6 Ways Magazine Inserts Attract Subscribers

If you know What The Benefits of Subscribing to Your Blog are, then you might consider the following six ways magazines attract new subscribers with their inserts.

I collected 10 inserts from the magazine stand the other day and found a few things I noticed a few things they all share in common – check it out, as they might spark new ideas regarding how you can attract new subscribers to your blog.

Save 83%

One of the most common benefits magazine inserts feature is what percentage people will save if they subscribe. Since the majority of blogs provide information for free, this technique is limited in how you might be able to use it. Get creative!

For those with premium content and membership sites, you may be able to attract more subscribers or members by promoting how much they’ll save as a subscriber or member. It all depends on how you distribute your content, but if there’s anything we can learn from this, it’s that people like to save and a high percentage number is likely to increase the chance of them subscribing.

Cover Price VS Your Price

If the percentage of how much subscribers save didn’t hook readers, the comparison of the cover price and subscriber price is sure to work. The numbers are so drastic, it’s difficult to pass it up – even if you’re not really interested in the magazine.

This is also where magazines up-sell their product and provide you with your price for two years, which is usually just a few dollars more.

Cost Per Issue For Subscribers

To wrap up the numbers technique, magazines will promote how much a single issue costs subscribers – this either makes you feel excited to mail in the insert or it makes you feel like you could have saved a lot of money (for those that just bought the magazine).

I mean, who can pass up a WIRED subscription when each issue is merely $0.83?

Free Stuff

Most bloggers aren’t strangers to this concept – provide incentive for the reader to become a subscriber. Bloggers most commonly provide an ebook or report free to those that sign up as a subscriber.

Magazines usually offer a special issue they’ve put together, such as the year in review.

Special Offers

Another technique magazines often use in their inserts is the special offer, which features even more value than the normal subscription. For example, I found an insert promoting a special subscription offer that include 12 issues of WIRED and 12 issues of GQ for $19.99.

This would work for bloggers offering some sort of premium content. Packaging the products together and discounted the price will encourage readers to take the plunge.

No Postage Necessary

The last method I found with all the magazines inserts was how easy they made it to subscribe. Obviously this technique doesn’t really apply to the web as there usually isn’t any mailing necessary, but it’s a good reminder that you need to make it easy for your readers to subscribe.

Consider how you might be able to make it easier on your reader to become a subscriber.

image credit: Mannobhai