Five on Friday: Apps, Publishing and Subscription Gaming Growth

Featuring Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Forbes, Fast Company and Dice

Five on Friday: Apps

Source: Bigstock Photo

Before we head into the three-day weekend, we want to take a moment to honor our nation’s veterans and thank them for serving our country. It is because of them that we remain free. Please thank a veteran this week. Now onto Five on Friday. This week Digital tells us that subscription tools offered by Facebook and Google are improvements for publishers, but they have a long way to go. Also, subscription gaming is heating up, thanks to Google and Microsoft, Forbes shares ways to minimize churn, Fast Company gets a new look, and Dice says that the subscription app model isn’t beneficial to developers.

 

 

Efforts by Facebook and Google to Support Publishers Are Missing the Mark 

In an attempt to appease publishers, Facebook and Google have been working to provide them with publishing and subscription tools to increase readership and subscriptions. According to an October 26 article by Max Willens for Digiday, their efforts are working but perhaps not as well as everyone had hoped.

Facebook offers Instant Articles, a publishing platform where news organizations of all sizes can publish their articles and drive readers back to their websites. The benefit to using Instant Articles is they load quickly, are responsive, can include photos and videos, and they can be interactive. Facebook says that Instant Articles are 10 times faster than standard mobile web articles, they are read 20 percent more often on average and readers are 70 percent less likely to abandon an article published on this platform.

A year ago, through the Facebook Journalism Project, the social media platform began testing subscriptions with a handful of publishers in the U.S. and Europe, including The Boston Globe, Bild, The Economist, The Telegraph and The Washington Post, among others. According to Digiday, publishers averaged eight weeks to integrate Facebook’s subscription tools. The test increased subscriptions by an average of 17 percent, an improvement but not a significant one says Willens, because Facebook didn’t bring in a lot of new subscribers anyway.

Google developed Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), a quick-loading publishing platform that operates efficiently on mobile devices. Google also introduced Subscribe with Google, so publishers could get readers to subscribe as they read. Publishers are experiencing similar results with these tools, reports Digiday.

Why does it take so long to integrate the tools? Digiday points out that news organizations have to devote resources to using the platforms and integrating the technology and processes into their own systems and procedures. Publishers also have other priorities, sometimes pushing such tests down on their to do lists. One publisher told Digiday that using Subscribe with Google doubled their workload.

One source told Digiday that neither set of tools is really advancing subscriptions for publishers. Rather than quick or sweeping changes, the improvements are incremental. That said, Facebook and Google are trying to support publishers. While they don’t offer easy or perfect solutions, they are at least making an effort to work with publishers and to help support their work by developing tools that could increase subscriptions in the long run.

Read the full article, “Faceboook’s and Google’s Subscription Tools Offer Publishers Modest Improvements,” by Willens on Digiday.

 Publishing and Subscription Gaming Growth

Source: Facebook

 

Microsoft to Expand Game Pass to PCs and Google Play May Offer a Play Pass

Five on Friday: Apps

Source: Bigstock Photo

The subscription model is making it more affordable for gamers to access their favorite games on their different gaming platforms, heating up the market, just in time for the holidays. Microsoft has already had success with its Xbox Game Pass subscription, so much so that it is planning to bring Game Pass subscription to Windows 10 PCs and PC games, according to CNET’s Download. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed the news in a company conference call, but he didn’t provide details. Industry insiders are speculating that subscribers could get access to more than 100 games for just $10 a month.

It looks like Google wants in on the action too. Multiple sources have reported that Google is considering its own Play Pass for the Google Play Store. With such a pass, mobile subscribers could get access to paid apps for a flat monthly fee, reports Android Central. For mobile gamers who are tired of paying for single apps, a Play Pass subscription could offer additional access to other games.

Google has not made any sort of announcement or confirmed the rumors, but XDA Developers said code in the Play Store app reference such a service. Read more about the rumored Play Pass on Android Central.

Three Steps for Minimizing Churn

 Publishing and Subscription Gaming Growth

Source: Bigstock Photo

We often talk about customer retention and the lifetime value of customers and customer acquisition costs. The best way to boost lifetime value and lower costs is to keep the customers you have. In an article for Forbes, Caroline Japic, CMO for Pramata, outlines three ways to minimize customer churn.

  1. Create an appealing, standardized offer for transactional customers. In the simplest terms, keep it simple. Create a standard agreement, terms and conditions, and discounts or other rewards or incentives in exchange for a longer commitment.
  2. Identify opportunities to plug holes. Negotiated contracts may include opportunities for you to increase rates, include termination fees or otherwise adjust your terms and conditions. Be sure to document these opportunities and to follow up on them to ensure you don’t miss any contractual opportunities to grow revenue.
  3. Consider your negotiation strategy. Let’s say, for example, you are transitioning your SaaS from a perpetual licensing model to the subscription model. How will you craft your messaging to your clients? What terms and incentives will make the switch appealing to them and keep them from shopping for another vendor?

Read more of Japic’s insights  in “Easing Customers Into a Subscription Model: Three Steps to Minimize Churn” on Forbes.com.

For more information on improving customer retention and reducing churn, check out these exclusive Subscription Insider articles:

     – Reduce Your Subscriber Churn Rate with One Simple Change

     – Slow Churned: How to Target Retention Efforts So They Don’t Backfire

     – Describe Subscriber Churn with This New Member-Subscriber Welcome Message

Fast Company Features a New Look and Logo

Five on Friday: Apps

Source: Fast Company

With its November print issue, Fast Company magazine unveiled a new look and a logo, its first redesign in five years. Known for its coverage of technology, innovation and changemakers, the twenty-three-year-old Fast Company updated its look to reflect the idea that technology is a part of virtually everything we do. Creative director Mike Schnaidt shares some of the changes in an October 16 article.

One of the key reasons for the changes was to “create a stronger emotional bond” with readers. Part of this includes an updated logo, new monogram, new typefaces and the ability for new design elements and logo to display properly in a variety of formats including mobile devices, desktops, laptops and print.

Schnaidt said the magazine has an equal split of male and female readers, so the design elements are gender-neutral. Also, the magazine wanted its design to be inclusive of all audiences, so it features a mix of written and updated visual storytelling. For example, readers can expect to find more photo essays, more illustrations, infographics and photography in the revamped magazine.

By virtue of what Fast Company covers, the changes won’t end here. The magazine will continue to evolve alongside its readership.

“But just as the companies that Fast Company covers are never complete in their mission to innovate, neither are we,” wrote Schnaidt. “I’m excited for this new step in Fast Company’s legacy, but even more excited for what’s to come.”

Read more about the magazine’s new look on Fast Company

App Developers Aren’t Impressed with the Subscription Model

 Publishing and Subscription Gaming Growth

Source: Bigstock Photo

The subscription economy has made it possible for companies of all sizes to be successful, removing barriers to entry for potential customers so the companies can scale their business to grow along with their client base. One group – app developers – does not seem to be seeing success with the subscription model, however, says Nate Swanner for Dice. Swanner cites MacPaw’s 2018 Mac Developer Survey.

Here are highlights from that survey, backing up Swanner’s position:

  • 80 percent of developers who responded have not tried subscription pricing.
  • Of the 20 percent who have tried subscription pricing, 52 percent said it has been positive for their businesses, 37 percent are undecided, and 11 percent said subscriptions aren’t worth the trouble.
  • Of the 52 percent who report positive results, 81 percent said their revenue increased, 65 percent said their customer base is growing, 54 percent said they have a better relationship with their customers and 46 percent said their product has improved.
  • Of the 48 percent who tried subscriptions but didn’t like them, 57 percent said their customer relationships are worse, 43 percent said revenue is down and 43 percent said their customer base isn’t growing as anticipated.
  • Of the developers who have not tried the subscription model, 42 percent said their app wasn’t a good fit for the model, 33 percent are happy with their existing pricing model, 28 percent don’t know how to switch, 18 percent lack resources to try subscriptions, and 16 percent felt the model was too risky.

Swanner notes that the survey itself is geared toward desktop developers, so this may skew the results. He summarizes that the subscription model is confusing and still under development, pardon the pun. As the subscription model for apps matures though, we can foresee the rate of adoption increasing, particularly as Apple encourages developers to give the model a try. Read more from Swanner in “Subscription App Model Isn’t Returning Value to Developers” on Dice.

 

 

 

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