Subscribers win with e-alerts and downloadable content

It is a truism that online tools can enhance the experience of readers who don't want to give up the many benefits and pleasures of a traditional print publication. What the internet and e-notifications do extremely well is provide enhancements of the experience of being a subscriber. Many magazines offer e-letters (on narrow, vertical topics excerpted from or expanding on the main editorial of the publication) or e-alerts (that, for instance, let the subscriber know a new issue is ready -- and possibly downloadable). More magazines, particularly speciality or niche titles, should probably do this, particularly when they've got far-flung subscribers.

A good example of a plain vanilla service is Canadian Mennonite, a bi-weekly magazine with a circulation of 16,000 (mostly in Canada). It offers all its current print subscribers the option of having an e-mailed version sent to them when it comes off the press and somewhat in advance of receiving their print issue. They have the option of receiving either a full pdf file as an attachment or simply an alert with a link that they can click on if they wish to access an HTML version (with the option of dowloading a pdf). (The dowload is available to subscribers only. The e-lert is available to anyone.)

The advantage is storing the complete copy in the subscriber's e-mail inbox to be read at leisure, even when not connected to the Internet. The disadvantage is these e-mail messages are large (3 to 5 mb) and can take some time to download.

(This is similar to a service offered by the Guardian Weekly newspaper, which lets subscribers order any article or any group of articles or sections from a menu the moment the paper comes off the press and days ahead of delivery. Subscribers can also put in a standing order for automatic e-mail inbox delivery of preferred stuff like the rugby report or a particular columnist, or specific job ads. There doesn't seem to be any downside to this, from a reader's perspective.)

The obvious question for print publishers is whether, for a certain proportion of the subscribers, doesn't this make the print magazine redundant? Our response is: so what if it does? If, say 20 per cent of your subscribers come to accept and prefer a downloadable version, they remain part of your audience and you save a significant amount of your printing and mailing cost. For specialized, niche publications, this is probably the way of the future and makes them no less valuable as magazines serving their readership.