Digital Magazine and Newspaper Editions: Best Practice Cases
Meeting the Challenge
Carol Minton has been working to build the BE (Bentley Empowered) brand by
establishing a positive connection with Bentley users, resulting in stronger
relationships with users and prospective users. To help her reach her goals, she chose
Nxtbook because of its technological flexibility. Their browser-based delivery
mechanism does not require a download; interactive links take readers directly to more
pertinent content; and the capability to print part or all of each publication is very
convenient for readers. Nxtbook provides valuable connect time data and statistics,
including page views, time spent on page, hits, click-throughs, etc., which BE then
forwards to advertisers.
Results
� Open rates of the magazine’s HTML email blasts usually average close to 50%,
which is extremely high for email distribution.
� Digital “shelf life” has translated into higher readership numbers over time as
past issues are electronically archived on BE.org.
� No resources on Bentley systems are required to archive BE Magazines since
they reside on Nxtbook servers. They have every issue live in the archives.
Lessons Learned
� The challenge is to find the right balance between providing the interactivity to
attract readers to BE and keeping them as long as possible, while also providing
interactive content and links that direct them elsewhere. They don’t want
readers to leave Nxtbook too soon, risking that they will not return. Carol makes
a special effort to include video, sidebars with links, etc., whenever possible.
� They keep all editorial content on the short side so that BE is a relatively quick
read that stimulates readers to explore topics further.
� Digital editions offer a timeliness advantage that allows the editorial team to
update materials right up to — and even after — the mass email blast has been
released to the users.
Gilbane Group Conclusions
� It is the interactivity and linking that helps generate the excellent open rates and
strong average session data. The willingness to allow readers to venture beyond
the primary publication to further explore their interests makes it more likely
that the reader will return to the primary publication’s Web site regularly.
� It is very important that the Digital Magazine be well integrated into the rest of
the digital strategy. In this case, they do newsletters and printed editions for
trade shows, and are planning to add community features such as wikis, blogs,
and forums.
� BE is an excellent model for others wishing to develop online corporate
publications.
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©2008 Gilbane Group, Inc. http://gilbane.com