The digital subscriber base of the German publication Epublisher has expanded by forty percent in the 19 months after the publisher first formed a collaboration with Visiolink . This remarkable accomplishment was made possible by a number of different variables, one of which was the company’s focus on the needs of its customers throughout the process of continually expanding its digital product offerings.
The most recent ePaper initiative undertaken by Epublisher is an excellent illustration of this point. There has been no less than a 21.5% rise in the overall amount of time spent inside the app by Android users since the debut of the News Modules design for Android.
Android users are happy with the new design of ePaper.
The electronic edition of Epublisher is packed with a wide variety of features and provides access to many different kinds of information, such as live news, audio articles, videos, Prospekte, Supplements, and Archives, amongst others.
These offers are now tidily organized into content modules on the app’s top page as a result of the implementation of the News Modules design for Android. According to Steffen, who notes that this seems to have had a beneficial influence on the user-experience for Android users of Epublisher, the following:
“Users have never called in with negative comments on our very first Android design, but now they are really coming in with favorable input. They appreciate that the design of the News Modules gives a clear overview of the information, and they enjoy that they are now finding more of our content offerings than they were before; in particular, they like that the Historical flashback module is a nice treat for our Android customers.
As can be seen in the illustration that follows, Epublisher has made use of the News Modules design that is available on Android in order to emphasize old ePaper articles using a variety of front page modules, one of which is called the Historical flashback module.
Downloads of Epublisher publications have climbed by 16.3%, and opens of those publications have increased by 10.6%, since the introduction of this front page format. Since the debut of the new design, Epublisher Prospekte has seen a staggering rise in the number of downloads and opens, respectively, of 91.5% and 97.6%. This trend is also true for Epublisher Prospekte.
A small local publisher with a state-of-the-art ePaper solution
Because of the tireless efforts and unwavering commitment of its staff, Epublisher has emerged as a leading example of a regional newspaper that is making the most of its ePaper solution. However, whenever I chat to Steffen Maier, who is the Head of Digital at Epublisher, he is usually quite humble about the company’s digital successes to this point:
“Here in the Stuttgart region, we are a very little local publisher nestled among a number of other, much larger publishing houses.” Despite this, the fact that our ePaper solution can live up to the same rigorous expectations is a source of tremendous satisfaction for us.
When we initially began working together with Visiolink, I was pleased to see that our KPIs were improving; but, I also anticipated that at some time in the future, the curve would have to reach a point of equilibrium. However, that didn’t happen. According to him, the fact that it is continuing to grow is a significant component that helps keep our staff motivated.
When asked to point out some of the reasons for their digital success, Steffen focuses particularly on the significance of word-of-mouth recommendations amongst their ePaper customers as a result of a solution that is feature-rich and user-friendly. A message that Epublisher also makes an effort to aggressively communicate to its audience,
ePaper audio content supports user demands across age-groups
The incorporation of text-to-speech articles into Epublisher ePaper is just another illustration of the company’s commitment to satisfying the requirements of its ePaper readers. Early on, Steffen saw the market potential of this audio product due to the fact that it caters to the requirements of users of all ages:
“By using text-to-speech, we are able to meet the requirements of both our more senior customers and our younger consumers. Users who are visually impaired express a deep sense of gratitude whenever they are given the opportunity to listen to an audio version of one of our articles.
Because of this functionality, we have even been able to keep subscribers from leaving us. ‘At the same time, our Text-to-Speech tool also complements the lifestyle of our younger customers, who catch up on their local news on the move or while performing regular chores,’ he continues. “It’s a win-win.”
Despite the fact that Epublisher ePaper solution plays a significant role in the company’s continued digital success, there is no way around the fact that the increased ePaper user engagement can be attributed, in large part, to the high-quality local content that the company provides .
This is the driving force behind Epublisher, as well as the area in which it offers its customers something really special. Users are contacting in with great comments on the increased voice-quality they are experiencing on local material since Epublisher recently invested in Text-to-Speech based on Google Cloud across all of their ePaper platforms. This was done to give their local content additional attention.Epublisher