How a Bet on Mobile-First Design Paid Off Big for Quartz

Editor’s note: This piece is part of our Columnist Network series, which explores the tactical thoughts and actions from Adweek’s community of high-level experts. Today, Quartz's Natalie Diamond describes the culture of experimentation that has helped her media company become a standout. Below, in her own words, she suggests success can be defined more broadly than we think. Continuous experimentation is in our DNA here at Quartz. That was part of being born into a crowded digital media landscape in 2012—plus the influential words of our then-proprietor: “When presented with an opportunity to take the bold and creative path, take it.” We certainly weren’t going to succeed doing what everyone else was doing, so since our inception, we’ve explored new and unique formats and experiences designed to bring business leaders the information they need in the most useful way. Consider that the purpose of an experiment is to test a hypothesis and draw a conclusion from it; with that in mind, our entire business model could be viewed as an experiment, and any growing media business can use this approach to elevate their own offerings. Instead of sticking to existing trajectories in digital media, think about what’s going to be best for your audience in the long run. We put this into practice by building a user experience designed first and foremost for mobile usage on the bet that mobile consumption would overtake desktop. We copied the same type of thinking in our editorial coverage strategy—instead of following the traditional newsroom organizational structure of having individual “beats,” we define and organize coverage by “obsessions,” the largest trends happening in business. Both of these bets helped us appeal to younger, progressive-minded readers. When experimenting with different processes, it’s important to keep in mind that knowing your audience, their consumption habits and their needs will help you identify new opportunities that you might not have considered to be important or useful to them. Essentials, our most recent product experiment, was born out of listening to the needs of our executive readership who don’t have much time to keep up with business news. One reader told us, “It’s impossible to tell what’s important and what will no longer matter in the morning.” We leaned into that insight to develop a product that helps extract the most essential knowledge and most important things to know about any topic. However, experimentation doesn’t have to be relegated to content—consider other areas of media that could benefit from a different way of thinking, like advertising and media buying. While other websites were still focused on IAB units, we experimented with an advertising proposition focused on high impact and custom display formats. By doing this, we were educating the industry on the term "native advertising" and touting branded content as a way for advertisers to authentically communicate with audiences. Lastly, keep in mind that not every single experiment might pan out the way you hope. You can still apply lessons learned, even from failed ones, to your business. Our Quartz Brief app is probably one of my favorite experiments, which mimicked a chatbot user experience, allowing for more personalized and conversational news consumption. While we were able to consistently monetize the product with advertising revenue, and the app had accrued a loyal fanbase, wider user adoption just wasn’t in the cards. Sometimes, you’re forced to evaluate what’s going to really help you move the needle, and to do that, you first need to clearly define what success will look like. Even though the app itself is no longer available, the ethos of the product still exists and continues to be infused in new product offerings. We don’t pretend to have it all figured out at Quartz, but we are certainly not planning to shy away from further experimentation. In media, as with other industries, there are so many ways something could be deemed a success. Being upfront about your goal for the experiment will ensure it’s clear whether or not it worked. No one knows for sure what will work in digital publishing, but if you don’t try, you can neither fail and learn nor succeed and grow.

Columnist Network

How a Bet on Mobile-First Design Paid Off Big for Quartz

Experimentation is the name of the game

Natalie Diamond

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Natalie Diamond