Who Owns the Ny Times

Much of this is moving from concentrating on attracting new customers to keeping existing ones. Clay Fisher, nvp of consumers' revenues, is in charge of this, with a staff of 100. Arriving in The Times two years ago, Fisher has trebled the number of staff working on loyalty to 25 and hired non-federal industry consumers marketers such as banks and retailers.

Said that sales and loyalty had increased, but didn't want to say by how much. As The Times already has a large customer basis, it is well placed to concentrate on customer loyalty. Publishing houses want to emphasise the bond, because the exchange of readership who unsubscribe is costly. "Binding can be more costly in the shorter run than acquiring, but if you enhance binding by enhancing the quality of the products, you can lower your purchase costs in the long run," he added.

Publishing houses can use a number of strategies to raise the bond, said Patrick Appel, editor-in-chief of Traffic, a journal that owns Piano. According to piano figures, the mean value of annuity is higher than that of regular monthlies. However, the mean one-year plan is about twice as valuable as a similarly expensive two-year plan because there are so many ways for one-month plan members to change, he said.

According to the Times retention-centered approach, work begins on the date someone becomes a new subscription. And The Times has a staff of about 10 individuals who focus on the first 90 business sessions. You' re sending e-mails to new Subscribers about all Times reports and newsgroups. There will be functions on the site that only new users will see, such as a volume at the top that proposes specific paragraphs, writers and article.

Times also organises subscription-only or early entry Times meetings. "More and more we want to make more and more peoples want to think they have joined a whole new planet once they become subscribers," said Mr Fischer. Times' effort to be more consumer-oriented also extends to its support staff. And The Times brings more of this work into the home and hires professionals to deal with delicate issues such as a failed paper deliver.

Six professional support staff sitting in a special room are experimenting in terms of market research with ways to enhance support and introduce it to the entire subscription basis.