Patreon has just rolled out a new feature that allows creators to grant gift memberships-an excellent new way to expand their subscriber base.
For now, Patreon remains the top platform for creators, attracting revenue since loyal subscribers are willing to spend money each month to get writings, podcasts, videos, and much more. Gift memberships can give creators the opportunity to widen their reach and connect with a broader audience.
How Patreon's Gift Memberships Can Help Creators Grow Their Subscriber Bases
Gift memberships may help attract new subscribers to creators' lists as current fans can now gift exclusive content to friends and family, according to The Verge.
Patreon first dangled this gifting option in a move early this year, inspired by how similar features debuted on other platforms, including Substack, which has introduced the ability to deepen engagement beyond newsletters, and Twitch, where gifting is at the heart of the live streaming experience.
On Twitch, viewers and creators often reward milestones or special occasions by bestowing subscriptions. This encourages more participation from viewers and the development of the community.
Creators on Patreon may use gift memberships to attract new followers who subsequently make the decision to become a paying subscribers. It is a good fit with Patreon's original goal of providing creators with incentives to sell their work and engage more deeply with their audience.
Choose the Duration and Tier: Flexibility in Gifting
Fans can also select from various membership tiers when gifting; they select both the subscription level and duration. For example, they might pick the cheapest tier, and pay a recurring rate for the recipient locked in for one year.
For creators who want to build loyalty, this flexibility allows them to offer free memberships from one month all the way to a full calendar year. It's a perfect way to attract new audience members with a taste of exclusive content: increased chances that they will stay as paying members when the gift period expires.
Creators can use gift memberships to encourage people to upgrade by offering incentives. To start, free-tier members can be offered a discount to become paying subscribers.
With that, creators are able to set the terms, such as a 50% discount for free-tier members, and strategically expand their paid memberships while encouraging fans to generate revenue for their work.
Further Ways to Upsell with Discounts and Free Trials
Beyond gift memberships, Patreon is incorporating more tools that support the development of creators. It will also be introducing the power to send exclusive discounts, sales, and special offers to fans. They could set some eligibility criteria - tailor incentives for different segments of the audience.
For example, they might offer a limited-time discount to free-tier followers, thus opening access to the entire exclusive content at a budget-friendly rate.
The new gifting and discount tools now form a wide toolkit for Patreon creators to communicate with their audience, hence increasing the possibility of having paid memberships.
Since creator-driven content and fan communities are supported by certain platforms, the gift membership feature of Patreon presents great opportunities through which the creators can increase revenue and engagement in higher ways.
In August, TechCrunch reported that Apple warned Patreon to switch to its billing system. If it did not comply, the latter would risk removal from the App Store.
