Client
Our client is a US-based marketing and sales automation company. They deliver tailored Martech solutions and strategic business guidance to medium and large local US newspapers.
Challenge
The client wanted to develop a tool that would increase the monetization of digital newspapers. To achieve this, they decided to develop a paywall — a software that blocks the content after a reader reaches the limit of free articles and suggests subscription options to continue reading.
The paywall software had to meet a range of requirements, including white-label design (to easily apply the branding of various newspapers), integration with existing IT infrastructure (to communicate with analytical systems), and a balance between flexibility and configuration complexity (to be easily managed by non-tech employees).
Project Description
We developed a paywall system that included a regwalling stage. Technically, it is a web plugin that is easy to install and set up on any web resource. For publishers that run multiple sites, the paywall offers a single interface for their centralized management.
The restriction mechanism involves three major steps:
- A page view triggers the paywall initialization.
- The paywall identifies if the visitor is new or has visited the newspaper website before. For new visitors, the paywall sets a limit for free articles.
- After reaching the limit of free articles, the user is prompted to create an account for further reading. Upon completing the registration, some more articles are available for the user for free, and then the paywall suggests purchasing one of the available subscription plans.
The paywall tool recognizes if the user applies an ad blocker or incognito mode, consequently suggesting the user disabling them to keep on reading. Consuming insights from external providers enables personalization of the reader experience, including:
- Personalized article recommendations and banner ads
- Custom incentives (e.g. coupons, discounts) based on the previous subscription and complaints history
- Dynamic prices based on the likelihood to subscribe or previous subscription and complaints history.
Finally, the paywall plays a part in a partner program. As some newspapers have a partner chain of cafes, hotels, and other public places, the paywall offers completely free content consumption in these amenities, expanding the value of the partner program for customers as well as promotional opportunities for newspapers.
Key features
Manual or analytics-driven configuration of free content restriction
Redirect to account creation and subscription purchase flow
External providers data consuming to improve personalization and engagement
White-label design to maintain newspaper brand consistency
Resistance to ad blocking and user anonymization
Personalization of content, incentives, and prices
Free content access in partner facilities (like cafes, restaurants, or hotels)
Team & Time Frame
The paywall software was completed in 12 months by a team of:
1 Full-stack developer
2 Front-end developers
1 UI/UX designer
1 Manual QA Engineer
1 QA automation engineer
1 Team lead
Major Tech Stack
.NET Core 2
MSSQL
TypeScript
Azure Cloud
Results
The paywall software increased the paid subscription rate of media outlets up to 50% within the first 12 months.
Newspaper employees highlighted fast onboarding, effortless branding, and convenient management across multiple newspaper sites. From the technical side, the client appreciated smooth integration with the existing tech stack, causing no malfunctions of compatibility issues in the long run.
