At Subtext, we believe that delivering relevant content and two-way communication with your audiences leads to building a loyal, engaged community.
That's why this week, we're highlighting our friends over at the New York Post who are using Subtext as a retention tool. We'll be taking a closer look at how the team provides subscriber-exclusive value by seamlessly integrating Subtext into their digital subscription service, Post Sports+.
We caught up with NY Post Sports Editor, Jonathan Lehman, on what the team hoped to achieve with the new initiative, and how Subtext fits in as a piece of that puzzle:
"When we launched Post Sports+ as our premium sports membership in the fall, we wanted to accomplish a few things from a content point of view: 1. To go really in-depth and granular on our main teams and beats for the super-invested New York sports fan 2. To establish more direct, personalized connections between our writers and most loyal readers. Having Subtext campaigns that are exclusive to Sports+ members has been one of the most successful components of the membership, especially in terms of positive audience feedback – and almost certainly the one that marries those two goals the best."
Following the integration, paid digital members voluntarily opted into their Subtext campaigns, with over 41% of those subscribers opting in to 2 or more sms campaigns. Let's take a look at some of their campaigns.
Texts from the Blue Seats
First on the list, we have Mollie Walker who manages Texts from the Blue Seats. Per Mollie:
"I've really enjoyed the intimacy of Subtext. I feel there are a lot of people out there who genuinely enjoy getting daily updates about their favorite team and they respond as such, I get a lot of thank you's. I've also used Subtext to ask for questions to read and respond to on our podcast, and people seem to really enjoy that, too. Interacting with fans is the most rewarding part of Subtext by far."
Inside St. Johns
Similar to Mollie, Zach Braziller is connecting with his subscribers regarding all things Red Storm through his text campaign, Inside St.John's.
Fantasy Insanity
Next up, we have Drew Loftis who runs Fantasy Insanity. Here, Drew connects with his subscribers by providing expert insight and analysis while tackling all incoming questions about how to best manage your fantasy squad to a championship.
Text back at Vac
When it comes to all things sports in New York, you can relay on Mike Vaccaro. With his campaign, Text back at Vac, Mike engages with his subscribers about all the ups and the downs of New York sports in real time.
Inside the 2022 NFL Draft 1️⃣
In their latest campaign focusing on the NFL Draft, the team decided to try something a little different by featuring a collection of their popular NFL writers. They targeted their SMS audience across all existing campaigns, and gave them the option to follow along a new communication stream covering Draft news and updates.
Key Takeaways
1. Subtext works in-sync with paywall protected subscription services. We integrate seamlessly with your digital subscriptions so that only your most loyal subscribers have access to the texting service. Using the Subtext API, clients are able to programmatically subscribe their customers and manage those subscriptions.
2. Subscribers are easily transferable from one campaign to the next. If you need to migrate a large list of engaged subscribers for a new SMS initiative, we can do the heavy lifting to ensure the best experience possible for your subscribers. Similarly, subscribers can easily opt-out of any lists they wish to be removed from without negatively impacting other texting campaigns they previously subscribed to.
3.Multi-writer campaigns are great for leveraging the voice and followings of several personalities in one campaign. Give your subscribers the ability to interact with various authors with different perspectives all within the confines of a single text
Jonathan summed up the team's experience with Subtext:
"As an editor, in addition to making sure you’re putting out great content (our writers give me confidence there), you want to know it’s being read, that it’s reaching the folks who are most curious and will enjoy/appreciate it the most. You want some validation or feedback that you’re covering the right things, addressing the topics that are of the most interest, answering the right questions. Considering all that, Subtext has been a powerful tool for putting me at ease!"
In case you missed it, last week we sat down with Michael Liss, VP of Product, over at The NY Post to get his insights into the partnership as well. Check out the Q&A here.
Interested in learning how Subtext can be integrated into your digital subscription? Reach out by clicking Become a Host above or reach out at hello@joinsubtext.com.