TheSkimm aims for deeper integration in millennials' lives with subscriptions
The new paid subscription will keep users informed about important dates related to big news stories through a consolidated feed, push notifications and automatic appointment scheduling in smartphone calendars. TheSkimm is pulling in serious numbers with millennials and a mobile app is an ideal venture for it to continue on a path to be users? go-to source for news.
?This is our first product since launching the company in 2012,? said Carly Zakin, co-founder of theSkimm. ?It is our first paid subscription product and first product on the brand new platform, theSkimm for iPhone.
?Skimm Ahead makes it easier to be smarter about the future and can integrate directly into your iPhone calendar,? she said. ?With Skimm Ahead, you never have to worry about missing out on your fave Netflix show returning or casting your vote in this election season.?
Subscribers? mobile skimming
For instance, users can scroll through April, which lists big dates such as tech earnings on April 21. Interested readers can select read to get a broader understanding of the event and what is big on this date in a short paragraph.
Other featured stories provide links to other publications' articles and videos, and also sometimes inform users how long of a read it is.
For instance, yesterday?s summary featured big stories of the day, such as the NY Primary, Yahoo Earnings and an interesting news story regarding a woman who has married and harmed more than three men. The Skimm?s summary gives a short description and then brings users on to read the full version on The Cut, and labels it a five-minute read.
Readers can also get their Daily theSkimm newsletters directly within the app as well, and if they are interested, the app will send a push notification when it is published each morning. New users are currently getting a one-month free trial, but after that it is $2.99 each month.
Skimming success
Many candidates for this year?s election also leveraged theSkimm as one strategy for reaching this audience, through a Q&A on its daily newsletter (see more).
TheSkimm also developed a feature for fans to save and upload quotes of the day to Instagram to raise greater awareness in the millennial demographic (see more).
?TheSkimm's goal as a company is to make it easier to be smarter,? said Danielle Weisberg, co-founder of theSkimm. ?The Daily Skimm email makes it easier to be smarter about what happened yesterday and what you need to know about today.
?With Skimm Ahead, we aim to help people be smarter about the future, and can even integrate directly into your calendar,? she said. ?We are obsessed with fitting into the routines of our audience.
?We started that with email and are now going after their calendars.?