Supercharge Your Substack Subscribing Page With This Example
It could be the game-changer you’ve been looking for.
When creating a Substack newsletter, you first need to think about value. That’s what everybody says, and I agree, but they miss one point.
The value should be for YOURSELF.
It’s what I did when I designed the subscribing page for my Top Hat Seminar. We will use it as an example here.
As you can see, I take advantage of all the payment tiers offered by Substack: None, Monthly, Annual, and Genius. Unlike the three others, the name of the latter, the so-called founder or patron tier, is customizable. Being a genius myself, albeit misunderstood, I chose a genius name: Genius.
Feel free to copy my genius or choose another name. For example, Smillew would work well.
The real trick to making your subscribing page stand out lies in the goodies you offer your paying members. It cannot simply be “posts;” they deserve more than that.
Much more.
Monthly and Annual tiers
On top of the classic “not free posts,” I give my Substack subscribers something tangible (2 pictures of my favorite vintage toilet paper rolls) and something intangible (“every morning, I will think of you and smile in the mirror”).
It’s crucial to do both.
People who subscribe to your newsletter are your friends. Some are literally family members. They want to know everything about you. And they love it when you appeal to their emotions. But they also crave tangible benefits or, in this case, pictures of toilet paper rolls (it’s the same thing).
Unfortunately, Substack doesn’t let you give additional freebies to your annual subscribers compared to your monthly ones. To compensate, I gave them a 28% discount which is considered a lucky number in the country where I come from.
Genius tier
I give the best advantage to my richest subscribers.
In a capitalist economy, it makes sense.
For this tier, it’s good to make the connection between you and your subscribers more real. Empathy, emotion, and connection are the key drivers of the genius tier.
It could be access to a dedicated chat where you will reply to all the questions, a special Zoom session once a month, or, like me, you could go one step further and meet them in real life. It’s a service I offer my more affluent coaching clients, and it’s been very successful.
That’s why I’m willing to meet my genius tier members anywhere worldwide (as long as they pay for the plane tickets).
Conclusion
Do you want paid subscribers on your Substack? Make your page stand out.
- Give strange discounts attracting the eye instead of the usual one year for the price of 10 months (like Medium does).
- Take the time to think of fun and memorable rewards.
- Personalize the tier names when possible.
For more Substack insights, read this story by Rachel A Fefer: