By Mark Zohar, Viafoura
However, there is a very valuable user segment that is often overlooked and that sits between these stages – a Registered User that generates content on-site (UGC Contributor).
Think of a Registered UGC Contributor as someone contributing content by leaving comments, asking questions in a Q&A, answering polls, following topics to personalise their experience, or actively engaging with your brand and your community in any other similar manner.
Viafoura has been analysing its anonymised data to gain further insight into what makes a publisher more successful – whether the end goal is revenue, loyalty, subscriber growth, or something else. We’ve discovered that this UGC Contributor cohort might be the answer to achieving 2023 goals!
Loyalty
For this analysis, we defined Loyalty as the number of visits per month per unique visitor (averaged). By analysing our anonymised Loyalty data from January 2020 to February 2023, we can ascertain the following:
- Blue line: UGC Contributors have been continuously increasing their visits per month relative to the overall reader population,
- Red line: Registered users have been holding reasonably constant on their number of site visits relative to the overall reader population,
- Your UGC Contributors are four to five times more loyal than the population of registered users and their loyalty improves over time.
Page views
By analysing our anonymised Page View data from January 2020 to February 2023, we can gain the following insights:
- Blue line: UGC Contributors have been increasing their page views per month after a bit of “COVID fatigue” period relative to the overall reader population,
- Red line: Registered users have also been increasing their page views per month relative to the overall reader population,
- Your UGC Contributors consume almost twice as much content per visit as your overall registered population.
Time per Visit
And finally, by analysing our anonymised Time per Visit data from January 2020 to January 2023, we can establish the following:
- Blue line: UGC Contributors have been continuously increasing their Time per Visit relative to the overall reader population,
- Red line: Registered users have also been increasing their Time per Visit relative to the overall reader population,
- Your UGC Contributors spend approximately 33% more Time per Visit than your overall registered users.
Analysis
Let’s quickly summarise the Registered UGC Contributor numbers from this analysis. They are
- Four to five times more loyal than your overall population of registered users,
- Viewing almost twice as many page views as your overall registered population,
- Spending approximately 33% more Time per Visit than your overall population of registered users.
Action plan
If you’re looking to prioritise monetising an audience, focusing on this UGC Contributor will be the most valuable. They return to your site most often, view significantly more pages per visit, and spend the most time per visit. Therefore, not only do they see more ads, but by using the first-party data you’ve collected on these UGC Contributors, you can create deep audience segments and command more revenue for your ad spots.
Because these individuals also actively participate with your brand, the likelihood that this individual will subscribe increases significantly. Organisations like Mather Economics continue to study the propensity for conversion, and their research shows that two-thirds of conversions come from the most engaged 2 percent of the audience.
This analysis shows that the Registered UGC Contributor is critical to driving ad revenue, subscriptions, and retention. You need to not only move readers to a registration and authentication stage, which is essential, but also provide them with the capabilities and tools to contribute their opinions, feedback, and so on. By prioritising engagement, you’ll be able to grow this key cohort and get the 2023 results you’re looking for.
Mark Zohar is president and CEO of Viafoura, a provider of online community engagement and management solutions.
