Product Strategy: Example Deliverable Maximizing Growth. Transforming Organizations. Unlocking Digital.
Agenda Product overview Revenue model Product case studies 2
ProductX vanity metrics WE ARE APPROACHING XXX REGISTERED USERS IN THE COMMUNITY Users in Community XXXK Countries Represented XX Photos Posted To Date XM Fans on Facebook Fans on Instagram Twitter Followers XXK XXK XM 1 E-Statement penetration rates for individual clients from XXX data 2 Source: XXX XXX XXX Forecast: 2013-2018, InfXXXends, 2014 3
Sections 2 gets more engagement than others but only XX% visit more than once per month JUST XX% OF USERS VISIT PRODUCTX MORE THAN ONCE A MONTH User Engagement by section (% of total) User type Z User type Y User type X 45% 40% 35% 35% 30% 25% 25% 5% 10% 5% 10% 10% 5% 0% 20% 15% 0% 0% 45% 50% 55% 60% 65% 70% 75% 80% 85% Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7 Section 8 Section 9 Site Section 4
Section X gets more engagement than others but only 45% visit more than once per month USER ENGAGEMENT BY SEGMENT (% OF TOTAL) 1 User type X User type Z User type Y 13 57 27 15 60 28 Users Sessions Note: Engagement numbers adjusted to sum to 100% across categories Sources: (1) xxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxx 5
Very few site visitors register and those that do register rarely return Monthly unique visitors to Product X site (Ks) Total registered members (Ks) Active Members Non-Registered Visitors Active Members Inactive Members 1 (10%) 5 (5%) 9 (90%) 95 (95%) 6
Across key engagement metrics, performance has flatlined or fallen Monthly average uploads (Ks) Monthly average favorites (Ks) +X% +X% 56 60 65 60 72 +X% 65 60 70 +X% 60 80 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Monthly average ratings (Ks) Monthly average daily dozen votes (Ks) 50 +X% 49 60 +X% 65 70 40 +X% 45 45 -X% 40 35 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 7 Source: Data provided by XXX Data Analytics Team
ProductX has active users around the world AVERAGE MONTHLY UPLOADS (KS) BY REGION (% OF TOTAL) Asia Europe North America Other A 120 99 30 (25%) 80 20 (25%) 20 (25%) 20 (25%) 87 76 20 (23%) 15 (20%) 20 (23%) 15 (20%) 20 (26%) 21 (24%) 22 (22%) 23 (23%) 24 (24%) 30 (25%) 30 (25%) 20 (25%) 26 (34%) 26 (30%) 30 (30%) 30 (25%) 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Source: Data provided by XXX Data Analytics Team Notes: (A) Other Includes Africa, Australia, oceania, south America, Antarctica, countries with coding errors, and not specified. 8
Nearly XX% of active monthly users are ages XX or older ACTIVE MONTHLY MEMBERS (KS) BY AGE (% OF TOTAL) 27 2 (7%) 3 (11%) 4 (15%) 8 (30%) 30 2 (7%) 3 (10%) 5 (17%) 9 (30%) 31 2 (6%) 3 (10%) 5 (16%) 9 (29%) 60+ 40 to 59 30 to 39 18 to 29 30 2 (7%) 3 (10%) 4 (13%) 8 (27%) 35 2 (6%) 4 (11%) 4 (11%) 10 (29%) Under 18 10 (37%) 11 (37%) 12 (39%) 13 (43%) 15 (43%) 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 9 Source: Data provided by Data Analytics Team
Agenda Product overview Revenue model Product case studies 10
Three revenue models were developed for ProductX Model Version No Change Overview Take no substantial actions to change the Your Shot product or expand its monetization strategies; continue similar to current trends Model B Invest in improving the BBBB BBBB BBBBB; implement both BBB BBB BBBB BBBBB BBBB to ensure that the product tracks with competition Model C Invest in improving CCCC CCCC CCCC product and community; develop a set of CCCC CCCCCC CCC including CCC, CCC and CCC beginning in 2018, and CCC and CCC beginning in 2020; this model does not include XXX growth 11
Model revenue drivers Model Version Driver 1 No Change Shrinks 5% per year from ~500K in 2017 to 387K in 2022 Driver 2 Driver 3 Driver 4 Driver 5 Not implemented Ad revenue per user remains constant at $1.35 Remains constant at $250K per year Not implemented Model B Grows at a ~5% CAGR from ~500K in 2017 to 643K in 2022 Begins in mid-2018 with a 1.25% user conversion rate into the paid option at $96 per year Ad revenue per user declines 1% per year from $1.35 in 2017 to $1.28 in 2022 Revenue per campaign declines 1% per year from $50K in 2017 to $48K in 2022; number of campaigns grows from 5 to 10 Begins in 2018 with 0.1 photo prints per user at $15 and 0.1 non-photo prints per user at $25; grows 1% per year Model C Doubles from ~500K in 2017 to 1M in 2022 Not implemented Ad revenue per user grows 3% per year from $1.35 in 2017 to $1.57 in 2022 Revenue per campaign grows 5% per year from $50K in 2017 to $64K in 2022; number of campaigns grows from 5 to 12 Begins in 2018 with 0.1 photo prints per user at $15 and 0.1 non-photo prints per user at $25; grows 5% per year 12
Revenue model: No change DIGITAL REVENUES ($MS) $0.9 $0.9 $0.9 -XX% $0.8 $0.8 $0.8 2017 a 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Source: Digital financial model, XXX financial analysis Notes: (A) 2017 digital advertising revenue projected based on 2016 financials from Eileen Maroney: Assigned 25% of gallery ad revenue due to sharing with ng.com, 100% of your shot display ad revenue, and all of photo contest display ads. Excluded photo contest entry fees due to potential double reporting with content verticals. sponsored content revenue was projected at $250k in 2017 based on 2016 numbers from sales team. 13
Revenue model: Model B DIGITAL REVENUES ($MS) Driver 1 Driver 2 Driver 3 Driver 4 $2.7 +XX% $2.1 $0.7 $1.0 $1.4 $0.6 $1.6 $0.6 $1.8 $0.6 $0.6 $0.8 $0.9 $0.6 $0.1 $0.1 $0.7 $0.6 $0.2 $0.3 $0.2 $0.2 $0.5 $0.2 $0.8 $0.3 2017 a 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 14 Source: Digital financial model, XXX financial analysis
Model C DIGITAL REVENUES ($MS) Driver 1 Driver 2 Driver 3 Driver 4 Driver 5 $3.2 +XX% $2.5 $0.8 $1.2 $1.7 $0.7 $1.9 $0.7 $2.2 $0.7 $0.7 $1.0 $1.1 $0.7 $0.8 $1.0 $0.7 $0.1 $0.1 $0.0 $0.2 $0.4 $0.2 $0.2 $0.0 $0.0 $0.6 $0.2 $0.4 $0.0 $0.0 2017 a 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 15 Source: Digital financial model, XXX financial analysis
Agenda Product overview Revenue model Product case studies 16
Product case study 1: email newsletters Product Overview Email Newsletter Overview Key facts Newsletters contain articles, videos, and photos sent to users email via a newsletter (all link out to longer pieces or vides on the NYT website) Product includes 54+ free individual email newsletter options for subscription; options vary in arrival frequency 1 Key topics include: New Email Newsletters; News, Politics, and Opinions; Business & Tech; Lifestyle; Special Offers; Dealbook etc. Users can preview sample before subscribing Product intended to provide personalized, succinct content overviews that can Segway into richer, deeper content pieces (written and video) on the main site Weekly newsletters averaged a 50% gross open rate in 2015; newer niche newsletters topped a 70% gross open rate (38.5% was the industry average in 2015) 2 Newsletters sometimes include ads, though often for products / services related to the content Arrival tempo varies: Daily, As Needed, Monday-Friday, Weekends, Weekly, Biweekly, and Monthly Subscription free and can include multiple options 12-person newsletter team as of 20152 Email subject-lines are 30 characters or less to drive engagement on mobile 3 ; usually include the name of the top article in the newsletter Newsletters are often sent at a specific time of day (i.e., Today s Headlines Asian Morning is sent when it s morning in Asia not New York) Newsletters include an email address for readers to respond with feedback Users get welcome email to register with NYT to personalize emails during sign-up Insights to Consider Newsletters designed to prevent inbox clutter: Inbox clutter is something we re sensitive to, said Nicole Breskin, a digital product director at the Times. Because it s so saturated, it s important we produce something of value. 4 Efforts include combining multiple newsletters into one email if they will arrive on the same day, keeping subject lines brief, and allowing for personalization of email notifications on mobile if users register their subscription Stories chosen do not mimic the homepage: These are not news summaries. We re conscious of short paragraphs and sentences, of what s pleasant to read on a phone screen, said Clifford Levy, a Times assistant masthead editor 5. Newsletters include a plethora of photos and only brief descriptions of articles. NYT has emphasized radical flexibility in testing formats and content: We see newsletters as a very cool data testing ground for new products, ideas, and experiments with tone and voice, said Nicole Breskin, product director in 2015 6. Newsletters vary in design, length, and opening letter inclusion based on readership, time of day and theme. Likewise, most (newsletters) start out on a weekly basis to prevent turning off readers before a list gains momentum. Newsletter subscribers frequently become NYT subscribers: Times users are twice as likely to become paid subscribers if they signed up for a newsletter first. 6 This probably reflects the fact that someone reading more than 10 articles a month needs a paid subscription. NYT uses social media to promote newsletters: NYT uses Facebook and Twitter to gauge interest in new newsletters and to promote current ones 6 Sources: (1) New York Times Newsletters (2) Digiday, August 2015, New York Times Gets Seventy Percent Open Rate (3) Contently, September 2015, How the New York Times Gets 70% Email Open Rates (4) Digiday, August 2015, New York Times Gets Seventy Percent Open Rate (5) Nieman Lab, February 2016, The New York Times Has a New Email Newsletter Aimed At College Students (6) Digiday, August 2015, New York Times Gets Seventy Percent Open Rate 17
Product case study 1 INSIGHT: NEWSLETTERS DESIGNED TO PREVENT INBOX CLUTTER When the Book Review Newsletter and Science Times Newsletter appeared on the same day at the same time in an email inbox, the two newsletter were joined together into one email thread. The brief subject line of the Science Times email was Gene-Modified Ants Shed Light on How Societies are Organized, which was the featured article of that newsletter As said by David Carr, a writer for the NYT, At a time when lots of news and information is whizzing by online, email newsletters help us figure out what s worth paying attention to. 1 With this focus in mind, NYT newsletters have 20-30 featured articles in one email and brief subject lines (30 characters or less) that feature the main article of the newsletter. They also append newsletters to one another when two or more are sent at the same time to one subscriber. Sources: (1) NYT, June 2014, For Email Newsletters, A Death Greatly Exaggerated (2) Photos from January 6, 2017 Science Times newsletter (3) January 24, 2017 Science Times newsletter (4) NYT email newsletters 18
Product case study 1 INSIGHT: STORIES CHOSEN DO NOT MIMIC THE HOMEPAGE In the Science Newsletter, articles refer to all the science articles in the NYT currently, not just ones on the homepage Each article gets a few brief words about its topic, which readers can click on to go to the article on the NYT if they want to read more. Stories in each newsletter are organized according to theme, not what is popular or prominent on the homepage. Likewise, articles are frequently just given a brief sentence or two for introduction If you want more information, you click on the links, particularly in newsletters like the Morning Briefings. 1 Sources: (1) Nieman Lab, February 2016, The New York Times Has a New Email Newsletter Aimed at College Students (2) Photos from January 24, 2017 Science Times newsletter (3) NYT email newsletters 19
Product case study 1 INSIGHT: NYT HAS EMPHASIZED RADICAL FLEXIBILITY IN TESTING FORMATS AND CONTENT What We Are Reading newsletter: begins with a lengthy letter directly to the reader Sciences Times newsletter: begins with a large photo from an article, then short descriptions of articles following In trying to avoid the one size fits all model, newsletters vary within and between each other: starting the newsletter with a letter vs. a photo, quantity of articles, tone, time of day sent, etc. This radical flexibility allows the newsletter team gauge what works with different audiences Sources: (1) NYT email newsletters (2) Photos from January 27, 2017 Book Review newsletter (3) February 1, 2017 Sciences Times newsletter 20
Product case study 1 INSIGHT: NYT USES SOCIAL MEDIA TO PROMOTE NEWSLETTERS What We re Reading is a page on the NY Times Pinterest, as well as one of their newsletters The African-American Experience on the NYT Pinterest references articles in the Race/ Related newsletter Videos on the NYT YouTube, such as this one about Fukushima, suggest a newsletter to follow. The NYT uses social media (such as Pinterest) to promote newsletters (such as What We re Reading) and to gauge interest in potential new newsletters.. In the case of the Kristof letter, it got 50,000 signups after promoting it on social media and on site for six months. 1 Sources: (1) Digiday, August 2015, New York Times Gets Seventy Percent Open Rate (2) Photos from Pinterest, What Are We Reading (3) NYT email newsletter 21
Product case study 1 THE NEWSLETTERS New, politics and opinions Lifestyle New email newsletters Briefing: Europe Edition Morning Briefing: Asia and Australia Edition The Edit Nicholas Kristof Evening Briefing Morning Briefing: Americas What We re Reading The Upshot Today s Headlines Breaking New Alerts New York Today First Draft Opinion Today Today s Headlines European Morning Today s Headlines Asian Morning Booming @Times Running Science Times The New York Times Magazine NYT Living T Magazine Real Estate Cooking Book Review Big City Book Club Movie Updates Theater Update Travel Dispatch Times Video Wheels Well The Learning Network Well Family Sports The Interpreter Canada Today California Today Louder Op-Docs Watching Race/ Related Sources: New York Times Newsletters Business and tech Dealbook Bits Your Money Personal Tech Entrepreneurship Special offers Sophisticated Shopper Great Getaways Travel Deals TicketWatch The New York Times Store Times Journeys Updates and Special Offers 22
Product case study 2: Website Product Overview Product overview 3 Key facts ESPN s main website, www.espn.com Central online hub for sports news, scores, leagues, merchandise, and tickets from ESPN Timeline 1995: ESPN launched www.espn.com 1 2015: ESPN redesigned www.espn.com to include team/sport personalization, mobile compatibility, white space, live-stream updating, and infinite scrolling 2 Homepage: Acts as a one-stop destination for sports, teams, Fantasy, news, scores, and other websites Personalization: Users can log-in and personalize which teams/ sports are emphasized on the homepage Now Feed : live Twitter-like feed of shortform content on the side of the homepage League homepages: every major league (NFL, NCAA) and most major sports (Baseball, Basketball, Hockey) link from the main homepage to their own homepage Offshoots: WatchESPN, ESPN Radio, and Fantasy Ranking: #1 sports news website, #29 website in the US, and #99 website worldwide based on traffic 4 Engagement: 366M visits in Jan 2017, 10:52 average duration and avg 4 pages per visit 4 Traffic sources: 44% direct, 22% referrals, 17% search, 10% social media, 6% email, <1% ads 4 Top referring sites: cnn.com, espn.go.com, bleacherreport.com, amazon.com 4 Social media traffic: 42% FB, 21% Reddit 4 Insights to Consider ESPN did a massive web overhaul in 2015 focused on mobile, personalization, fresh content and user journeys: The company did a full site revamp focused on mobile ( Internally we think that browsing on your phone is the most beautiful, clean experience ), personalization ( I m a Duke fan. It s a pretty profound statement that Duke football sites on top of ESPN.com ), fresh content (Top Headlines constantly refreshing) and user journeys ( Each article bleeds into the next one. If you re in a clubhouse for the Cavaliers, the next one will come into a Cavaliers article too ) 5 Personalization playing an increasingly critical role: Recommended teams and leagues reflect a user s location (without log-in); users can log-in and pick sports and teams to emphasize on the homepage feed; preferences affect scoreboard, news and recommended videos Focus on making the website a stand-alone destination : We are a destination network. People tune in to ESPN without even knowing what s on, notes ESPN President John Skipper6; the website has been designed to serve users who want to browse the world of sports with no particular goal ESPN tailors content and tone to platform and audience: Rather than force a unified ESPN style onto every social-media platform, the team takes care to learn the local language of every territory of the Internet-experimenting with live feeds on its homepage, studying which stories fly furthest on Facebook, and practicing the goofball patois of Snapchat 6. Different platforms vary in content length, format (e.g.,photo, video, article), and frequency of new content Sources: (1) ESPN Media Zone, ESPN, Inc. Fact Sheet (2) Fast Company, March 2015, ESPN Just Redesigned Its Site For The First Time Since 2009 Here Are 4 Takeaways (3) www.espn.com (4) Similar Web, February 2017, ESPN.com Analytics (5) Fast Company, March 2015, ESPN Just Redesigned Its Site For The First Time Since 2009 Here Are 4 Takeaways (6) The Atlantic, July 2015, ESPN s Plan to Dominate the Post-TV World 23
Product case study 2 INSIGHT: ESPN DID A MASSIVE WEB OVERHAUL IN 2015 FOCUSED ON MOBILE, PERSONALIZATION, FRESH CONTENT AND USER JOURNEYS Old site incorporated many similar elements but in a way better suited to a generic, desktop experience The site varies significantly for logged-in users based on preferences: scores, news items, articles highlighted, etc. Scores, news and videos refresh constantly (e.g., scores update without refreshing the page) Site as a mobile first feel with one article, large text and use of icons as links to other parts of the site Articles and videos lead into directly related content: Each article bleeds into the next one. If you re in a clubhouse for the Cavaliers, the next one will come into a Cavaliers article too Sources: (1) The Atlantic, July 2015, ESPN s Plan to Dominate the Post-TV World (2) Similar Web, February 2017, www.espn.com Analytics (3) ESPN.com (4) Photos from espn.com pages (4) ESPN mobile application, February 2017 24
Product case study 2 INSIGHT: PERSONALIZATION PLAYING AN INCREASINGLY CRITICAL ROLE Sign-up button given prominent with both placement and color choice (blue on white background) Any user can select any league or event they prefer to see scores for that choice (without logging in) Large and visible log-in button Easy to select favorite teams to get more content on those choices Top headlines will vary based on location (e.g., Dallas headline for someone in Texas per below) Users can login and decide which sports and teams are emphasized on their homepage feed (with suggestions based on geolocation). Accessing ESPN.com from Los Angeles brings suggestions of adding the Lakers, Dodgers, and Angels as a favorite automatically on the homepage while someone in Dallas will see content related to UT and the Dallas Cowboys. Sources: Photo from espn.com 25
Product case study 2 INSIGHT: FOCUS ON MAKING THE WEBSITE A STAND-ALONE DESTINATION To p E S P N s e a r c h k e y w o r d s 2 : 1 ESPN Direct traffic accounts for almost 50% of all traffic with Referrals (22%) and Search (17%) together accounting for 80%+ of the traffic 22% Referrals 2 WATCHESPN 3 WATCH ESPN 4 ESPN NBA 5 ESPN NFL Top keywords #4 and #5 ( espn nba and espn nfl ) suggest ESPN has succeeded in becoming a destination site in the minds of its potential audience Direct 45% 17% Search 6% Social Mail 10% In 2013, ESPN President Skipper said, We re not looking for niche audiences Instead, ESPN sought to maximize the odds that whenever an American guy tuned into its flagship channel, he would see either a major sport, or coverage of a major story line on one of ESPN s rapidly multiplying talk shows 1 The website supports this with live scoreboards, the Now feed on the homepage, major sports on the homepage (with niche sports accessible in dropdown menus), and strong keyword visits ( espn nba, espn nfl ) 2 We are a destination network. People tune in to ESPN without even knowing what s on according to ESPN President John Skipper 3 Sources: (1) The Atlantic, July 2015, ESPN s Plan to Dominate the Post-TV World (2) Similar Web, February 2017, www.espn.com Analytics (3) The Atlantic, July 2015, ESPN s Plan to Dominate the Post-TV World (4) Photos from espn.com (5) Photos from Similar Web, February 2017 (6) www.espn.com Analytics 26