Long-term retention is heavily influenced by the foundational habits subscribers build during their first 100 days of tenure, which data shows is the most effective time to prompt habit adoption.

At The Washington Post, we are continuously optimising this crucial portion of the customer lifecycle. By using data-backed strategies to maximise awareness and usage of key benefits, we aim to increase overall retention and customer lifetime value.

While we take an omnichannel approach to all of our work, a key piece of our onboarding strategy is the automated e-mail journey sent to new subscribers. We redesigned this entire experience in the second half of 2024 ahead of an anticipated increase in traffic and starts related to the U.S. election.

We have seen strong results thus far.

A strategic approach

To expand to the full first 100 days of tenure and effectively introduce a broader range of benefits, we developed five personalised journey paths tailored to subscribers’ behaviour, product type, and engagement level. This includes 15+ e-mails, depending on the subscriber’s journey.

E-mails are intentionally sequenced to prioritise the stickiest features while showcasing our breadth by balancing messages related to content, benefits, and core coverage areas throughout the experience. This balanced messaging helps ensure subscribers gain a complete understanding of the value included in a Post subscription.

To craft this experience, we leveraged years of data and insights to pinpoint which actions would be most impactful for new subscribers to take, with a focus on those that correlate with increased average active days. We also applied e-mail design best practices honed from a range of campaigns to maximise click-through rates and minimise opt-outs.

Personalisation and customer choice

We selected high-impact moments within the journey to personalise the experience, ensuring that each subscriber receives relevant recommended actions that deepen their engagement. The final phase of the journey is segmented based on engagement:

• Highly engaged subscribers are guided toward deeper habits.
• Less engaged subscribers are re-engaged with top-performing content

To prevent message fatigue, the e-mail journey includes multiple week-long breaks with no messaging — including one at the end of the experience before these subscribers can be targeted in other e-mail marketing campaigns.

To encourage consumer choice, we also developed a custom e-mail footer present throughout the journey that sets clear expectations and highlights the ability to opt out at any time.

What we learned

The optimised journey has delivered impressive results, driving deeper engagement and improving long-term retention among new subscribers:

• Click-through rates have doubled, proving the content is resonating and delivering value.
• Despite extending to 100 days, opt-outs have decreased by one-third, demonstrating that clear expectations and subscriber control contribute to sustained engagement.
• Subscribers receiving these e-mails show higher engagement on our app and site than those in the test group who received no onboarding messages.

Early engagement is a key predictor of retention, and this journey has successfully driven tens of thousands of habit-forming actions, including:

• Newsletter signups.
• Topic follows.
• App downloads.
• Audio article listens.

By extending onboarding to 100 days, prioritising retention-driving benefits, and crafting a personalised experience, we have significantly improved key performance metrics. These results reinforce the power of data-driven, thoughtful onboarding in fostering lasting relationships with our readers.

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