All publisher problemsBuild my stack
The team won't use it
How do we pick something the newsroom will actually use?
The short answer
Editors adopt tools that fit the workflow they already have. Publishers complain most about interfaces that need a manual, so weigh hands-on usability and training burden as heavily as the feature list.
Publishers have raised this 1,312 times across the mentions we analyse, naming 302 specific tools.
Find tools the team will use
We'll weight hands-on usability and onboarding effort as heavily as the feature list.
What publishers reported
The tools this comes up about most, and what was actually said. Counted from public publisher mentions rather than our own verdict, and each quote is attributed to the tool it was about.
Apple Books36 mentions
“Apple Books never quits, but it is functionally impossible to interact with the app as a result.”
Rakuten30 mentions
“the page breaks on that part and the offers list is not visible at all. Disabling Ad Nauseam fixes it.”
Asana29 mentions
“We're not joking when we say we used to spend hours at a time re-arranging deadlines for tasks and projects in Asana.”
Ad-Shield25 mentions
“"Unfortunately, It is complicated to resolve with a regular adblock rule because the website is being protected by service of Ad-Shield that is an anti-adblock company."”
beehiiv23 mentions
“After a reader confirms the double-opt-in email, beehiiv redirects to the publication home page. That page presents another blank email field and Subscribe button, making the confirmed reader unsure whether confirmation succeeded”
Mailchimp23 mentions
“Mailchimp audience picker fails with no UI message”
Google Play Books20 mentions
“When Google Play Books issues that error there's no way of convincing it to accept the file, so there's nothing you can do at yours of Google's end.”
OpenAI Instant Checkout20 mentions
“Instant Checkout is in a nascent stage with limited merchants, a clunky user experience”
AdCreative.ai19 mentions
“Limitation: Images look AI-generated (not "native")”
Mailchimp17 mentions
“Mailchimp felt too clunky and fragile.”
What to check before you sign
The questions that surface this problem while you can still walk away.
- Run a two-week trial with the actual desk, not just the digital team
- Check how long onboarding takes in practice, not in the sales deck
- Ask what the tool assumes you already have in place
- Test on the devices and browsers your journalists really use
Not sure which of these applies to you?
Answer four questions about your newsroom and we'll shortlist the tools that fit. We'll carry this problem across with you.
