Welcome to the Creative Funding Show, a podcast for authors, YouTubers, and podcasters who want to fund the work they love. I’m Thomas Umstattd Jr., your fellow companion on the journey of making money doing the creative work you love, whether that’s video, audio, or the written word.

In this episode, we’re going to talk about how to break past the Patreon plateau. If you feel like your Patreon has stalled, where new backers are being offset by canceled pledges, this episode is for you.

Patreon CEO Jack Conte recently shared research during a Hang Time session, and I was there. Today, I’ll share some highlights from that research and offer some of my own insights along the way.

Patreon analyzed campaign data to determine what successful creators did to break past plateaus. This wasn’t a manual study; it was computer-driven data analysis. While that has its pros and cons, the findings were valuable, and I’m excited to share them with you.

The number one factor linked to increased patronage was updating reward tiers. Many creators are hesitant to make changes, fearing backlash, but I’ve never seen evidence that people get upset when you adjust tiers. In fact, feedback shows the opposite. People like it when you change things up based on their input.

There’s a saying in business, “The system you have is perfectly designed to give you the results you’re getting.” If your reward tiers aren’t attracting new patrons, they’re doing exactly what they were built to do: not attract new patrons.

Keep in mind, improving your tiers doesn’t always mean adding more content. Sometimes it means removing perks that no one values. For example, on the Novel Marketing Patreon page, we offered access to a free monthly resource. It’s great for email list building, but our patrons didn’t care about it.

Track what resonates. Remove what doesn’t. Remember that some people back you just to support your work. Others are only there for the rewards.

The second tactic that moved the needle was increasing the number of locked posts. Locked posts are posts that are only visible to paying patrons. They are highly motivating, especially to non-patrons or lower-tier patrons who feel like they’re missing out.

Since hearing this advice, I’ve increased the number of locked posts I publish, and guess what? My patronage has gone up.

You can also add teaser text to locked posts. This is visible to everyone and helps create curiosity. So if only $2-and-up patrons can access the post, use the teaser to show what they’re missing.

The third strategy, which I’ve seen work in my own experience, is offering a limited-time deal. People procrastinate, and urgency helps take action. But to be effective, the offer must be authentic and not gimmicky.

One great example Jack shared was from his wife, a musician. When she launched a solo album, she offered to include the names of anyone who became a patron before the end of the month in the CD booklet. This wasn’t a gimmick because the CDs were going to press, and the deadline was real.

This type of offer creates urgency and relevance. You can use the same concept by saying, “Be featured in my next album, video, or book if you become a patron by [date].”

We tried this on the Novel Marketing Patreon by offering a $50 discount on our Book Launch Blueprint course to patrons. That discount was only available for a limited time, and it worked. Patronage spiked. Most people signed up to get the discount, and we’ll see how many stick around. Even if some drop off, others are likely to upgrade from the $2 to the $5 tier, which is our sweet spot.

But how do you keep patrons? Retention is a big part of breaking past a plateau. If you gain five patrons but lose four each month, your growth is slow.

What helps reduce attrition? Personalized thank-you messages.

Using a patron’s name in a thank-you message significantly improves retention. I learned this when I interviewed Tom from Graphtreon. I backed his Patreon before our interview, and he sent me a personal thank-you message. I assumed it was because we were about to chat, but he told me he does that for everyone.

Now, I do the same. Every person who backs the Creative Funding Show on Patreon gets a personal message from me.

These messages are powerful, inexpensive, and they make people feel seen and appreciated. That emotional connection increases loyalty. It also opens up conversations that help me make the show better for my core supporters.

The bonus is that gratitude is good for your health. Google it. There’s plenty of science to back that up. Saying thank you makes the world a better place.

Jack’s final piece of advice was to look at what fast-growing creators are doing, and copy them. It’s simple, but effective.

That’s exactly what we do on the Creative Funding Show. We bring on creators at all stages so you can learn from what they’re doing and apply it to your own journey.

The best way to learn is by backing 10 creators at $1 each. For just $10 a month, you can get a masterclass in Patreon strategy that no course can match. Watch what they do, see what works, and adapt it to your own campaign.

By implementing these five principles, you can begin to move past your own Patreon plateau, gaining new patrons and retaining the ones you already have.

The sixth suggestion from Jack Conte was simply to poll your fans. I can tell you from experience, this is incredibly powerful. Polling our audience transformed the Novel Marketing podcast. You can learn more about it in this Novel Marketing episode.

We had been podcasting for years. The show was good but not great. We had better equipment, tightened up the format, and gained experience, but we weren’t seeing the kind of growth or engagement we wanted.

When I ended my radio show to focus more on Novel Marketing, one of the first things we did was send out a listener survey. That feedback was a game-changer.

We had assumed our audience was evenly split between those pursuing traditional publishing and those going indie. It turns out, that assumption was completely wrong. Almost none of our listeners were pursuing traditional publishing or wanted to hear about agents and publishers. But about one in five episodes was devoted to that topic.

Once we realized most of our audience members were independent authors, we shifted our focus to speak directly to them. Traditional authors still listen, and they’re welcome, but we made indie authors our priority.

That shift in focus caused engagement to skyrocket. It led to the energy and momentum that eventually launched our Patreon page.

If you run an educational podcast or YouTube channel, don’t just ask your audience what they want. Ask them what annoys them. What are their pain points?

In the Novel Marketing drip sequence, we have an email that invites readers to share their pet peeves. We want them to vent because, as Henry Ford once said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.” People may not always know what they want, but they do know what’s frustrating them.

As creators, we can offer solutions to those frustrations. That’s where real value is found.

The seventh idea isn’t something Jack Conte mentioned, but it’s vital. It wasn’t part of Patreon’s research due to the limitations of their data-gathering method, but it deserves to be included in any conversation about breaking through a plateau.

If someone asked me how to grow their Patreon, I would tell them to run a pledge drive.

A limited-time promotional push is incredibly effective, especially when combined with urgency, scarcity, and revamped rewards. And changing your tiers gives you a natural excuse to talk about your Patreon again.

If you change your rewards, you need to let people know. It’s only fair. Don’t wait until someone finds out they didn’t get what they expected. Use your podcast, email list, or social media to communicate the changes.

This also helps you launch a pledge drive naturally and organically. That’s exactly what Jack Conte’s wife did with her album campaign. She had daily tweets, images, and a clear message that said, “This is your last chance to get your name in the album.” It worked like a pledge drive.

A focused, time-limited campaign is far more effective than a low-level push stretched across three months. In fact, it can be more effective to use a full year’s worth of promotional energy in just one month. Public radio does this. Many nonprofits do it because it works.

We have a YouTube Channel! Thanks to repurpose.io (affiliate link) for helping make the videos. 

If you want me to review your Patreon or Kickstarter live on the show, drop me a line.

Use Novel Marketing’s Patreon Affiliate Link to make an extra $50 for your first 30 backers.

The post 019 How to Break Past the Patreon Patron Plateau appeared first on Creative Funding Show.