As a coach with Newspack’s Revenue Development Program, I’ve been thinking a lot about the latest Reader Revenue cohort and the progress they made. This track focuses on strategies for generating direct revenue from your readers. The wins the teams shared are the kind anyone could start working toward right away.
That’s why I wanted to pull a few of these highlights together. Each one shows how small, intentional tweaks can move readers to act.
Add reader-centric giving options
Mirror Indy added a quarterly payment option in addition to monthly after donors asked for less frequent recurring payments. The team didn’t promote it. They just turned it on. Eighteen donors signed up to give quarterly, including one during the final program session.
It’s a reminder that sometimes the easiest experiments are the ones that simply meet readers where they are.
Clear the blockers
Sometimes what’s preventing people from converting into paying supporters isn’t your value proposition or interest from audiences — it’s a hidden point of friction. One team noticed that their targeting was causing another widget to block a donation pop-up from firing. As soon as they cleared up the conflict, the donations followed.
A quick tip: seek out sources of friction and eliminate them. Use your site the way you expect your audiences would, including via mobile, where the majority of your readers typically engage with your site — click into articles, scroll at a normal pace, try to donate or subscribe. Notice where things feel slow, confusing, or just… off. Even better, ask a friend or a peer to “audit” the experience. Wherever they hesitate, or things don’t go as planned, start there.
Stewardship beats passive calls-to-action
During a program group session, the Connecticut Inside Investigator team shared one of the most personal (and effective) tactics they used: calling every donor to ask how their coverage was landing and what could be better. No fundraising ask attached.
It turned out to be the team’s strongest month of giving in a long time. Sometimes the best path to proving your value is making sure your audiences feel heard.
Ask more than you think you should
Connecticut Inside Investigator also started targeting its CTAs based on a user’s pageview count and on-site behaviors for the first time, which immediately led to stronger one-time and recurring gifts.
Segment, segment, segment
Washington City Paper sent a donation email to newsletter subscribers who had never given and collected $675 in just a few hours. Targeting a distinct group of readers with a clear, relevant ask outperformed their usual broader messages.
Outlier Media took a different angle, testing a small themed mini-campaign and creating separate versions for loyal readers, lapsed donors, and active donors. The results weren’t huge, but the team walked away with a better sense of what each group responds to — and what they don’t.
Both reinforced that the “send to everyone” strategy is a fine first step, but leaves opportunities on the table. Focusing on the right message to the right person at the right time is almost always more effective and efficient.
Show, don’t tell
The Cardinal News team realized they didn’t need anything fancy to make their donation emails more compelling. For their birthday drive, they dropped a simple, cropped screenshot of the donation form right into the email and linked it to the checkout page. It stood out from their usual buttons and text links, and readers responded.
This small visual change made the giving experience feel more concrete, and the momentum inspired their peers in the program to borrow the idea.
Newspack’s Revenue Development Program is application-based and open to any current Newspack publisher in the United States. Current publishers can apply for the Ads & Sponsorships Track, Reader Revenue Track, and the Newsletters Track. Prospective publishers can contact our sales team to learn more.
