New pricing model allocates resources more fairly and ensures sustainability of platform
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My name is Ashley Phan. I’m the Senior Marketing and Membership Coordinator at EurekAlert!. My job is to ensure our members have a positive and productive experience with EurekAlert!.
This month’s launch of the new EurekAlert! platform — what we have internally called “EurekAlert! Re-Imagined,” or “EARI” — is by far the most significant development since our initial creation in 1996. We have worked hard over the past two years at re-thinking every aspect of our platform to ensure that we not only serve our journalist- and PIO-members well, but also that we can continue to serve you for the next 25 years and beyond.
In comes the new
With a substantial investment from AAAS, we were able to completely re-build EurekAlert! with many new features, including:
- An upgraded news release submission form with WYSIWYG text editor, an expanded ‘smart’ keyword system, more useful data fields, a contextual tagging system inspired by the UK Science Media Centre’s press release labeling system, and more powerful multimedia support and licensing guidance
- More user-friendly traffic reporting tools for releases and news portals
- Enhanced content types and categories — coupled with expanded eligibility guidelines
- Integrated PIO and Expert Contact search for reporter- and PIO-members
- And more…
Make it simple, smarty!
Since our launch in 1996, we have offered two subscription options for our News Release Distribution Service: Pay-per-use and Unlimited Annual Subscription, for good reasons:
First, as a non-profit service of AAAS, one of our founding principles is making our service affordable to organizations big and small, all over the world. If you have great science to share, we want you to be able to use EurekAlert! to share it.
The unlimited annual subscription model also made sense both in encouraging eligible content submission and for reducing administrative overhead for both our small team of 7 and for customers like you (invoice/get billed once, use it all year).
Let data lead the way
Re-building a new platform from the ground up gave us an opportunity design it based on the way our members engage with the service today, not in 1996. After analyzing submission data from 2018 – 2020, we learned that more than 90% of our current subscribers submit fewer than 65 release a year. Roughly 6% of organizations send us between 65 and 100 releases; 3% post 100-200 releases, and the top 1% post 200 to more than 600 releases a year.
We love all this abundant supply of quality content. This is what makes EurekAlert! attractive to journalists and a useful resource to the public. But we also believe strongly in fair and equitable access.
That’s why, to more fairly align our resources with customer needs, we designed a credit-based, two-tier annual subscription model:
| Tier | Content submissions covered |
| Standard | 65 |
| Unlimited | Unlimited |
Credits are non-transferable and do not roll-over. Visit our Services page for current pricing based on your organization type.
This new model combines our desire to keep things simple, to encourage quality content submission, while ensuring that occasional and power users alike receive our legendary editorial support and customer service. Most importantly, it offers a sustainable business model that will allow us to continue serving our community for many decades to come.
When and how it affects you
This credit-based, two-tier annual subscription model goes into effect immediately for all new subscriptions.
For current subscribers, the new pricing model applies at your next renewal date.
Because the vast majority of our current subscribers submit fewer than 65 releases a year, our system will automatically transition your organization to the standard annual subscription at the current rate unless you cancel or request an upgrade to the unlimited tier.
In summary:
- If you submit fewer than 65 releases a year, no action is required on your part.
- If you’d like to upgrade to the unlimited subscription, drop us a line when you receive your renewal reminder notice and we’ll take care of it.
- If you aren’t sure which subscription is best for your organization, we’re here to help. Please drop me a line at business@eurekalert.org.
If you have any questions or feedback, don’t hesitate to reach out. I hope you enjoy the new platform and all that is has to offer!