Starting today, we’re rolling out a radically reimagined experience for The Ken’s free subscribers.

“Everything we do, we do keeping our subscribers in mind” is a line you’ve probably read over and over again in our posts about The Ken’s new launches. It’s so pervasive because it’s the truth; as an entirely subscription-driven publication, we can’t afford to be any other way. 

But you’ve probably read that sentiment most often in the context of our premium products, meant for our premium subscribers. The 500,000+ free subscribers who’ve signed up with us over these past eight years perhaps fade into the background. 

A majority of these people did not sign up for the (occasional) free stories we publish, discounts, or exclusive content—all of that remains firmly behind our paywall. They signed up—and continue to sign up—because they wanted to truly understand what The Ken is, and why people they know and respect subscribe to us. 

Our original free starter kit was designed to give these seekers a quick taste of this experience: they got 200-word summaries of our longform features; the occasional free story; daily email briefings.

But as we’ve evolved and rolled out a bunch of new products (newsletters, podcasts, visual stories, international coverage), this free kit has started falling short. 

It no longer reflects the breadth and depth of the journalism we offer. 

Today’s launch is our answer to this problem…

The Ken’s brand-new free 30-day trial

People who start the trial (it’s open to any free subscriber, both existing and new) will now be presented with a carefully curated and handpicked collection of premium stories. Every day. For 30 days. 

One of the key limitations of our previous free starter plan was the lack of choice. As The Ken transitioned away into publishing more than one story a day, our premium subscribers got a wide range of stories to enjoy. But the same was not true for our free starters. They only got to sample a full story very occasionally. 

That changes with this new trial. 

We want our free trial users to be able to choose from a wide palette of unlocked stories. 

It’s still only a tiny fraction of the kind of access our paying subscribers get, but we believe it will give them a comprehensive taste of the Premium subscriber experience. 

Which brings us to one of the most exciting parts of the trial—we’ve created an entirely personalised trial landing pageFree Trial pageCheck it out here for every trial user.

Images of the story

This is where you find out what stories have been unlocked for you. And the ones that are waiting to be unlocked over the course of your trial. In effect, your very own toolkit and guide to help stay on top of your trial, and eke the most value out of it. 

Another key part of the experience is The Spotlight, our daily morning newsletter—the one email that tells you everything of note that The Ken published that day. It comes with a sharp and informative summary of the day’s top feature story, and an alert on which story has been unlocked on any day under your free trial. 

Checking it every day is one of the easiest ways to get the most out of your subscription. 

You also continue to get 200-word summaries of all our stories, regardless of whether they are unlocked under your trial or not.

The Spotlight, our daily morning newsletter

Images of the story

The Spotlight, our daily morning newsletter

So sign up, and let us give you 30 great reasons why you should become a paying subscriber. 

Credits 

At The Ken, our products are always a result of collaborative triumph. It’s not every day and in every company that you hear of engineering and marketing teams brainstorming for product design, but that’s a norm here. Our new free 30-day trial is yet another example of cross-functional teams coming together with a shared goal. This is my heartfelt thank you to everyone involved—especially our amazing engineering, product, and design teams. Because without their creativity, and dedication, none of this would have been possible.