There are many obstacles that have made e-migration rates much slower than they should be….perceived security concerns, challenges managing consent, the momentum of old habits, etc., etc.

Some of these obstacles are partially out of our control as billers, asset managers, investment dealers and technology partners.  But one obstacle is well within our control and I experienced a great example of this last week.  I opened my iPad to read the Globe and Mail and when I opened the sports section, I read about MLB game 7 (I didn’t stay up until 1am to watch the 7-6 cubs victory!).  The article titled “The Drought Ends” didn’t have the score of the game that had finished 5 hours earlier.  It actually said – “Which team won?…..check our website…..globesports.com“.  So I am reading an online version of the Globe and it tells me to go online to get the score of the game?  I’m already online!   I didn’t bother to go to globesports.com to look for the score because I moved on to something else.  It wasn’t until I was in a cab and learned that the game ended at 1am with the cubs winning 7-6.

Newspapers are fighting for their lives and they are virtually irrelevant to people born after 1970.  When online properties are not providing real-time information, they deserve to be irrelevant.

So what can we learn from this story?  If you are fighting to get your e-migration rates up, you should be thinking about how you can differentiate your e-delivered message from the printed message.  Real-time information is the obvious differentiator!  Rather than posting a pdf that is stale-dated the minute that it is posted, think about providing information that is current and relevant to your audience.  And watch e-migration rates improve.

Tags: Industry