Membership and philanthropy accounts for 70% of revenue at The Kyiv Independent
Launched in November 2021, The Kyiv Independent is Ukraine’s fasted-growing English-language media outlet. Having started working with Poool in Spring 2024, the publisher's community-focused membership model now accounts for 70% of revenue.
Prioritizing reader support
From the outset, the team prioritized support from readers, starting with a substantial crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe. In conjunction with this, they established a membership program through Patreon, the most efficient and cost-effective option available at that time.
With the onset of the war in Ukraine, the supporter base surged dramatically, with tens of thousands contributing to crowdfunding efforts. This overwhelming response not only bolstered financial resources but also reinforced the confidence in their mission.
Nevertheless, they recognized that relying solely on donations was insufficient.
The goal: to focus on membership, fostering meaningful relationships with supporters, offering them benefits and a sense of community, and encouraging regular contributions.
What membership means at The Kyiv Independent
A membership allows readers to support The KI with contributions ranging from $5 to $100 per month, in return for various benefits that have naturally developed over time.
For instance, members receive an exclusive weekly newsletter that features important stories and events, along with additional unique offerings such as recommendations for books and films, discounts on our newly launched merchandise, and even access to Ukrainian language lessons. There is significant interest in these offerings, prompting us to establish a Discord channel for members to engage in discussions with one another.
Acquisition of new members with Poool
Inspired by The Guardian's support banner, the team at The Kyiv Independent have used Poool Engage to ask for one-off support or membership on the homepage, with a hard-hitting message that reflects the company's value proposition and mission.
“We don’t shy away from telling people that we need support, and that membership allows us to exist and grow. We don’t go into desperate mode, this is probably a one-time thing so we’ll save it for a rainy day!
When we work on new banners or new messaging we try to find a balance between showing readers the unique context of running a newsroom during the war and not sounding too desperate or undermining. For example, we would share with our readers behind the scenes of living in Kyiv during war or how it feels when Russia launches ICBM at your country but we would never shame our readers into asking for support or say that we would close shop if they won’t support us. We want to convey real emotions but don’t want to be tone deaf or “go nuclear” (pun intended) in our messaging." - Zakhar Protsiuk, Chief Operating Officer
Keeping the acquisition wheel moving
The team have come to the conclusion that the conversion engine slows every 6 months. At this point it's essential to change the design or messaging to reignite conversion rates.
With Poool, this can be done in a matter of minutes, or prepared in advance and scheduled to go live at the right moment.
We recommend being inspired by national holidays, seasons or important dates in your reader's calendar or leaning into the news cycle, like The Guardian:
For instance, with a Halloween banner:
A birthday campaign, including a live meter, which had significantly higher click-through rate and led to acquisition beyond the target, gaining over 1600 new members in a month.
A special banner for those who have been gifted a membership:
Or targeted messaging and design for US readers around Independence Day.
💡 Dynamic audience experiences are essential for success in a reader revenue model. Recognizing this fact, Poool Engage makes it easy to target banners, pop-ins or content inserts to specific readers, on a certain page, after a certain number of scrolls or time on page.
For the above example from The Kyiv Independent, the banner was targeted using the "For some countries" display condition.
A variety of touch points
Homepage banners are great, but it's important to increase the visibility of your products across site.
The Kyiv Independent have a small banner on articles, above the text and again at the end of an article.
At the end of an article:
On top of these modules focused on member and support acquisition, engagement is also essential, to help move lower-propensity-to-convert readers through the funnel towards potentially supporting in the future.
Newsletters - one of the chosen engagement tools at The Kyiv Independent - are a great habit-forming content to achieve this, promoted across the site with a bottom banner where a reader can sign up without leaving the page.
Congratulations to the team at The Kyiv Independent for their continued work on developing this impressive work! We look forward to seeing what's next.
Interested in doing something similar to build dynamic user experiences for gaining newsletter sign ups, support or members/subscribers? Let's chat! Email Madeleine at madeleine@poool.fr or book a demo directly.