Poool
Poool won the ‘Crack the paywall code’ battle of our Startups for News competition. They will pitch in front of 750+ industry leaders at the GEN Summit 2018. They are an innovative management platform that allows publishers to define the most efficient monetisation and engagement strategies for each reader. We asked them a few questions about their startup.
What did you do prior to launching Poool?
Before launching Poool, none of us were working within the media industry. Two of our founders were working in their own companies and the other two were in e-commerce and in environmental fields. We were four news readers who were frustrated with our experience of reading premium content.
What problem are you trying to address for newsrooms?
Today, paywalls are based on a content led model: ‘subscribe’ or ‘leave’. As a result, more than 60% of readers directly leave the website when facing a paywall. Classical paywalls create a step between free news and paid-for news that is much too steep.
To improve the reader experience and to increase the average revenue per user (ARPU), publishers should turn content led models into customer led models with specific rules, options, texts, and pricing adapted to each type of reader.
How are you attempting to solve the problems described above?
We created a dynamic paywall that allows publishers to maximise the value of their audience through effective compensation choices. Now marketing teams can quickly test all their ideas without needing the help of the IT team!
Our dashboard is made of 3 main components:
Segmenting
Publishers can either use Poool’s native segments options or create custom segments to exploit their own data.
Leveraging
From data collection to monetisation through to the promotion of the subscription, our options are multiple, attractive, and can be A/B tested.
Analysing
Thanks to our statistics section, publishers can use qualitative and quantitave data to make the best business decision.
What sets you apart from your competitors? List three elements.
We developed our solution in 10 months with publishers. It offers:
- Great user experience for readers: we think this is a core element of publisher success.
- User-friendliness for publishers: it takes less than 1 min to set up a scenario.
- Bespoke consulting for publishers: to help them make the best decisions.
What is your business model?
A SaaS business model: a monthly fee depending on the number of unique visitors. We also sell consulting sessions to publishers.
What are your next steps?
To get a good view on our future development, you can have a look on our roadmap. Some of the biggest evolutions will be:
- Developing our solution into AMP eco system.
- Improving native user segmentation and the usability of statistics within the dashboard.
- Creating easier options for readers to access and pay for the content they love.
- And, of course, keeping it simple for publishers.
