What Readers Say About Paying You
Round 1 of Survey Results on subscription costs, discounts and more
Earlier this week, I published the first batch of results from the Shaping the Future of Online Writing survey. And I’m so pleased to welcome all of you to a deeper dive into a topic that’s top-of-mind for many creators: how readers relate to paying for work on Substack.
Before we jump in, I want to make sure we’re all on the same page with a few important data points from the first essay:
Readers shared when a yearly subscription starts to feel too pricey.
Readers chimed in on why they unsubscribe from a paid subscription.
In today’s essay, I’ll be offering result-specific analyses (quick, to-the-point and action-oriented). I look forward to hearing from you all in the comments.
As a reciprocal act of generosity and goodwill to all of you 416 people who took and shared this survey, some of the survey results below are free for the first 48 hours to the entire Substack community! On Saturday night (July 13), the data will go behind the paywall and join my Substack Survey archive.
To keep access to the data and get the full analysis below, along with the forthcoming posts in this series, please join The Editing Spectrum as a paid member today.
OK, let’s get to work…
Off the top of your head, how many publications on Substack have you seen run a sale in the last few weeks?
Quick analysis: This question was rooted in one of my pattern-tracking special interests for the last several months on Substack. When Notes received an algorithm update, creators noticed a demonstrable downward shift in their paid subscription volume. And it wasn’t long before I personally was witnessing all kinds of coupons, sales and promotions coming into my inbox. But Substack is a vast place, and as a strategist, my ideas are always better when I can listen to the collective experience. It turns out, not everyone was feeling bombarded with sales, but you certainly have competition if you plan on running one.
When a creator runs a sale for their publication, how does that make you feel?
Quick analysis: I really wanted to know how readers feel about sales. Because of the volume of promotions I was seeing in my personal feed, I was growing concerned that we creators might be contributing to a systematic “sales fatigue” for readers. After all, what happens when we see ten “buy now” ads in a row? Most of us zone out. And perhaps that’s what 33.7% of respondents were saying when they indicated that sales don’t affect them. It’s open to interpretation, I think! One other thing that stands out to me is the teeny tiny fraction of readers who said they’re “excited” about sales (just 5.3%). To me this sounds an alarm for all creators: not to just send a $5 coupon and hope it works. To move readers to action, something valuable (and rooted in already-established trust) will need to be put on the table. Thankfully, about half of your readers are open to hearing about it.
When you’re signing up for a paid subscription, which matters more: the percentage discount or the total amount you’ll pay in one year?
Quick analysis: This is an answer to a question I asked from almost day one of my time on Substack. Now we all have a frame of reference. Readers said overwhelmingly that the total amount they pay for a subscription is their bottom line on upgrading. Hold onto this as we keep moving through the results, though. A little further down, I try reframing the context in which a sale is presented. Do respondents feel any differently if the percentage discount is steep enough to sway them? We’ll see…