A Simple Idea To Front-load Your Paid Subscription Strategy

Let your most popular posts do the heavy lifting for you.

Now that I’ve created my new mascot…the Random Axe of Kindness…I consult with him when I’m trying to figure out ways to help my fellow Stackers. 😁

I’m going to copyright this guy. You saw him here first.

So, here’s my good deed for today.

Even though I’ve never branded myself as a Substack “strategist” in any way, shape, or form, inevitably people ask my opinion on paid strategies.

I don’t know why anyone would ask me because I’m certainly not earning a living with paid subscriptions. I’m earning it by helping people with branding, backend settings, and content management.

However, since they keep asking I’ll share a method that’s been working moderately well for me. I run three Substack publications and I use this frontloading strategy on my two big ones.

Frontloading strategy #1:

I always open a publication with paid subscriptions turned on. I firmly believe in a creator’s right to prosper and believe it or not, people will pay for NOTHING, as I recently learned with my brand new pub called, Dog Snobs.

I had a blank page set up over there about a week ago and as soon as I announced it, I got TWO annual subs paid for up front. With ZERO content on the page.

Frontloading strategy #2:

Keep all your posts free for a good while and see which ones become superstars. After about a month, go through your post stats and see which one generated the following:

A) The most new FREE subscriptions.

B) The most comments and likes.

To quickly figure out these stats, you can sort your posts in descending order under Settings » Stats » Emails » and then click on the heading you wish to sort by.

Then, change the ones with the highest numbers into paywalled posts.

The idea here is that if/when anyone stumbles onto those posts they’ve already been frontloaded with lots of engagement. New readers get hit with a dose of FOMO which might inspire them to make irrational decisions and upgrade their subscriptions 😁

I mean, if I saw this many comments and likes, I’d want to know WTH is inside, wouldn’t you?

Screenshot from the backend of the Substack you’re reading now

Likewise, if you realize that 294 people subscribed through one particular post, try paywalling it and see how many upgrades you can get in the future. In the screenshot below, those posts were free for months, allowing them to rack up the numbers. Now, I’ve switched them over to paid. Obviously, they’ve earned it.

I like to call those big number-generating posts my “Hall of Famers.” They’ve earned their way there and can now rightfully assume their position.

Disclaimer:

I will say it one more time, I’m NOT a Substack coach or engagement strategist so I don’t guarantee results with any of my advice. But I do look at my numbers and experiment quite a bit because why not?

I hope you enjoyed this post because in a month or so, it might have a paywall on it!

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