publishing: Casting a WIDE Net

Men’s Health tries everything from e-mail marketing to Internet pop-up boxes

Men’s Health, which like most magazines is always on the lookout for new sources of subscribers, has turned to some promising new media – e-mail and the Web. And they seem to be working.

The magazine generated 101,000 subs through online sources in 1999, compared with none two years ago, says Joyce Shirer, senior consumer marketing director for the title. That number will probably grow to 150,000 this year, she adds – a small but important contribution to the publication’s rate base, which now stands at 1.5 million.

Not only is Men’s Health selling subscriptions on its Web site, it’s advertising on other companies’ sites, and e-mailing a free weekly newsletter to an independent set of subscribers. Still, this is a relatively unproven marketing arena. “In many ways we’re very cutting edge,” says Ann Marie MacDougal, Internet marketing manager for the magazine. “But we’re also very conservative. We’re still learning what works.”

How is success determined? One measure is new subscribers’ payment rates. Readers who sign up on the Web site pay up at a higher rate (50% to 60%) than those who respond to direct mail promotions (average 50%). Subscriptions generated through other sites have much lower payment rates, but success in those cases is determined by other means. One alliance, in which a box pops up on Sandbox.com and offers a free copy of the magazine, generated approximately 45,000 subscriptions in March. “We don’t expect that payment rate will go above twenty percent,” says Shirer, “but it’s a great way to get people to sample the magazine.”

Another new initiative, Men’s Health Weekly, which started last September, is an e-mail newsletter that gathers subscribers through the magazine’s home page. The weekly has over 60,000 subscribers, about half of whom also subscribe to the magazine.

Tried and true direct mail promotions have also been converted into online marketing initiatives. In April, the magazine sent an e-mail to 200,000 people on a rented list. While similar tests have not shown much success in the past, MacDougal says lists are now better managed and more robust. Still, she adds, “we’re just going to learn about the process through this campaign.”

Despite the decreased cost of e-mail marketing, Shirer points out other potential problems. “The quantity of lists that are available are still relatively small,” she says. Additionally, there are privacy concerns. “We’re trying to be careful with this promotion strategy,” she says. “We need to make sure we have permission and that customers want to receive this information.”

As for what’s next, MacDougal says Men’s Health is adding a subscription pop-up box on its home page and more online partnerships will ensue. “We’re looking for [partnerships] to be one of our major subscription builders in 2000,” she says. “We’re going into bigger relationships and higher traffic sites.”

While most new subscribers come from traditional sources, the biggest growth area continues to be online. “What’s holding us back,” says Shirer, “is having the resources and the time. We want to make sure [our choices] are right for the long term.”