In today’s digital publishing landscape, newspaper publishers continue to transition from physical to digital, and readers are expecting more — not just in terms of content quality, but also from their digital experience (browsing your site, purchasing access, managing their subscription, etc.).
Readers want their digital experience to feel immediate, cohesive and uninterrupted. Even a small amount of friction can turn them off your site entirely — a page that takes five seconds to load (compared to a one-second load time) increases the likelihood for a visitor to bounce by 90%!
Newspaper publishers increasingly need a backend solution that facilitates premium digital experiences without compromising on the functionality required to manage their business and increase revenue. Recognizing this, AdvantageCS has moved rapidly to create a first-party product ecosystem that fosters a unified, vertically integrated digital experience while providing the flexibility and functionality that publishers need. The products involved are:
So what kind of digital experience can customers expect within the Advantage ecosystem, and how do the ecosystem’s components work together? Let’s take a closer look!
Note: for clarity and flow, Advantage Paywall and Advantage Single Sign-On will appear as “Paywall,” “Advantage SSO” or “SSO” where appropriate.
A customer’s digital experience begins when they arrive at your site and attempt to read an article. If the article is protected content, Advantage Paywall steps in and communicates with Advantage SSO to find out who the user is, and whether they have the entitlements (often created by Cider Plus) required.
If Paywall determines that the user doesn’t currently have access, it provides them with the option to 1) sign in and start reading, or 2) register a new account and purchase content access through your Cider Plus site. If the user decides to purchase access and check out, they receive a receipt, confirmation message and can resume their content experience shortly afterwards, maintaining continuity throughout the transaction. Concurrently, Cider Plus sends the order to Advantage, which generates and sends the customer’s new entitlement to Advantage SSO.
After the user makes their initial purchase, all four products in the Advantage ecosystem continue to work together to enhance the customer experience while maximizing revenue. Advantage does exactly what it’s designed for, maintaining customer information, entitlements, renewal dates, recurring billing processes and schedules, special offers and much more. Paywall and SSO guarantee that subscribers receive the authentications, entitlements and access they need to engage with your site’s paid features. Cider Plus provides them with a fast and easy way to upgrade or modify their subscription via a wide variety of self-service actions. And of course, the product ecosystem can easily be configured and optimized: marketing agents can create and test promotions for their Cider Plus site, test and refine Paywall configurations, optimize performance with built-in analytics and leverage Advantage’s ever-increasing suite of AI tools to streamline daily tasks.
To put it simply, newspaper publishers need solutions that prioritize digital experiences without compromising functionality, and the Advantage ecosystem does exactly that! The Advantage ecosystem facilitates a seamless digital experience, supports the customer’s needs and provides publishers with the functionality required to grow their business and increase revenue — all without the hassle of third-party integrations.
Want to learn more about AdvantageCS or any of our products? Read more about Advantage, Advantage Paywall, Advantage Single Sign-On, and Cider Plus, or contact us today!
John Sheehy is executive director, Product & Market Strategy, AdvantageCS
