Case Study: Salon boosts user retention by 4X with OpenWeb

Salon boosts user retention by 4X with OpenWeb

Salon, a trusted news and politics publisher reaching about 10 million monthly unique visitors, wanted to strengthen its relationship with loyal readers and encourage more engagement on non-political content. Facing difficulty moderating heated social conversations on social media, Salon turned to OpenWeb for a safer way to build community and foster quality discussion.

OpenWeb provided conversation and moderation tools, including restricted lists, safety thresholds, and quality cues like “Be Smart. Be Sincere. Be Civil.”, along with interactive features such as Live Blog and Community Questions. As a result, Salon gained 752,570 additional page views, 40,612 comments, and 34,909 likes/dislikes, while weekly retention rose to 21% for visitors, 45% for observers, 69% for engagers, and 80% for commenters; Salon commenters were also 4X more likely to return the following week.

Salon

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Director of Community