hefty subscription price, the site does not automatically charge trial-takers a one-year subscription at the end of their trial. Instead, they have a number of “save” attempts, including an email 30 days after the trial expiration, a phone call, a mailed letter listing subscription options tailored for that user/organization, and two weeks after the letter, a fax with the same offer.

**Warning: The consumer protection laws against fax marketing are very strict. You cannot fax someone unless you have a prior business relationship with them. We advise readers to be very careful when employing this marketing tactic.

All email/mail/faxes also include a list of headlines the prospect has missed out on since his/her trial has expired.

Nixon says the frequent touch points, particularly the phone call, helps get GenomeWeb in touch with the right person to authorize a charge. Also, many paying subscribers are from small biotech start-ups (i.e., less than 10 people on staff), so it’s not that hard a company to navigate.

In summary, GenomeWeb’s trial conversion process converts every trial-taker into a site license prospect.

Retention Tactics

While GenomeWeb does not measure its average account lifetime, Anderson estimates it’s about five years.

The site does not have auto-renew, mainly because of the high price point for all its subscriptions. However, it does have the same “save” protocol for expired subscriptions as it does for expired trials, namely emails, phone calls, snail mail and faxes highlighting subscription options and missed headlines.

And Anderson says moving to a three-user trial has improved their conversion and retention rate (i.e., it’s harder to cancel or let a subscription lapse if more than one person in an organization is relying on access).

About Greg Anderson

Greg Anderson used to work for London-based EuroMoney publications, and was transferred to the US to help EuroMoney with the integration of its acquisition of Institutional Investor. That acquisition was his introduction to the paid content business. He was invited to join GenomeWeb six years ago by GenomeWeb founder and serial entrepreneur Dennis Waters.

He’s particularly fascinated by the business models used in information publishing, calling them “complicated, nuanced and requiring a high degree of choreography.”

His advice to other paid content executives is to respect the model and the content. “You’re nothing without your content. If you compromise your content, you might as well start on planning to shut your doors because the entire model depends on editorial integrity. It also depends on what are basically the four pillars: editorial, advertising, audience and circulation, business management. If those four legs of the stool are not in sync, things are going to fall apart. Make sure every group knows what the others are doing and don’t let one group dominate the other. Each group’s success is so closely tied to the rest of it.”

Vendors & Technology

Hosting — Blackmesh  
http://www.blackmesh.com/
*Anderson notes that they’re extremely responsive. “Our first host fired us because we were ‘too demanding’ of their time.”

Content management — Drupal
http://drupal.org/
*Anderson said there are so many developers in Drupal community, you can really shop around.

Cart  –Ubercart, part of Drupal core and linked to PayPal.
http://www.ubercart.org/

Payment Processing — PayPal
https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/merchant
*This is a good option for high-priced B2B content sold internationally, but not necessarily for domestic sales and B2C content.

Email management — Lyris
http://www.lyris.com/us-en/

Web development —  Originally, freelance Drupal consultant Moshe Weitzman, and now working with a portfolio of independent developers.
http://drupal.org/user/23

Analytics — Google Analytics
http://www.google.com/analytics/

Subscription Site Insider Analysis

GenomeWeb is doing a fabulous job of turning a trial user into a site license prospect from the start, and any subscription site looking to sell more site licenses should look to copy their model. We also like that the site is able to be profitable while still providing its information free to the academic community. This is a model that other scientific and legal publishers could copy should governments require open-access for scientific findings and legal documents

Ironically, while the site has a very clever conversion process, they could optimize their conversion pages a lot more by removing all navigation bars and advertising. They should also automatically charge trial-takers a one-year subscription at the end of their trial. The site could also benefit from a bit more SEO on its homepage and publication pages. And given the site’s use of social media, it may want to offer social media sign-ons. However, a registered work email address will be critical for the site’s conversion funnel, so they should offer to “link” social media accounts only after a visitor has registered with an email address. Lastly, they should be very careful with their fax marketing — we know one publisher who had to pay nearly $500,000 in fees from violating fax marketing laws.

More Resources
ON-DEMAND: Paywall Optimization: How to Improve Your Subscription Conversions
HOW-TO: Social Media Sign-Ons for Subscription Sites
CHECKLIST: Paywall Optimization for Subscription Sites
Open Access Laws Threaten Online Subscription Business in U.K. & U.S.

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