In an ode to the strengths of knowing your online audience, dish magazine’s website changed its tone and increased its presence in an effort to connect with readers during lockdown.
Since lockdown started on March 25 dish website users have been up 115 percent and sessions up 134 percent compared to the previous month.
Editor, Sarah Tuck, says she knows they were in a fortunate position as those in lockdown rediscovered (or discovered) their love of cooking, yet was not expecting a surge of that velocity.
“We chalked it up to a couple of reasons, we pitched at the right time to our audience, and we kept changing the tone throughout lockdown to try and reflect where our readers are at. Getting the tone right for our brand was crucial, but we also realised lockdown was an opportunity for people to re-engagewith cooking and get back in the kitchen. So in terms of an offering, we were fortunate to be in a really good space.”
Dish daily average users on the website have more than doubled since the equivalent period pre-lock down. It hit its highest peaks on April 2, 4 and 18, each time correlating with EDMs. To maintain a constant presence, the dish team moved to three weekly newsletters.
“This is how nerdy I am, when we send out the EDM I will sit there with Google analytics open and watch the readers open the articles in real-time. This means I can see instantly what’s resonating the most. So, each time that happens I learn for the next one and it’s helping us to know our readers even better.”
The lowest daily number since lockdown has still doubled the previous daily average, with Tuck commenting on the EDM’s rise in engagement being helpful to keep advertisers committed to the brand.
Tuck acknowledges the silver lining that has come from focusing on real-time online audiences and getting the chance to engage with readers.
“One of the good things to have come out of the lockdown has been this opportunity to check in with our readers from an online perspective. Normally the magazine is front and centre, but this has given us the chance to really engage and connect in a different way”.
