Small and independent publishers are often hampered by tight budgets and noisy digital ecosystems. Editors, writers, and publishers know that improving content and user experience is important, but what, exactly, does this mean?
Let’s explore three ways that publishers can enhance content and improve the user experience:
Offer an audio option for written content
Including audio versions of written content is now an affordable option for small and independent publishers. While there are a lot of text-to-audio tools available, very few are built specifically for smaller publications and independent publishers. Just because a publication has a smaller budget doesn’t mean that quality and ease-of-use needs to be sacrificed.
The Ad-Auris audio tool was designed to give publishers an AI-powered text-to-audio product that is customizable, automated, and seamlessly integrates with existing platforms. In addition to being able to quickly convert and embed audio versions of written content on web pages, publishers have access to live data tracking and the ability to monetize narrations.
The CTO of The Stanford Daily, Stan Catania said, “Enabling Ad Auris on our site was one of the best upgrades we made all year. After adding audio versions of our articles, tons of people reached out to me complementing the addition. I’ve never received so much unprompted feedback over such a simple change. It’s easy to set up and just works.”
Offer Subscriber-only newsletters
Another way that publishers can improve the user experience is to offer subscriber-only newsletters. Large publishers, such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, have been making available author and topic-specific newsletters to subscribers, and it has proven successful. According to the Reuters Institute 2022 prediction report, news leaders say they’ll invest more in audio and newsletters in 2022.
Adding subscriber-only newsletters is now a viable option for smaller publishers, thanks to tools such as Letterhead. While newsletters alone are a great way to improve user experience, adding audio to newsletter content is a double win!
Offer Subscriber-Only benefits
Subscriber-only benefits may include anything from long-form content to no ads to add-ons. It isn’t just the publication industry that is replacing lost advertising dollars with subscription-based models. The radio and television giant Nielsen is cutting non-subscribers off from listening datasets that inform agencies and advertisers.
Consumers are willing to pay for subscription benefits, but you need to advertise what the consumer gets in return beyond the basics.
Staying in business will require publishers, large and small, to give thought to improving user experience. The good news is there is ample evidence that consumers are willing to pay, but the added benefits need to be clear. Audio narrations of written content is one way to improve user experience and drive growth.