1. The more we share outside of Substack, bringing in new people who are not saturated is likely to have a positive effect on paid subs.
2. I think paid posts should offer the reader something other than just a personal story. At least for me this is true. I want to feel like I'm getting a takeaway for my money.
3. Having said that, I pay for subscriptions by writers that move me in some way. I either learn something from them or I'm soooo inspired by their content because it's fantastic (sometimes just their photography is enough).
You're right there will ALWAYS be a non-paying camp. We can't change that. But then we'll find the amazing souls who pay for TWO subscriptions, one as a gift for someone else. I've got a lady who's paid for two of mine. It takes all kinds to make the world spin π
I really appreciate your time used in creating these newsletters Karen. Your insights and reassurance are of great value. And yes, I am one of your unpaying subscribers... Let me just get a few paying ones myself and then I will reassess. Jo βΊοΈ
Thanks, Jo, for your appreciation. And for your promise to pay but YOU CAN'T!:: π This newsletter will be free forever (My paid publication is for food safety professionals, and published under a different account, out of respect for my professional reputation as a food safety chick https://therottenapple.substack.com/)
I actually was careful not to "promise". I said I would "reassess." βΊοΈ However, I see that there will be no reassessment required. βΊοΈ. WOW you must be busy! I had noted that you were involved in another publication but didn't look further beyond that as I saw it wasn't relevant to me.
You really do provide so much value Karen and even though I can't pay you, you have my heart and mind felt gratitude. Pubstack is the most visually inviting and brain soothing information of any Substack information I have stumbled upon. You speak with clarity and simplicity about topics that can be a bit mind boggling for someone like me just finding their way, and tech phobic to top it off. Writing is what I am here to do and you help make the back end flow a lot more freely....so to speak.. π€ͺ
And will get their souls crushed...It's so common on the internet to compare yourself with others. But keep in mind that people lie. Especially behind a one way computer screen, and even in front of a mirror.
Thank you, Karen. These are good reminders, and hearing more of the insider scoop on conversion rates is helpful. There are also different models for newsletters and different genres, each with their own market intrigues, and some of this nuance gets lost in the meta conversation on Notes and elsewhere. The bromides about being yourself aren't broadly applicable or helpful, and it's difficult for folks with diverse interests to hone in on a particular service or "lane." For me, the question of "why Substack" is always in competition with what I want out of it. I started my newsletter in search of community, as a supplement to my longform writing. It succeeded so fantastically on that front that Substack has become more of a cornerstone of my independent writing life than I expected. As a result, I've had to contend more with the money question, what my real goals regarding compensation are, and how much I'm willing to contort my content with compensation as the aim. Folks who come in with a razor-sharp grasp of the service they want to provide have an advantage. I am one of those who is continuously evolving -- and somehow still growing -- but nowhere near a clear grasp of why my audience follows me or what more of my readers might pay for. I think I'm getting a little closer to grasping the "why" of Substack for me, however, which may help ease some of these conversion blues. But I so appreciate the solidarity here and the time you took to address an earnest question!
Karen, thank you so much for sharing that info about the average conversion rate as closer to 2%. Iβm at 1.4 after stepping up my Notes activity based on your great advice and seeing my average signup increase from a slow rate of 1/day. Iβve been skeptical of Substackβs boast on this point, so Iβm relieved to see this confirmation. Keep up the awesome advice.
I'm also grateful for the honorable, anonymous mention: I think I'm that one guy who subscribes (and reads!) both of your publications.
Regarding what you wrote today, there's another point worth noticing: lots of free subs from the Substack network lower open rates also - not only conversion rates. Why? Because lots (but not all!) of subs that come from the network are subscribing to hundreds (sometimes even over a thousand!) of Substacks, and never look at a single email.
That could be more significant, for two reasons:
1. I've read that very low open rates can affect deliverability; email providers think our sending address isn't legit, so they'll put our emails more often into Promotions and even Spam.
2. I'll strategize and promote my publication as if it's bigger than it really is. That could be a good thing - I (almost honestly) give the impression of being a few steps ahead of where I really am, which can help get momentum moving. But... I too can fall into the fantasy of having a larger audience than I really do, and then get discouraged when I don't get the engagement and income that I expected.
1. Low open rates used to be a major problem, and I sometimes worry that I should prune my list. This is easy to do in marketing email software, but not easy to do in Substack.
The good news is that open rate tracking is pretty much dead, since iOS changed its privacy options, preventing tracking for huge chunks of the population.
On an individual level if I don't open emails from a writer they eventually end up in my outlook/hotmail spam, but that doesn't necessarily mark them as spam for everyone in the world. And finally, I like to think emails that come from Substack's servers have more built-in credibility with the spam gods than those from random website servers.
2. Writing as if you have a bigger audience totally makes sense. If that becomes a bit disheartening sometimes, it's better than making peace with being small, and staying stuck there.
This is what Substack says, β Grow a paid readership
Even so, as you continue on your journey as an independent writer, you'll have to experiment with ways to keep growing. We tend to see 5-10% of free subscribers convert to paying subscriptions, with 10% being a rate to aim for.β
I know you say rubbish, but I know several Substsck writers who are more in the range of 7 percent supporting Substackβs claims. A lot of this is based on the conversion rate of say for example somebody using convertkit to sell a course through email.
I'm hoping those experts took into consideration recommendations. I have 88 subscribers from recommendations out of close to 900 subscribers. So that's about 10 percent. Whether these subscribers convert to paid, I'm unsure π€·ββοΈ But that leaves about 800 left to convert. My open rate is about 50% high enough that I'm confident my conversion rate will hopefully fall between 7 and 10 percent.
For me, I don't think recommendations are going to hurt my conversion rate. It's a feature I like.
Yes, recommendations are great. For the record, my paid newsletter has a 6% conversion rate right now. The reason I talk about the 2% rate a lot is because so many of us start there when we first go paid and it can be extremely disheartening if you think you'll be at 10% and you only get 2%.
Thank you! Perhaps the best strategy is to go paid early? Mine grew quick. I started Sept 1 and now Iβm almost at 900 subscribers. Iβm putting a plan together now to go paid. Iβm so nervous π¬
Thank you for all your advice, itβs appreciated!
6% then is also in the range Substack claims. Which is an a rubbish. Thank you for clarifying that in your message that you were referring to those starting out with paid subscriptions will only have about a 2% convert rate. This didnβt seem clear in your article.
I'm one of your "bummers" -a word I have never read or heard before. So, I'm going to comment and share your post. And both, in English and in Spanish, trying to broad your pool of potential subscribers.
There is a reason for not being a paid subscriber: I'm only subscribed to 20 or 30 newsletters, but I have no time to read everything I receive. If I had time enough, perhaps I'd change my mind.
Karen, appreciate all your insights here. I'm not sure when I may want to turn on paid, but do have a question. Can the paid subscribers forward a paid posts to other people? I know with a private Substack, that's an issue, but unclear on what happens with a paid post and sharing.
Hi Kimberly, yes paid subscribers can forward emails they receive from you and send them to others... what people do with emails in their inbox is outside the control of Substack or any other email platform. However the receiver can't view the paid post online, only in their email inbox.
In the early days of Substack quite a lot of creators added reminders to their subscribers not to forward paid posts, or asked them to only share them occasionally. I don't see that very often any more.
Also, quick reminder: for years and years we have PAID ourselves to get to send out Newsletters to our subscribers (on MailChimp, ConvertKit, MailerLite, AWeber and so on)! There the more interested subscribers you have the more expensive it is to communicate with them... so one person paying you? Win-win my friends!!
I track my paid conversion rate on the basis of engaged subscribers, not total free subscribers.
As an example, I have 1300 free subscribers but only a 40% open rate. So I estimate my paid conversion on the basis of about 500 subscribers, not 1300.
Right now, I have only 21 paying subscribers. This brings my paid conversion rate to about 4%.
In the end, we are trying to solve multiple problems:
Increasing reach - this is the number of free subscribers
Increasing engagement - this is the open rate, click rate etc.
I think there are a few things to note as well.
1. The more we share outside of Substack, bringing in new people who are not saturated is likely to have a positive effect on paid subs.
2. I think paid posts should offer the reader something other than just a personal story. At least for me this is true. I want to feel like I'm getting a takeaway for my money.
3. Having said that, I pay for subscriptions by writers that move me in some way. I either learn something from them or I'm soooo inspired by their content because it's fantastic (sometimes just their photography is enough).
You're right there will ALWAYS be a non-paying camp. We can't change that. But then we'll find the amazing souls who pay for TWO subscriptions, one as a gift for someone else. I've got a lady who's paid for two of mine. It takes all kinds to make the world spin π
Only 1? Thatβs amazing. Love your work :)
Oh my gosh, Sam, is that you?! I didn't know you were here too. Make that two wonderful people subscribed to both publications!
(and there I was thinking I was being so respectful of my food safety audience, not sharing my off-topic work there... hahaha)
Yes πππ ...
I just became your third!
I really appreciate your time used in creating these newsletters Karen. Your insights and reassurance are of great value. And yes, I am one of your unpaying subscribers... Let me just get a few paying ones myself and then I will reassess. Jo βΊοΈ
Thanks, Jo, for your appreciation. And for your promise to pay but YOU CAN'T!:: π This newsletter will be free forever (My paid publication is for food safety professionals, and published under a different account, out of respect for my professional reputation as a food safety chick https://therottenapple.substack.com/)
π. Great reply. Made me chuckle.
I actually was careful not to "promise". I said I would "reassess." βΊοΈ However, I see that there will be no reassessment required. βΊοΈ. WOW you must be busy! I had noted that you were involved in another publication but didn't look further beyond that as I saw it wasn't relevant to me.
You really do provide so much value Karen and even though I can't pay you, you have my heart and mind felt gratitude. Pubstack is the most visually inviting and brain soothing information of any Substack information I have stumbled upon. You speak with clarity and simplicity about topics that can be a bit mind boggling for someone like me just finding their way, and tech phobic to top it off. Writing is what I am here to do and you help make the back end flow a lot more freely....so to speak.. π€ͺ
Thank you. Jo
I think it's really useful that you shared the 2% conversation rate. If people go in expecting 50% or even 10% they'll soon get demotivated.
And will get their souls crushed...It's so common on the internet to compare yourself with others. But keep in mind that people lie. Especially behind a one way computer screen, and even in front of a mirror.
Totally agree!
Perfect. Love this, and your perspective. Good article, as usual, Karen!
Thank you, Karen. These are good reminders, and hearing more of the insider scoop on conversion rates is helpful. There are also different models for newsletters and different genres, each with their own market intrigues, and some of this nuance gets lost in the meta conversation on Notes and elsewhere. The bromides about being yourself aren't broadly applicable or helpful, and it's difficult for folks with diverse interests to hone in on a particular service or "lane." For me, the question of "why Substack" is always in competition with what I want out of it. I started my newsletter in search of community, as a supplement to my longform writing. It succeeded so fantastically on that front that Substack has become more of a cornerstone of my independent writing life than I expected. As a result, I've had to contend more with the money question, what my real goals regarding compensation are, and how much I'm willing to contort my content with compensation as the aim. Folks who come in with a razor-sharp grasp of the service they want to provide have an advantage. I am one of those who is continuously evolving -- and somehow still growing -- but nowhere near a clear grasp of why my audience follows me or what more of my readers might pay for. I think I'm getting a little closer to grasping the "why" of Substack for me, however, which may help ease some of these conversion blues. But I so appreciate the solidarity here and the time you took to address an earnest question!
Karen, thank you so much for sharing that info about the average conversion rate as closer to 2%. Iβm at 1.4 after stepping up my Notes activity based on your great advice and seeing my average signup increase from a slow rate of 1/day. Iβve been skeptical of Substackβs boast on this point, so Iβm relieved to see this confirmation. Keep up the awesome advice.
Really interesting and informative. Thank you!
Thank you, Karen!
Thanks for another helpful and insightful post.
I'm also grateful for the honorable, anonymous mention: I think I'm that one guy who subscribes (and reads!) both of your publications.
Regarding what you wrote today, there's another point worth noticing: lots of free subs from the Substack network lower open rates also - not only conversion rates. Why? Because lots (but not all!) of subs that come from the network are subscribing to hundreds (sometimes even over a thousand!) of Substacks, and never look at a single email.
That could be more significant, for two reasons:
1. I've read that very low open rates can affect deliverability; email providers think our sending address isn't legit, so they'll put our emails more often into Promotions and even Spam.
2. I'll strategize and promote my publication as if it's bigger than it really is. That could be a good thing - I (almost honestly) give the impression of being a few steps ahead of where I really am, which can help get momentum moving. But... I too can fall into the fantasy of having a larger audience than I really do, and then get discouraged when I don't get the engagement and income that I expected.
What do you think about this?
Yes you're my mystery double subscriber, Shmuel!
1. Low open rates used to be a major problem, and I sometimes worry that I should prune my list. This is easy to do in marketing email software, but not easy to do in Substack.
The good news is that open rate tracking is pretty much dead, since iOS changed its privacy options, preventing tracking for huge chunks of the population.
On an individual level if I don't open emails from a writer they eventually end up in my outlook/hotmail spam, but that doesn't necessarily mark them as spam for everyone in the world. And finally, I like to think emails that come from Substack's servers have more built-in credibility with the spam gods than those from random website servers.
2. Writing as if you have a bigger audience totally makes sense. If that becomes a bit disheartening sometimes, it's better than making peace with being small, and staying stuck there.
This is what Substack says, β Grow a paid readership
Even so, as you continue on your journey as an independent writer, you'll have to experiment with ways to keep growing. We tend to see 5-10% of free subscribers convert to paying subscriptions, with 10% being a rate to aim for.β
I know you say rubbish, but I know several Substsck writers who are more in the range of 7 percent supporting Substackβs claims. A lot of this is based on the conversion rate of say for example somebody using convertkit to sell a course through email.
I'm hoping those experts took into consideration recommendations. I have 88 subscribers from recommendations out of close to 900 subscribers. So that's about 10 percent. Whether these subscribers convert to paid, I'm unsure π€·ββοΈ But that leaves about 800 left to convert. My open rate is about 50% high enough that I'm confident my conversion rate will hopefully fall between 7 and 10 percent.
For me, I don't think recommendations are going to hurt my conversion rate. It's a feature I like.
Yes, recommendations are great. For the record, my paid newsletter has a 6% conversion rate right now. The reason I talk about the 2% rate a lot is because so many of us start there when we first go paid and it can be extremely disheartening if you think you'll be at 10% and you only get 2%.
Thank you! Perhaps the best strategy is to go paid early? Mine grew quick. I started Sept 1 and now Iβm almost at 900 subscribers. Iβm putting a plan together now to go paid. Iβm so nervous π¬
Thank you for all your advice, itβs appreciated!
6% then is also in the range Substack claims. Which is an a rubbish. Thank you for clarifying that in your message that you were referring to those starting out with paid subscriptions will only have about a 2% convert rate. This didnβt seem clear in your article.
Thanks for your post, it's brilliant.
I'm one of your "bummers" -a word I have never read or heard before. So, I'm going to comment and share your post. And both, in English and in Spanish, trying to broad your pool of potential subscribers.
There is a reason for not being a paid subscriber: I'm only subscribed to 20 or 30 newsletters, but I have no time to read everything I receive. If I had time enough, perhaps I'd change my mind.
Another good one, I must have one of the lowest conversion rates out here haha
Karen, appreciate all your insights here. I'm not sure when I may want to turn on paid, but do have a question. Can the paid subscribers forward a paid posts to other people? I know with a private Substack, that's an issue, but unclear on what happens with a paid post and sharing.
Hi Kimberly, yes paid subscribers can forward emails they receive from you and send them to others... what people do with emails in their inbox is outside the control of Substack or any other email platform. However the receiver can't view the paid post online, only in their email inbox.
In the early days of Substack quite a lot of creators added reminders to their subscribers not to forward paid posts, or asked them to only share them occasionally. I don't see that very often any more.
Karen, thank you so much for taking the time to share this information. Greatly appreciated and understood. It's what I thought, but wasn't sure.
Also, quick reminder: for years and years we have PAID ourselves to get to send out Newsletters to our subscribers (on MailChimp, ConvertKit, MailerLite, AWeber and so on)! There the more interested subscribers you have the more expensive it is to communicate with them... so one person paying you? Win-win my friends!!
Thanks for sharing your observations.
I track my paid conversion rate on the basis of engaged subscribers, not total free subscribers.
As an example, I have 1300 free subscribers but only a 40% open rate. So I estimate my paid conversion on the basis of about 500 subscribers, not 1300.
Right now, I have only 21 paying subscribers. This brings my paid conversion rate to about 4%.
In the end, we are trying to solve multiple problems:
Increasing reach - this is the number of free subscribers
Increasing engagement - this is the open rate, click rate etc.
Increasing paid subscribers
If we do 1 and 2 well, 3 will happen over time.