For academic publishers, the journey from awareness to manuscript submission has long been a black box. Proving how author marketing touchpoints shape behavior (and ultimately, publication revenue) is notoriously difficult.
Mitja-Alexander Linss, Karger’s Head of Marketing, set out to change that. His vision was simple but ambitious: track, optimize, and prove how author marketing drives real business outcomes. With Alchemist Engage, he and his team did exactly that.
A portfolio-wide strategy built to drive submissions
Beginning February 2024, Karger's marketing team has orchestrated a sophisticated multi-channel author marketing strategy powered by Hum's Alchemist Engage platform. Rather than treating each journal in isolation, the team deployed a portfolio-wide campaign mix designed to engage authors at every stage of their journey:
- 161 Call for Papers campaigns targeting manuscript submissions across key journals
- 10 LinkedIn Live and webinar events fostering community and thought leadership
- 50+ institutional branding campaigns strengthening Karger's brand among researchers
- Content recommendation widgets live on 9 journals, creating seamless and highly personalized discovery pathways for researcher readers.
This integrated approach ensured researchers didn’t just encounter one journal—but the strength and breadth of the full Karger brand.
Campaign performance that outpaces industry standards
Karger’s campaigns didn’t merely perform well—they consistently surpassed industry norms. Campaign click-through rates averaged 1.8%, more than 3x higher than typical display advertising (0.1–0.5%). Fourteen campaigns exceeded 5% CTR, including four call for papers campaigns that resonated powerfully with target audiences.
At the center of these campaign successes was Karger’s commitment to continuous improvement. Through disciplined variant testing and by leveraging built-in optimization tools in Alchemist Engage, the team refined creative approaches, sharpened audience targeting, and perfected calls-to-action.
"Alchemist Engage gave our team the ability to test hypotheses quickly and see what actually resonates with our academic audiences," said Linss. "We could experiment with different messaging, visuals, and targeting parameters, then double down on what worked. That iterative approach transformed how we think about author marketing. And having clear, reliable signals on author engagement has guided editorial and marketing decisions.”
Direct, measurable influence on 1,100+ submissions
The true measure of success came in the program's ability to convert author interest into manuscript submissions. Alchemist Engage campaigns drove over 17,000 conversions, ultimately influencing more than 1,100 journal submissions across Karger's portfolio.
Nearly 600 unique users who converted on Hum campaigns went on to submit manuscripts. Of those, more than half were to the exact journals featured in the Call for Papers campaigns.
The data also revealed meaningful patterns about author behavior and loyalty. Approximately 73% of authors who submitted manuscripts after engaging with Hum campaigns went on to submit multiple times over an 18 month period, demonstrating sustained engagement rather than one-time interactions. This repeat behavior indicates that the campaigns are building lasting relationships with the author community.
A proven 4.5X ROI
Karger’s investment in Alchemist Engage didn’t just pay off – it delivered measurable returns. When taking into account all touchpoints across HUM CfP campaigns that shaped submission decisions, Karger achieved a 4.5x return on investment.
Even under a more conservative methodology—tracking only authors who converted on a call for papers campaign and then served as corresponding authors for subsequent submissions on the target journal—the program still delivered a 1.2x ROI.
Awareness-building content, recommendation widgets, event campaigns, and Calls for Papers all contributed meaningful signals towards building lasting relationships with Karger’s research community and proving that strategic, data-driven author marketing creates compound value: each campaign strengthens relationships that pay dividends long after the initial conversion.
"What excited me most was the sophisticated behavioral targeting and segmentation based on 10 million anonymous user profiles on Karger.com delivered by Alchemist Engage," said Linss. "We were able to show a direct line from touch points with the right audiences at the right time to manuscript submissions and ultimately to publishing revenue. In an increasingly competitive publishing landscape, this kind of sustained engagement is the foundation for long-term growth."
Why This Worked: A Blueprint for Author Marketing Success
Karger’s success was the result of a strategic, disciplined, and replicable approach. Four key elements made the program so effective:
1. Commitment to Data-Based Marketing
Karger’s marketing team embraced a culture of experimentation and continuous improvement. Every decision was grounded in performance data, enabling the team to iterate fast, scale what worked, and eliminate what didn't.
2. A Comprehensive, Portfolio-Wide Campaign Mix
By orchestrating awareness campaigns, engagement touchpoints, events, and Calls for Papers across their entire portfolio, Karger created multiple pathways for authors to discover and engage. The result? Authors often entered through one journal's campaign and submitted to another–proof that engagement compounds across the brand, not just individual titles.
3. Author-Centric Targeting and Testing
Through sophisticated audience segmentation and relentless variant testing in Alchemist Engage, Karger delivered the right message to the right author at the right moment. Campaigns felt like personal outreach tailored to each researcher's interests and experience.
4. Rigorous Measurement and Attribution
Karger tracked the full author journey from first engagement to submission to repeat behavior. This end-to-end attribution model revealed exactly how marketing drives business outcomes, transforming abstract "engagement" into concrete revenue impact.
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Want a closer look at how Alchemist Engage can help you connect with researchers, readers, and authors? Reach out to schedule a demo.