---
aliases: ["Paid Newsletter Trial"]
Is A: Experiment
Belongs to: "[[25q1]]"
Status: Abandoned
Owner: "[[person-luca-rossi]]"
---
# Paid Newsletter Trial

Tested a Substack-style paid tier to evaluate whether the newsletter audience would convert to a direct subscription model. The motivation was to explore revenue diversification beyond [[measure-sponsorship-mrr]], which currently accounts for the majority of income. A paid tier could provide more predictable, audience-aligned revenue while reducing dependence on the sponsorship sales cycle.

## Hypothesis

Offering a paid tier at $10/month (or $100/year) with one exclusive deep-dive essay per month and early access to all posts would convert at least 2% of the free subscriber base within 8 weeks, generating $2,000+ MRR.

## Setup

- Built a paid tier on the existing newsletter platform with two perks: one exclusive monthly deep-dive and 48-hour early access to all free posts.
- Announced the paid tier via a dedicated newsletter issue, a pinned tweet, and a LinkedIn post.
- Ran a 2-week launch promotion at 50% off the annual plan.
- Tracked conversion rate, churn after first month, and qualitative feedback from subscribers who did and did not convert.

## Results

- Total paid subscribers after 8 weeks: 89 (approximately 0.2% of the free base, well below the 2% target).
- MRR generated: ~$620 (mix of monthly and discounted annual).
- Churn after first month: 18% of monthly subscribers cancelled.
- Qualitative feedback: most free subscribers said the free content was already "more than enough." Those who paid cited "supporting the creator" as the primary reason, not exclusive content.

## Takeaways

- The audience does not perceive enough differentiation between free and paid content to justify a subscription. The newsletter's value proposition is built on free, high-quality essays.
- Conversion was 10x below target. The paid tier would need a fundamentally different value prop (e.g., community, tools, templates) to work.
- Abandoned the paid tier to avoid splitting focus. The sponsorship model ([[responsibility-sponsorships]], [[24q1-launch-sponsorship-packages]]) delivers significantly higher revenue per hour of effort.
- If revisited, would explore a premium community model (see [[25q3-discord-community-soft]]) rather than paywalled content.
- Key lesson: do not assume that "more content" is a compelling paid offering. Access, community, and tools tend to convert better for this audience segment.
