A guide to gift subscriptions and special offers
How to make the most of the holiday season to grow
Gift subscriptions, special offers, and thoughtful posts to celebrate the end of the year can be powerful tools to convert free subscribers to paid and help you reach new audiences.
Here are a few tips and some inspiration to help you grow your publication as 2024 comes to an end.
Gifts
Subscriptions are a great gift—a way for current subscribers who already know and love your work to share it. It’s a gift for them, too: an opportunity to discuss a shared interest with friends and family all year long. The holiday season is the perfect time to remind your current subscribers that gift subscriptions are available.
- , a music and media historian, includes a reminder about gift subscriptions in the midst of his recent essay.
- , the creator of The Isolation Journals, includes a gift subscription option in all her posts beneath the “subscribe” button.
To do: Add a gift subscription button to any post from the button drop-down menu, or find the option to purchase a gift subscription for any Substack at subdomain.substack.com/gift. Learn more
Special offers
Special offers allow you to provide a discount or free trial, reducing the cost barrier and creating urgency to purchase a subscription, all of which ultimately help you earn more money. Discounts can be offered for the annual billing period or indefinitely, letting subscribers lock in a reduced rate in perpetuity. Our data shows that the higher the discount, the better the conversion. Discounts of 20% drive some of the best conversions and click-through rates, though discounts of 60% and higher also perform very well.
What matters more than the percent discount you offer is how you communicate the offer to subscribers. Depending on your audience, the holiday season might be the right time to share a special offer, or you might time the offer around an event more specific to your topic. For example, a New Year’s sale is a good idea for health and wellness guides as people work on resolutions. You could offer a special deal around the time of a big cultural event you cover, or a discount to celebrate a milestone like your publication anniversary.
- , a culture writer, offers an annual sale during the “doldrums of winter.” She puts the sale offer at the top of a post that’s typically paywalled to show free subscribers exactly what they’re missing. Anne explains the value of paid subscriptions: “You get access to these monthly links and recs posts, the amazing thread discussions, and the knowledge that you’re paying for the stuff you consume and value—and making this job sustainable.”
- , who helps people working in product hone their craft and career, celebrated 100,000 subscribers with a discount on paid subscriptions. He used the moment to reflect on how he got here, and gave people a taste of what they would get if they upgraded with a sample of his AI prompt library.
Other great examples:
shows the value of the community available to paid subscribers and creates extra urgency by offering a discount for only a few hours. plugs a discount just above the flexible paywall. positions their discount as a “subscription drive,” making it a concentrated moment to rally free readers to become paid subscribers.To do: Send a dedicated post to free subscribers with your offer, and include a button to redeem the discount. Don’t be shy about following up during the offer period by reminding subscribers in your regular posts or sending targeted emails to engaged free readers using the subscriber dashboard. Learn more
Celebrating the moment
The holiday season is a time of renewed connection and community gathering. Substack publishers are leaning into the moment in creative ways that strengthen their relationships with subscribers and help them reach new audiences.
- , an artist and educator, hosts a digital advent calendar of “making, doing, and being” to help subscribers “carve out a little more space to just be” during this busy season.
Harling Ross Anton, Molly Sims, and Arianna are among the many sharing gift guides on Substack. Word of mouth is driving decision-making this holiday season, and people are turning to trusted tastemakers to do their research along the way.
- took a moment to check in with subscribers in a manifesto-style post, restating her gratitude for subscribers and explaining why she publishes Ask Polly. Remember that newer subscribers may not be familiar with your origin story, goals, or mission. Routinely remind subscribers why you do this work with a strong call to action to upgrade, especially at times when they might be thinking about how they can give back.
What other ways have you seen people use the end of the year to grow their Substack and strengthen their relationship with subscribers?
Instead of a % discount, what about 1 month/week of paid subscription?
One thing I believe brings a lot of value for future paid subscribers is to understand what is the benefit they will take.
If they are able to taste, more chances they come back.
Does it make sense?
Yes! From the special offer page, you can chose to offer a free trial for up to 90 days https://write.substack.com/publish/offers/new
Did you see that approach in the past? Might sound wild, but in my mind it makes a lot of sense.
Yes, free trials can be an effective tool to build trust and interest with subscribers. We've even automated free trials in some places with a feature that automatically allows you to offer a 7-day free trial to subscribers when they hit the paywall. https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/4418620510100-Can-I-add-a-free-trial-offer-to-a-paywall-on-my-post
Thanks Katie!
As a reader that makes fantastic sense to me. There is no way I can afford to spend tons of money to read all of my favorites. I only have two subscriptions at this point and my limit is five for my budget. Occasionally a writer will have something amazing that I just have to read but then the rest of what they write is not so interesting. Many have been writing about elections but know that they are over I need to know what they are going to write about going forward before subscribing. And this is unfair to the people who I read often but know they aren't hurting in the pocketbook, I will choose people who are less well known first. Spreading the wealth, I hope. Also, I would consider giving a contribution in order to read a story without subscribing. One of the ladies I follow has something on her site that says buy me a coffee. I have bought her a couple. I want you to be able to make a living writing. We need you and you're all doing a fantastic job. I am certainly not opposed to paying you for it. And spreading the word with shares and talking about substack with people I meet. I hope this helps with some ideas.
This feedback is gold for all writers that have a paid option on their newsletter.
Reader (we) are not rich, and we want to read something meaningful for us.
And we need to know what is that "extra mile" before paying for it.
Buy a coffee is a great idea - often I would like to read a post without subscribing - it may be a one off topic of specific interest to me - I know I can pay for a month in some cases, but not always and then I have to remember to cancel.
Can i ask - how do You “buy a coffee” as I thought you could only subscribe either monthly or yearly through Substack? @dewaltz
I'm not sure how she does it but the one person I know who does writes 'What Joe Biden did today'. It's a very good post and actually I end up giving her more money than I would if I subscribed. She just has a button on there and it's a one-time donation rather than a subscription. As a writer I can understand why you want a subscription. As a reader I prefer not to have my card continuously resubscribing where I will probably forget. I will be subscribing to her but I wonder if she will be continuing with 'what the jerk did today'. I need to know I just don't want to be depressed everyday.
Thanks so much for your quick reply!
My sentiments exactly!!
I think it's important to note for anyone reading that if you don't have a consistent upgrade rhythm throughout the year, drastically discounting your newsletter during the holidays is just putting a bandaid on a bigger problem.
For those of you who have a solid upgrade rhythm, here are a few pieces of data that could be helpful (they're from my Substack Reader Survey this summer).
The price range where respondents said things began to "feel pricey" was the $50/year - $75/year mark. I've tested this with clients who were struggling with upgrades, and any time they clarify their product/value proposition AND get inside or just dip below this window, their upgrade rhythm improves. (I know it sucks to hear "lower your price" but the reality is that if upgrades aren't coming in, it's your product, your nudge cycle or your price that's the problem.)
Also here's a helpful note on formatting your promotion: Make sure you are writing the FINAL PRICE of a yearly subscription in your upgrade buttons and links. This is what the data says is the FINAL determining factor for most upgrades; and this bears out in other pricing scenarios I'e worked in. In a cost conscious economy, the cash out of a reader's pocket is what matters most. And just make sure if you're at or above that price range ($50 - $75 a year) that you have the archive, onboarding sequence and skills to back it up.
Last year in December I did a Buy One, Give One offer. For everyone who purchased or renewed an annual subscription, I gave them one free annual gift subscription to give away. It was really popular, although a little difficult to track on my end. I also started a Scholarship Program for those unable to pay. I gave away about 50 scholarships; to enter I asked that they email me and tell why they were applying. Again, a bit cumbersome for me to track but worthwhile in the end as it is on mission for the kind of work I do.
I need to look into how to do that free gift subscription...
Really great idea!
I consider giving away a mini poetry collection 😁 But don't tell my subscribers, its a surprise 🤫
Thank you so much for including me!
Here's my 50% holiday/birthday offer from MFA Lore:
https://open.substack.com/pub/aimeeliu/p/a-year-of-mfa-lore-for-half-the-price?r=12877t&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
🍀
Quick question, the other day a substacker emailed saying I could give for free 3 paid subscriptions to her newsletter. This is not available for everyone?
Hey Talia, these are likely gift referrals, which you can manage from your settings page. We use our data on your behalf to offer your most engaged subscribers the option to give your publication to friends. More info: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/8946512015892-Does-Substack-have-a-referral-program
If I could afford any i would . Yet having cancer and heart disease makes it impossible . My thanks giving will be turkey tv dinner if lucky . Yet good offer for all
One of the things that I absolutely 'abhor' about substack:
Unless you name the person you are replying to (by writing in their name)' Comments get lost.
I am so sick and tired of having to write in the names.
Get it together substack.
Here's a question: is there a way to *get* a gift subscription if you exclusively access Substack on desktop? (I was gifted a subscription a little while back, and was unable to redeem it as a pre-Y2K person who doesn't have access to the Substack app. Was very sad to leave that gift unopened!)
We've been experimenting with Substack-funded gifts with participating publications, but you have to download the app to redeem it. We do not currently have a program like this for web. More info here: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/31646054622740-What-are-Substack-funded-gifts
Good reminders for serious Substackers ...
I want to have a special offer for Founding Member only plans. Is there a way to create a subscribe link that defaults to the Founding Member plan instead of the Annual subscription?
There is no way to set a special offer to founding members. We think of founding membership as a way for subscribers to pay more than the listed price as an extra show of support, similar to a donation. You can set this price at whatever you’d like, as long as it’s higher than your annual plan price.
You might consider lowering the founding tier price for a short period of time as a workaround.
I'm able to lower the price as you said. In fact, I've done it in the past. What I can't figure out how to do is to create a "Become a Founding Member" button that links directly to the option to become a Founding Member. The Subscribe option always seems to default to the Annual plan. Am I just missing something?
This link should work https://www.aaronrenn.com/subscribe?selectedPlanId=founding54000usd
Awesome! Thanks - that's exactly what I was looking for. I'm planning to cut the price to $360.00 for a period of time. Do I need to update the plan id to reflect the new cost when I do that?
I believe so. If you run into any issues, please feel free to write support and the team would be happy to assist
Will do. I appreciate the super-quick and helpful response.
Thank you for the shout-out! I love offering a discount every now and again xo
Can existing paid subscribers also benefit from special offers the next time they renew? Or are special offers only for new paid subscribers?
This was soooo helpful—thank you!
Thanks for this post! It's very clear how to create a special offer, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to create a discounted gift offer. Doesn't the gift button open to a different window than the regular upgrade? How do I edit the gift price?
Nice
Thank you so much
Very good
Thank you for the suggestions and examples!!! Wishing growth and success to all!! My grand experiment: the serialized audio version of a Christmas novella I published in 2022 -- offered free with the hopes of attracting new subscribers paid and free. It launches tomorrow and a new episode drops every day until the grand finale Christmas Eve. : ) Holiday travelers trapped together in a blizzard... yikes!
Yes, that's a hopeful stapes for successful writers , I like that for my future best.
good news. Thank you.
My household is on a fixed income. We would appreciate it if there was a household/family subscription for our favorites.
substack,
I have been "offered" a paywalled article by a conrtibutor on your site.
Substack has The QR SYMBOL as an "key" to access the offer??
Running a Black Friday special now until Dec 1st 😉
Nothing!😡
Why do you never listen to writers like myself who have never managed to earn a single cent from our Substack because we don't/can't use Stripe? Do you really not care? Please, please, please introduce a new payment system so that I can get paid subscriptions.
http://www.hopeisunlimited.wordpress.com
Cancel subscription, please. V. Quinn
I would love a wishlist option on the Substack platform. I do 99% of my shopping in person, and at this time of year I'm usually in a handful of gift exchanges that rather irritatingly have a default "choose from an Amazon wish list" option.
Yes. Makes sense.
I'm a reader as well but I'm going to reply anyway.
Sounds like you got subscribed my mistake. You can unsubscribe here: https://on.substack.com/account?utm_source=user-menu
Katie, just an FYI: When people try to highlight a commenter's sentence in order to respond to it, the entire comment is condensed into a little arrow. Sometimes the merest brush of a finger collapses a comment.
Worse, one can no longer copy, delete, and paste and then correct one's own comment (soon enough to avoid a "deleted" label). This happened after the most recent update.