Set Up a Paywall

Overview

A paywall shows the start of an article and asks readers to subscribe to read the rest. In UniSignIn it is made of three parts: a plan with premium access, a Content Wall experience, and an Orchestration that shows the wall to readers without a plan.

Steps

1. Connect Stripe: see Stripe.

2. Create a plan with premium access: in Commerce → Products, create a subscription product and add a plan. Turn on Enable Premium Content Access so subscribers to this plan can read premium content. See Commerce.

3. Show plans in the Account Center: in the Account Center experience, turn on subscriptions and choose the plans readers can buy.

4. Create a Content Wall experience: in Audience Operation → Experience, create a Content Wall:

   • Selector: the CSS selector of your article body, e.g. .article-content.
   • Skip paragraphs: how many paragraphs readers see before the wall.
   • Can be closed: No for a hard paywall, Yes for a soft one readers can dismiss.
   • Write the message and link to the page where readers choose a plan. Use {{unisignin-button}} to add Sign Up and Login buttons for readers who already subscribe, see Placeholders.

5. Create an Orchestration: in Audience Operation → Orchestration:

   • Context: the premium pages, e.g. a URL path or a data layer value your CMS sets on premium articles.
   • User Profile: Subscription Status does not equal active, so subscribers never see the wall.
   • Deliver Experience: the Content Wall.

Metered paywall

A metered paywall lets readers open a number of free articles each month, then shows the paywall.

1. Mark your articles: UniSignIn counts a page as an article when it has <meta property="og:type" content="article">. Most CMSs add this to article pages already.

2. Set the meter in the Orchestration: in the User Profile rules, add Article view of the month greater than 3. Readers see 3 free articles, and the paywall from the 4th article of the month.

3. Keep subscribers out: keep the rule Subscription Status does not equal active in the same Orchestration.

Other meters you can use in the same way:

Dynamic paywall

Combine the meter with other rules to decide who sees the wall and when, for example:

• a stricter meter for readers who come from search or social: Referrer domains (last 30 days)
• only readers who are active on 3 or more days: Active days (last 30 days) greater than or equal to 3
• a registration wall for anonymous readers first, and the paywall for registered readers who don't pay

See Orchestration and Segments for all rules.