Transitioning from a Free to Paid Community

When transitioning from a completely free community to offering paid channels, it’s important to communicate honestly with your existing members. The ideal Server Subscriptions should be unlocking new experiences for your server members —no one likes having to pay for something that used to be free to access. .

Communicating to your server members early and often can alleviate any concern or confusion about your upcoming changes. Consider running an “Ask Me Anything”  event where you explain your upcoming Server Subscription plans and rationale while giving your members a chance to ask questions and provide their perspective.

Some of your existing server members are likely to become future paid subscribers, so being thoughtful about your messaging is best.

With the introduction of a paid section of your server, you’ll want to make sure you are appropriately distributing your time between both free and paid spaces. Giving all your attention to your paid members can be demoralizing to your free members, especially the ones who want to subscribe but can’t for whatever reason. Ensure you’re able to commit to what you are offering your paid subscribers without compromising what you have already built with the wider community.

If it turns out that you no longer have time to commit to your free members once you launch your Server Subscription, that’s okay. Communicate honestly with your fans so they have time to decide if they want to start a subscription.

If you're ready to create your Server Subscription right now, click here. To continue reading onwards, can check out our Server Subscriptions lessons down below.