In the past, we might have talked about renewals only in terms of a series of letters or emails with expiration dates, and post-expires and special covers with big letters, ONE ISSUE TO GO! Laurie Hofmann, the group marketing director, cable division, for Access Intelligence, did mention those things during the session, Renewals: Keep the Engine Running, at SIPA’s recent Annual Conference.

But the two stories she told near the end illustrate a new reality for increasing renewals—the value of audience engagement and staying in touch with your subscribers throughout the year. “Conceptually we’re looking at the relationship build,” Hofmann said. “Once you have the relationship in place, renewals are a very profitable business. Even our CEO replies that it’s the most profitable thing we do.”

First story. “For the past five years I [covered] the chemical industry,” she said. “Dow Chemical was undergoing a lot of breaking news stories. They tried to form a relationship with the Kuwaiti government, get financing, but it was at a time when the chemical industry was imploding. I started doing a strategy where I was looking at what we were reporting on Dow Chemical, and then send it out as breaking news stories. You should have seen the spikes. And when I looked through Google analytics [to see] who was reading it—it was Dow. I went to Dow and said your people are really following us; they’re interested in this. You need to pay us more. And it worked.”

The second story Hofmann called “listening tours” and she was just getting started with them. It involves “going into a subscriber’s company, talking to the administrator but then also to the people who are actually reading your publication and finding out their opinions about your publication and the industry, and what they’re worried about. What should we be focusing on to better cater the content they want to have?…This should increase our renewals.”

Hofmann pointed out that a renewal does not just mean another $300 for the following year, or whatever the subscription costs. There are ancillary products and seats at your events that have to be figured in. To this monetary end, she puts forth up to 11 varied efforts in the typical cycle, starting eight months prior to expire and continuing at least two months after.

“We mix up efforts with email and print,” she said. “People respond differently. We found that print seems to work best for us because people see a notice and they think ‘Okay, I’m going to respond to that right now.’ I have a sense that emails are getting lost right now. I don’t know about you but I go through them every morning and can automatically delete, delete, delete. ‘Oh, maybe here’s one I can look at.’ [Of course,] they still get some traction—we link directly to the fulfillment house so they can pay quickly.”

Hofmann said they also use telemarketers, though Access has the advantage of putting their client services people to the task. “They can answer questions better than telemarketers,” she said. But if telemarketers can be briefed and given referral information, then they can be successful.

“At the end [of the cycle,] we do a double, email and print,” Hofmann said. “We change copy on a regular basis. The first one is always the softest offer—two extra months of CableFAX free. We don’t use it any other time. [That agrees with what copywriter Robert Lerose used to tell me about going with your best offer first, so that subscribers will never think they should wait for a better offer.]

“The next month we’ll print out the statement for them and mail that—and maybe we’ll offer $100 savings on a two-year subscription of CableFAX Daily…I will try to include the expire months—practical information that accounts payable appreciates seeing. At the end, we’ll offer a last chance to reinstate.” Her letters are on smaller than 8.5 x 11 paper because she feels that size looks more “invoicey” and uninviting.

Hofmann also pointed out that your subscribers are interested in what your editors think. So push them forward. “Use promotional emails from the editors with personal salutations,” she said. “Solidify those relationships. Editors should be connecting with readers, engaging them and reaching out for story ideas. Your coverage should have direct interest to that company.”

She also believes in:

- email alerts between issues;

- special offers;

- stepped up pricing – “Use with caution,” she said, but she will always increase the rate by $50. “If they call you on it, then they obviously get whatever price they respond to.”

- price increase campaigns. “The price will go up at the end of the year. Lock in this price now.”

- access to additional platforms as incentive;

- If all else fails, one-issue-to-go cover wraps—It’s time to renew!

Her conclusion: Manage relationships all the time by providing what the readers want/need/desire, and they will keep coming back. And mix up the approaches and touch points to allow response to the efforts that resonate the most. She also mentioned awards and webinars, two other reasons that people renew. The goal? “To continue engagement with the reader and keep things going.”

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Ronn Levine began his career as a reporter for The Washington Post and has won numerous writing and publications awards since. Most recently, he spent 12 years at the Newspaper Association of America covering a variety of topics before joining SIPA in 2009 as managing editor. Follow Ronn on Twitter at @SIPAOnline