Nine Entertainment · SMH & The Age · CRO-73/74.0-2404

Three prices instead of
take-it-or-leave-it

A single-package paywall offered one price as take-it-or-leave-it. Replacing it with three simultaneous options let readers self-select to their own price sensitivity: +70% conversions at SMH, +102% at The Age, both at 100% winning probability.

+70%

SMH conversions

+102%

The Age conversions

+122%

SMH revenue

700+

incremental sales across both mastheads

Role: CRO & Experimentation Lead — paywall-structure test, two mastheads in parallel
Programme scale: Single-package vs three-package paywall, SMH & The Age, Piano platform
Primary metric owned: Conversion rate, with revenue as the commercial read
Status: Winner on both mastheads; follow-up recommended: retest without Premium Digital on offer

Contents

1. The Problem
2. The Change
3. Results — Sydney Morning Herald
4. Results — The Age
5. Key Insight

01The Problem

A single-package paywall underperformed. Readers were not offered enough choice to find their own price point, and the paywall presented one price as take-it-or-leave-it.

02The Change

The single-package paywall was replaced with a multi-package paywall showing three pricing options simultaneously.

03Results — Sydney Morning Herald

Metric	Change
Conversions	+70%
Clickthrough rate	+10%
Revenue	+122%
Incremental sales	400+
Conversion rate	100% winning probability

04Results — The Age

Metric	Change
Conversions	+102%
Revenue	+48%
Incremental sales	300+
Conversion rate	100% winning probability

05Key Insight

A multi-package paywall lets readers self-select to their own price sensitivity, which resolves the choice paradox rather than adding to it. The follow-up recommendation was to retest with Premium Digital not on offer, so the revenue effect could be read without a promotional overlay.