Listen to the Episode
A couple of weeks before working on this episode I was in a livestream with my friends Corey and Angela. Corey is the founder of the Black Podcasters Association and Angela is the creator of Please Hustle Responsibly and Melanin MVP. We run a show on Substack livestream called “Shh, We’re Talking” Anyway, I feel like we were talking about newsletters and the question came up about subscription fatigue and how to deal with it. Subscription fatigue is the energy around feeling like every thing has a monthly fee. It can feel like we’re on the hook monthly for so many of the goods, services and products we would like to use and enjoy. If you are dealing with subscription fatigue personally and are a content creator trying to grow revenue in your business, I feel like this episode is a must listen.
Disclaimer
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Show Notes
Sometimes I’m a little annoyed when I think about all of the subscriptions that I have. From streaming services, clothing and even my carshare program. It can feel like there’s a constant drip, drip, drip of money leaving my account. Don’t get me started on the idea of buying the license to read books on KDP and not actually owning it. Then I come to my senses, I signed up for these services. And, there were many points when the only way that I could have afforded to use those services was to say “yes” to the monthly subscription option. I perceived it as a benefit to me to allow me access to entertainment, a car and the different tools that I use to run my business.
So, when I hear the conversation around subscription fatigue-I get it. But, I think that as content creators we need to be able to articulate the concept of value of our work both to ourselves and to the people that we’re looking to serve.
Here are some examples of what I mean:
- I have a newsletter and there’s a monthly subscription for $8. Subscribers to Creators Getting Paid gain access to me, case studies, private conversations with creators and discounts to products. That’s a HELL of a good deal. The annual fee is the equivalent of a day at a fun side-hustle. That’s how I used to pay for some of the things that I wanted. Side-hustles.
- As creators who are charging for “a good or service” if we hear that someone is dissatisfied with that $8 investment-I know that they didn’t lose their house because of it.
- However, it’s more than likely that the money can be earned back-from being entertained, educated or given a short-cut to something that your audience member wants will happen pretty quickly.
Real talk creators, as the economy does whatever it’s doing right now offering a subscription option is the key to building recurring income into you business. Maybe we’re thinking too rigidly around the idea of a subscription. Maybe we approach the thought of subscriptions differently.
- Start by proving to ourselves FIRST what the value is before adding a subscription as a way to purchase a product. And ask yourself why are you subscribing to the things that you’re subscribed to?
- Understand that for some people that for some folks that we’re serving-having a payment plan may be a way to provide an accessible way to work with us.
- Remember that many people also have money and just want to spend it how they want to spend it.
- You don’t have to offer a subscription.
- You can encourage people to pay the annual rate vs. monthly. There’s a creator on Substack who charges almost $100 a month or a significantly discounted rate annually. The majority of their revenue comes from annual payments.
My point? Depending on the product, there may be more than one way that you can structure the payment for the product. You could have a subscription with open content-I’m looking at you news media folks.
Something else came up during the conversation with Corey and Angela. Specifically around people making decisions to cut ongoing subscriptions during tough economic times. The idea that our products aren’t a necessity. I don’t think we need to speculate as to why someone could potentially end a subscription beyond the following-their journey with the product is done in that moment. They may return, they might not. But-did we serve them and deliver on whatever they purchased to the best of our ability? I’ll never forget my friend LaTisha Styles sharing the following advice “Stay out of other people’s pockets” What I took away from that advice was the following:
- Make no assumptions about what’s going on in other people’s lives financially
- Stand on business regarding the pricing of your products-Have a suite of offerings. There may be people who hate subscriptions but love a resource that you’ve designed and will buy it. Stay ready. This is actually a tip or piece of advice that took me AWHILE to absorb. It truly touches on imposter syndrome, underpricing and fear. Will you upset some people with your product pricing. Yes. Remember no one has to buy from you, it’s still a choice to say “yes” to the whatever it is you’re selling.
- Know that subscription fatigue is also butting against intense economic headwinds at least in the United States. People may actually opt to use subscriptions even more because the economy is in an interesting place right now and this is still a helpful option to access the products that people are selling.
It’s important for creators to be candid about our own Substack fatigue so that we can better center why we may be including one in our product suite. Thoughts?
