A report from DigiCareers found that consumers are willing to pay for digital content when they believe it will provide quality information. However, there appear to be certain specific content expectations they have.
Ninety percent of respondents said they expect some free content to be provided in advance of purchases to give an idea of the quality a site is offering. For companies using white papers as part of a content marketing campaign, selling the information can be a method to improve revenue. However, a target audience isn’t going to buy without seeing previously produced content and its relevance.
After making a content purchase or subscribing to paid content, consumers want a guarantee that they’ll receive information, not ads . Sixty-three percent said they expect to be able to view or read content they’ve paid for without any interference from ad content. Sixty-one percent said they don’t mind seeing ads behind the paywall if it means a lower price.
Additionally, the view of paywalls is changing as 42 percent of consumers believe it’s necessary for some organizations to charge for access to content. Companies leveraging content marketing must offer high-quality, engaging content for paywalls to be successful.
B2B companies using content marketing will likely find more prospects willing to spend on white papers and other researched forms of content marketing given the value of information. As tablets and smartphones become more popular, people may be more willing to pay for content since they’re likely to access it more frequently as they use the internet more often. Brafton recently reported that tablets will generate 10 percent of all website traffic by 2014.
