Can I Daddy, can I, please, please, can I, can I? Every parent knows that by the time most kids turn 3 they have figured out an appropriate strategy for asking permission. Whether by polite entreaty or strident plea, children intuitively know how to ask permission.

Kids know that their effectiveness in seeking and retaining parental permission determines whether they get to have a second helping of ice cream, wear make-up at 13 or stay out past mid-night. Permission and registration also are vitally important in contemporary publishing.

Audience permissioning strategies make a big difference in the degree to which the audience chooses to engage and stay engaged with the publishers content. In discussing this issue with many publishing executives over the last year, it is clear to me that 7 strategies should be implemented for optimal audience permissioning and to achieve and sustain high registration rates.

1. Be Polite - Ask for it, don't assume you have it. Don't be presumptuous. Don't assume what you can do with it.
2. Be Logical, Fast and Convenient -Ask for it at the right time, when the interaction with content is underway. Make it easy to give, don't require the reader to jump through too many hoops.
3. Be Progressive - Some refer to this as "creeping registration". I think that sounds a bit too creepy. The point is, don't ask too many questions, too soon. Ask a few questions first, then add to the information as the reader returns or takes an additional step of engaging your content. The more that is known about the registered audience member, the more personal and relevant the publisher can make the interaction with them.
4. Be Reversible - People change their mind. Make it as easy to take away permission as it was to grant it.
5. Base it on the Principal of Fair Trade - Make it clear what the reader gets in return for registration and granting permission. Is it access to premium content? The ability to rapidly interact with content without subsequent sign-on? The ability to be remembered across multiple titles of a publishers portfolio companies? Access to special deals, premiums, or incentives? Whatever it is, be clear why you are asking permission and what the reader gets in return.
6. Be Persistent - Because permission has not be granted today, because of one type of request, does not mean it will not be granted tomorrow with a different type of request. Persistence in applying varying types of registration strategies will pay off. Moreover, persistence means keeping it once it is granted by always appreciating that it has been granted. So say thank you!
7. Be Portable- If the audience member has granted you permission and registered, don't keeping asking for it again with multiple registrations when they go to a different part of your site. Perhaps they want to access a sponsored White Paper, or perhaps they want to renew, or listen to a recorded webinar. Port permission to all parts of your site, for content, for commerce, for self-management, for account support, for service.

At last week's Audience Development conference, Gordon McLoed, CEO of the Wall Street Journal's Digital Network, noted that a registered user is 6 X more likely to become a paid subscriber than is a visitor. Small wonder that publishers are paying keen attention to permissioning and registration!

All the Best,

Ray