24,000 new subscribers in two weeks – Denník N's wildly successful anniversary campaign

When Denník N launched its new subscription campaign in the last few weeks, it was hoping to aim for 10,000 new subscribers in six weeks. So when this objective was achieved in just 4 days, the surprise was huge. Overall they reached over 24,300 new subscribers (around 5,300 of them chose the option to pay 0€ for trial subscription but still provided their credit card details).

Founded by forty journalists in 2014, Denník N is now the largest newsroom in Slovakia with 110 journalists. With its new subscription campaign dedicated to its 10th anniversary, one of the top daily newspapers and websites in the country of almost 5,5 million people now boasts more than 90,000 subscribers (though some are likely to churn at the end of the trial period). 

Denník N has committed to following 10 promises if its objective of 10,000 new subscriptions is achieved, such as unlocking their entire archive for free, expanding their video team with new hires or giving free subscriptions to young voters. 

Denník N also recorded a turnover of 7.9 million euros and an operating profit of 1.4 million euros last year. Subscriptions, book sales – with 130,000 books, e-books and audiobooks sold – and advertising contributed the most.

What can we learn from their successful membership drive? We talked about it with Tomas Bella, Chief Digital Officer at Denník N. 

What was the goal of this subscription campaign and what were your expectations?

Our plan was to get 10,000 new subscribers and we had no idea how long it would take – the plan was to stop the promotion after 6 weeks in case we could not get to the 10,000 mark. In reality it took us 4 days to get to 10,000. In the end the promotion ran for 14 days and the total number of new subscribers was 24,366. Only 22% of people chose to pay 0€ for trial subscription which was a surprisingly low number for us. 

How did you react when you saw this craze?

The speed of uptake took us by a surprise, we did not even manage to launch some of the initiatives that we had planned. For example people could ask for special stickers to be sent to them but we managed to send the stickers only after the promotion was over.

How do you explain such enthusiasm?

The key was that we did not just offer a discount. What we offered to readers was this: Our country and our democracy is in trouble. People are falling for disinformation. Let’s all do what we can to help. What we as the newspaper will do: here are our 10 promises. All we are asking from you, our subscribers, is this: tell one friend about the possibility to subscribe for any amount they choose. If we achieve 10,000 new subscribers, we will be able to fulfill our promises.

So a way to involve your subscribers?

This pitch worked extremely well – people truly believed we are trying to make the country better together with them instead of just trying to get more money from subscribers. Our 10 promises were a big part of this – we worked for a couple of months on preparing them, brainstorming about what kind of activities Denník N can do on top of “just” producing quality journalism. 

Then we tested the promises and polled groups of subscribers to understand what they are actually expecting from us and how they would like us to see spending “their” subscription money.

What specific marketing channels did you use for your campaign?

Given the message described, word of mouth was by far the biggest “channel” – existing subscribers were spreading our message. About 5% of subscribers actually used the referral system – shared personal links with friends and got them registered. Couple of super-fans brought hundreds of new subscribers each. 

Also some of our journalists who are influential on social media managed to personally bring hundreds of new subscribers. We also worked with dozens of Slovak influencers who shared our message for free. And many more people shared the promotion on social media without the referral link.

Are Instagram and Facebook the most important channels?

Yes, Facebook has always been important for us (despite declining steadily in the past couple of years), and Instagram is a tool not only to reach but directly for conversions. Is a relatively new thing and definitely the biggest surprise of the campaign. 

One small example of Instagram work is that we used software ManyChat to individually message each user interested in promotion and this worked extremely well. In terms of paid media, we spent only around €1100 on Instagram and Facebook ads, that was all.

What are the secrets to increasing subscriptions for a media outlet? Is it focusing on the quality of content more than quantity? 

Denník N started as an employee-owned newspaper in 2014 with a staff of 45 including 43 journalists. In 10 years we have grown to 140 employees including 110 journalists – we have the largest newsroom in the country. For 10 years our receipt was simple: whenever we could, we simply hired more journalists. 

What churn rate do you expect? And have you implemented strategies to reduce this rate?

I do not dare to guess at this moment. For this kind of trials standard retention should be around 20-30% but the scale of trials is so unprecedented for our region that we do not have a good estimate at the moment. 

Our main job until April (when the trials will expire) is working on retention. We are doing our best to introduce new subscribers to the full depth and breadth of journalism we have to offer and also explain to them why support of independent media is important for democracies.

Are you already thinking of other subscription campaigns? Or other goals to achieve?

Our goal for now is to keep providing high quality journalism, remain financially sustainable and make our country a little bit better. 

In terms of KPIs, when Denník N was founded in 2014, we thought our ceiling for number of subscribers would be maybe 20,000. When we were at 50,000, we stopped setting new goals. So now at 90,000 subscribers, I would not dare setting another goal. 

Source of the cover photo: Kanhaiya SharmaHire via Unsplash

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