In April and May of 2009 MarketingSherpa and the Specialized Information Publishers Foundation – the research arm of the Specialized Information Publishers Association (SIPA) – researched the challenges and opportunities facing subscription based information product marketers.

The findings of the study give some indication of how subscription based info-product marketers or specialized information publishers are faring in the current economic climate.

For example, those info-product marketers surveyed in the study said that acquiring new subscribers was their top challenge. This was cited by 57 percent of business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers and 53 percent of online business-to-business (B2B) marketers.

According to 35 percent of B2C and 22 percent of online B2B subscription based information product marketers, the second biggest challenge was retaining subscribers.

Subscription based info product marketers also said that conversion rates were declining. For example, 49 percent of online B2B marketers said subscriptions were down.

In terms of revenue gains, online B2B marketers’ cited revenue gains in a number of areas including site licensing, consulting, audioconferences/webinars and content licensing/syndication. Meanwhile online B2B marketers said revenues were down in magazine subscriptions, newsletter subscriptions, list rentals and conferences/seminars.

The MarketingSherpa / SIPF report is available for free here.

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• What Kind of Email Content Boosts Response?
• SIPA 2011: The Specialized Information Publishers Association’s 35th Annual International Conference

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 27th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Email Marketing, Kikabink Lab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.