Instead of losing them, News Corp Australia’s national daily offers subscribers who want to end their subscriptions a ‘reverse metered’ Newspass option, retaining them as customers for a different product.

In an INMA ‘readers first initiative’ blog, researcher-in-residence Greg Piechota wrote “While most publishers treat departing subscribers like lost causes, they have decided to leave the door deliberately open,” he says.

Along with other brands, it launched what Piechota calls a “reverse metered” registration wall, essentially creating a middle ground between free access and full subscription.

The Australian’s Newspass product offers new visitors ten free articles, videos, or podcasts over four weeks with no payment details required. Other News Corp brands offer up to 12 articles over a 12-week period.

“But the genius lies in how they use it for retention,” he says. “When existing subscribers want to cancel, instead of simply processing the cancellation, they offer a downgrade to Newspass as an alternative.”

Senior manager for subscriptions growth Daniel Barratt reported that results have been remarkable – seven per cent of Newspass users eventually upgrade to full subscriptions., and more importantly, when Newspass is offered as a cancellation alternative, it achieves a 40 per cent save rate.

“Perhaps most telling of all, 85 per cent of subscribers who return after churning had previously used Newspass, compared to just 15 per cent who hadn't.”

Barratt describes the main benefit of Newspass for the company as creating flexibility while maintaining direct relationships. The Australian has essentially created a way for subscribers to pause their relationship rather than end it entirely and kept their consent for regular nudges – ‘Here is some great journalism you have missed.’

INMA members can subscribe to Piechota’s ‘readers first newsletter, a public face of the INMA revenue and media subscriptions initiative.