By Michael Evans August 27, 2022
Normally, when a reader buys a book from you they just open the first page and let the story world envelop them. With subscriptions, we have the extra benefit of having a monthly relationship with our readers (and recurring revenue). The challenge is that we have to keep our readers sticking with us and our communities each month.
A great onboarding process can help reduce the dreaded reader churn, or when new readers unsubscribe from our monthly membership.
Onboarding is the process in which new members are integrated into a process, community, or organization. Odds are we have all had this experience when starting a new job or reviewing a syllabus for a class.
For our readers, we need to give them the following opportunities in our onboarding:
1. Story Schedule/Benefits Overview: this is arguably the most important information to deliver to our readers. Although oftentimes this is advertised on our member page before readers sign up for our subscription, a reminder of when they can expect early access chapter and other benefits is key.
2. Technology Tutorial: for us indies, it’s inevitable that we will be using some form of technology to deliver our stories to our readers. Maybe we use an exclusive community on Discord, Mighty Networks, Circle, Geneva, or Facebook. Maybe we host our subscription on a site like Patreon or Ream. We may even post password-locked chapters on our website. And in some cases, we need our readers’ addresses to deliver physical goods. When navigating through these new creator technologies, readers are often introduced to them for the first time. It’s helpful to give some brief tips for navigating these environments so readers can enjoy your subscription without too much of a hassle.
3. Community Guidelines: it’s likely we have some general rules when it comes to readers interacting in our community, such as no spoilers, being respectful, etc. As part of onboarding, it’s a good idea to clearly articulate these expectations to your readers and notify them of the consequences (potentially muting them in the group, a feature we enable on Ream).
4. Values and Mission: this is one we likely have had drilled to us in every company we have worked at. And although it can feel corporate and boring (cause they oftentimes are), as authors we can’t forget the importance of signaling the WHY behind it all. Why are you passionate about bringing your superfans together in a subscription? Why do you write what you write, and what do you hope your readers can gain from it? These reminders help cultivate deeper levels of engagement and meaning within your community — essential for any author business.
5. Introductions to Fellow Members: this is a good time to enable new readers to introduce themselves to you and fellow members and begin cultivating relationships within your fandom. This is where your readers will be able to find belonging amongst their shared passions and interests (which most likely, are your stories!).
Now I know, this sounds like a lot. The truth is onboarding is a continuous process for both new members and old as you remind readers of the culture of your community and why they are all there. For companies, good employee onboarding increases retention by 80%.
And for author communities, the ones with good onboarding processes often separate the Facebook Group ghost towns from the bustling centers of conversation that places like 20Booksto50k, SPF Community, and Wide for the Win have cultivated.
If you’re wondering how your own onboarding process can take the fundamentals above and translate it into increased retention and engagement for your readers, here are some best practices when welcoming new readers into your subscription:
The Welcome Video: Create a welcome video for all new members that is accessible via an unlisted YouTube link or on Vimeo. You don’t have to show your face here, and can instead show graphics from your books, whatever you are comfy with :).
Connect Directly with Readers: DM new readers to thank them for their support or consider creating a welcome thread in your community. This is a good place to link to the community rules and remind your readers of your mission and values. A great tool that can help with this is Burb (note this is not an affiliate link, we just think this is cool and potentially helpful).
Film a Tutorial: every reader hates having to email support or Google questions about how to navigate a new platform they may not be familiar with. Use a site like Loom to easily record your screen and share you navigating your subscription for your new readers. You can attach a transcription of this for readers who prefer text-only :).
Reader Hangouts: These are regular events (daily, weekly, bi-weekly) that get people talking in the community. Maybe it’s a post that prompts people to share their favorite line from a recent chapter. Maybe it’s a live stream with you doing a live reading. Creating welcoming, regular instances where readers in your community can interact and engage is key. This takes leg work, but the payoff is huge. 69% of community members who post once in a community continue posting throughout the year.
Email Automation Sequence: This old-school tactic works in many situations, and onboarding to your subscription is just another case in which it thrives. You can set up a sequence during a reader’s first month that maybe sends them a bonus insight (exclusive character back story). Reminders of community guidelines and story benefits. And you can even include a survey using Google Form or a Typeform to gather insights on what your readers would like to see in your subscription, and points of confusion (maybe they still haven’t figured out how to turn their notifications on… luckily Ream keeps them on by default).
Community Highlight Reel: This is a fun collection of top posts your community members have made. Maybe someone shared a great book recommendation, a super funny reaction to a chapter, or asked a question that sparked an incredible discussion. Compiling all these posts together into one place for your readers can be a great way to have new readers entertained and enticed to engage with your subscription.
Of course, these are just some ideas for you to best implement an onboarding process for your subscription. We’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas in our post about onboarding pinned in the Facebook Group :).
Also, we know that everything community-building for your author subscription can be overwhelming. That’s why we are making the focus of our September 2022 Fireside Chat all about that! If you’d like to attend a live conversation with your Subscriptions for Authors friends, then sign-up to attend our free, live chat on September 3 from 2 pm to 3:30 pm. We also will be sending a recording of the event to everyone on our mailing list, for those that can’t attend live.
That’s it from us on this one. Thanks so much for reading!