If you are one of the more than 90% of people who exit the second you see a paywall on an article you want to read, fret no more.  There is a new approach to paywalls which allows you to enjoy free content on your favorite publisher’s website in return to accept to receive four promotional emails from the creator of this new platform:  Make It Free.

I reached out to Mr. Wade Bradley, CEO of Make It Free and had this engaging conversation to learn more about Make It Free and how it works for both the readers and publishers:

Samir Husni: My first question to you is, give me the elevator pitch of what’s Make It Free.

Wade Bradley: The elevator pitch is pretty simple. We enable consumers to enjoy free content on a publisher site while we pay the publisher.

So instead of publishers turning away 98% of their traffic that hit the paywall and immediately exit, they can now monetize that 98%.

Samir Husni: Give me the background. What makes you come up with this idea? Why do you want to help publishers?

Wade Bradley: Well, initially we had developed the concept for streaming. We utilized it to eliminate ads on free streaming sites.  Instead of seeing ads, they would receive four emails. We then realized there was a much more larger market domestically and globally.

Utilizing that technology and utilizing our patents in that technology on publisher paywalls.

Samir Husni: Can you guide me if I’m a publisher and I want to use your Make It Free, how does that work?

Wade Bradley: You sign up a contract and the contract is one year, but you stop it at any point with a 30-day notice.

At the end of the day, we bring in our specialized support team. They work directly with the publisher to put the code and the API (Application Programming Interface) onto their publisher paywall.

Samir Husni: You said that if I want to click on Make It Free, I have to give my email and accept to receive four emails from you.  What do you think will make the consumer give you his or her email if they are not willing to give it to the publisher?

Wade Bradley: Well, what we found with publishers and really all consumer product companies, is that if they give the email, there is a relentless approach to market to them. So on our modal, we state very clearly, read article for free. We will send you four branded emails.

You earn a reward coin for each email opened. So we incentivize the opening of the email, not the clicking. And we never sell your data.

I think that’s the key point. Because what we’ve seen is about 10% of people currently click our button that’s on the paywall. And it says read article free with Make It Free.

Then we get a 32% conversion on average. That is essentially because we’re telling them upfront, you’re going to get four emails.

So really a simplified process.

Samir Husni: Are you now fully operating with this model or you’re still in the testing stages?

Wade Bradley: No, we have publishers signed up. We have 16 months of data that proves out the 32% conversion.

And certainly what we’ve seen is that it varies based on geography, etc. But also based on putting it on the front end of your paywall. Meaning don’t give people five articles and have the paywall come up at the sixth.

People that are getting the best results are the groups that are doing it as a hard paywall or a semi-porous paywall. Maybe one, maybe two articles for free each month.

Samir Husni: I’m assuming that it’s available for newspapers, magazines.

Wade Bradley: Yes.

Samir Husni: Do you differentiate between a newspaper like, let’s say, The New York Times or a local newspaper, and magazines, whether it’s big or small? Do publishers get the same $0.10 per article regardless of the size or there’s a scale based on how big or small is the paper?

Wade Bradley: No, we don’t scale it based on the size of the paper. Because at the end of the day, each provides a valuable consumer.

Samir Husni: You said you’ve been at it for 18 months and you have data for 16 months. Has it been a walk in a rose garden or you had some challenges and how you were able to overcome them?

Wade Bradley: Within which aspect? Within the industry, we started with news publishers and they get it.

It took us a while to get the messaging exact because a lot of groups thought their current paywall system would take care of this problem. The current paywall system actually created the problem. So when you have 100% of traffic being presented a paywall and 98% leave.

If they don’t click on the paywall, none of those algorithms and other neat things can be deployed. So what we realized is that we’re the front end of a paywall. The current paywall system is the backend.

And the backend attracts the people that have intention. I  want to get Fortune or Forbes, and I’m either going to register or pay. But the bulk of people and research has shown 90 to 95% at a minimum immediately exit when they see the paywall.

That’s where our system comes into play. Because instead of exiting, they’ve got another option. Read article free with Make It Free.

Samir Husni: You said your conversion rate based on those 16 months is 34%.

Wade Bradley: Approximately 10% of people that click the button on the paywall currently  32% return.  And it varies.

We had a group tested against sports. Only sports. It hit between 50 and 70%.

It’s much lower traffic, but the conversion rate is extremely high. We think magazines will excel because you have extremely important, lengthy  narrative, much more detailed than maybe a general newspaper would provide.

We expect to see uniquely  different numbers than what we’re currently seeing on average in the news.

Samir Husni: Do you have data on how many magazines offer paywalls?

Wade Bradley: It’s probably about 80%, if not more, conservatively. A paywall is a necessary element.

When everyone switched to digital, they thought this is Nirvana. We’re going to reach millions more people than we ever could reach. And we don’t have to print it.

But the ad rates are dramatically different than print advertising. When they started to realize how many more millions of people they had to have to be able to make up for the print value, it didn’t work. And that’s why paywalls came into being.

They solved one problem. But they really caused another that’s quite significant that we solve with Make It Free.

Samir Husni: Can you think of a question that I should ask you, but I did not ask you?

Wade Bradley: It’s pretty easy integration.

It usually only takes a couple of weeks to get it set up on a paywall. Then the first 45 days we’re conducting detailed analysis to which brands to match to those particular consumers.

After 45 days of analysis, publishers start earning daily revenue.

Samir Husni: I always conclude my interviews with two personal questions. If I come uninvited to your home one evening, what do I catch Wade doing? Cooking, having a glass of wine, watching TV, reading a magazine or hitting Make It Free?

Wade Bradley: Well, at the end of the day, what Wade’s doing, Wade’s constantly working. Wade doesn’t drink, which is part of the California lifestyle.

At the end of the day, we’re continually working and adjusting what we can do to best benefit publishers.

Because as we benefit publishers, we benefit consumers. And both of those things benefit brands. Brands want this consumer.

These are very literate consumers. They’re excellent consumers. It’s an opportunity where a publisher can be able to now monetize that traffic they’ve been turning away and condition them to become a subscriber. There’s kind of a process leading up to that.

That’s what Make It Free allows them to do. They start gaining the engagement and trust of the consumer. Then the consumer quickly realizes, wow, I really like this magazine.

I’m continually coming here. I’m coming 10, 20 times a month. I should subscribe.

We send out a free quarterly newsletter or subscription offer to the the community using our service on their site. Because we want them to gain that 1^st party data for the consumer. You simply must do it at the right time.

Up front in your face, here’s a paywall is not the right time.

Samir Husni: How many times they can hit the Make It Free?

Wade Bradley: As many times as they would like to read another article. So every single time they want to read another article, they hit Make It Free.

It’s a universal signup. So if they’ve signed up elsewhere and now come to a publication that has Make It Free, all they have to do is click agree and accept. They don’t sign up in each publication.

It’s universal. It’s really simple for the consumer. And as this becomes more pervasive across America, we think that the initial clicks are going to increase.

We see that on average, 4.2 times per month, the consumer returns and uses it again. With more city-centric news publications that just have a lot more news going on, or highly specific publications in financial technology, etc., that consumer is going to come more often.

Samir Husni: My typical last question is what keeps Wade up at night?

Wade Bradley: A lot of things keep Wade up at night.

Regarding the business, you know, we’ve gotten to the point where we already have now approximately 180 publications in our queue to integrate. That’s moving at a very quick pace. That’s one of the areas we’re highly focused on.

We’ve got our brand sales teams that are going to brands, and brands absolutely love this because they have a halo effect. They’re the ones providing the article for free. So on the  modal, when they sign up, they’ll see the brand.

And then the consumers will receive the offers from that brand. For brands, they’re getting for the first time ever an unduplicated, positive-minded consumer.

Samir Husni: Thank you.