Overview of this campaign
We launched our new mobile app as a key element of our journey to becoming a modern media company. Our primary goal was to drive digital subscriptions and engagement, supporting our ambitious longer-term objective of reaching 500,000 subscribers by 2026. To achieve this, we focused on three key objectives:
Increase paid in-app subscriptions
The previous AJC app was free, so a critical objective for us was to transition users to subscriber-only content and convert free trial users into paid subscribers. The app needed to offer premium value that users would find essential, ensuring a strong trial-to-paid conversion rate.
Enhance user engagement and retention
The app was designed to keep users actively engaged through features like personalised push notifications, audio content, and a seamless onboarding experience.
We set ambitious KPIs to measure trial opt-ins, paid conversions and subscriber growth, ensuring the app delivered continuous value to the people of Atlanta.
The rich preference centre for push notifications enabled personalisation, ensuring relevance and user retention.
Resonate with the people of Atlanta
The app was a crucial part of ensuring that AJC was the most essential news brand of Atlanta, Georgia and the South. We even leveraged our involvement with local state events and promotions to boost app adoption and drive engagement.
For example, during The AJC Peachtree Road Race, we used QR codes to encourage attendees to download the app, driving a +512% spike in downloads during the event.
As part of our goal to make our app the most essential news source for Atlantans, we're creating a loyal subscriber base while driving long-term business sustainability.
Results for this campaign
Since launching in early 2024, the app has exceeded a lot of its objectives, and we've seen exceptional growth in engagement, subscriptions, and retention.
Subscriber growth and retention succes
- 201% increase in in-app subscriptions, proving the app’s effectiveness in converting users into paying subscribers.
- 68% user retention rate, higher than the industry average for news apps
- Trial-to-paid conversion consistently exceeded targets, demonstrating the app’s compelling value.
Engagement metrics surpassed our expectations
- 147% increase in total engagement time, with users spending over 20,000 hours per month in the app.
The app saw an average of 13 sessions per user per month, meaning most users returned nearly every other day.
Huge growth in monthly active users (MAUs)
69% growth in MAUs, peaking at 50,000 users in September 2024 and averaging 34,000 users over the last six months of 2024. Even after promotional spikes, engagement remained consistently high.
High-impact event-driven growth
- 512% increase in downloads during the AJC Peachtree Road Race event.
-Consistent growth in downloads post-event, proving the app’s long-term effectiveness.
Push notification and audio success
- 33% of users actively engage with push notifications, demonstrating the value of personalisation.
232% increase in unique audio listeners, reflecting the success of podcasts and text-to-speech functionality.
