Consideration: build a free membership that leads to paid

A new fan discovered your work. They liked it and they followed the path you built back to your Patreon. Success!

Now what? Well, ideally they'd jump straight into paid membership... but that's not always the case. They might want to see a little more from you first. Or paying for a membership may not be something they can do right now. But they're here, and they're interested.

That's where free membership comes in.

On Patreon, you can offer fans the option to join for free. They become a member of your community, get updates when you publish public posts, and you can share work specifically with your free members.

So while discovery got their attention, free membership gives their interest somewhere to land. And that's the middle of your funnel: consideration, where interested fans get more time with you and your work before deciding whether paid membership is right for them.

Make a plan for free membership

By now, you're familiar with the idea of a conversion strategy, and this middle layer of your funnel is part of it. Yes, a strategic part of a strategy. Some fans might quickly scoot by it on their way to paid membership. Others might spend a little more time here (or a lot).

If someone is interested but isn't ready to pay yet, why lose that connection and hope they find you again later? Free membership lets them keep hearing from you, experiencing your work, and being part of your community. And because they’ve chosen to join, they can get notified when you share something new instead of relying on a social media feed that may not show it.

Podcaster Atypical Artists has taken that approach by keeping her audio-drama education open and accessible. Her monthly free livestreams give fans a chance to learn from her, ask questions, and get excited about what she’s creating. She sees that accessibility as an important part of building a loyal fanbase that may eventually grow into paid membership.

Of course, some free members might happily hang out here forever. They're still your fans! They can participate in your community, share your work, and be part of what makes your Patreon worth coming back to.

And who knows? As they spend more time with you, you might eventually land on the thing that makes paid membership click for them.

Start with three questions:

• What will you share?

• How much will you share?

• Why does it belong in your free membership?

You’re looking for a balance that makes free membership genuinely worth joining while still giving paid membership a clear reason to exist.

Not sure what to share for free? TTRPG creator The Griffon's Saddlebag lets free members help decide by voting on which items should be made available to them. That's one way to design the free experience around what your members actually want.

Design your free member experience

You’ve decided what you want to share, how much, and why. Now you can bring those decisions to life in the experience you create for your free members.

You don't need to build something elaborate. A few thoughtful choices can help fans settle in, get to know what happens here, and understand what else they can experience if they want to go deeper.

Give new fans a place to start

Imagine a new fan landing on your Patreon. They could scroll through months (or years 😬) of posts and try to figure out what you’re all about. Or you could give them a little direction.

That’s where a “Start Here” post can do some serious work. It can be a public post that you pin or feature on your Patreon so it’s easy for new fans to find. Think of it as your chance to say, “New here? Let me show you around.”

Use it to introduce yourself and your work, explain what fans can find on your Patreon, and point them toward a few great places to explore. You can also make it easy to understand what they’ll get if they decide to join for free or as a paid member.

Then, give them something worth exploring. Create a sampler shelf with a small, curated collection of public posts that gives new fans a real taste of you and your work. You could even unlock a few past paid posts that you're ready to share more widely. Choose things intentionally: a fan favorite, something that shows off your personality, a great example of what you create, or whatever you think will leave the right first impression.

Together, your Start Here post and sampler shelf can help a curious fan quickly answer some pretty important questions: Do I like what happens here? Is there more I want to explore? Do I want to stick around?

⚡ Pro Tip: Want more ideas for making your Patreon easier to explore? Check out Make your Patreon easier to explore (and easier to stick with).

💡 Want some inspiration for your own starting point? See what these creators did:

Art educator Samira Mian has a dedicated Free content for beginners! shelf with 18 posts, including recorded live sessions from her IGP101 series. New fans don't have to wonder which of her posts will make sense for them. She’s already gathered the beginner-friendly work they’re most likely to need in one easy-to-find place.

Spoken-word creator Flowetry In Motion takes an even more direct approach with a featured New here? Start here. post. It tells new fans what they can experience for free and what’s available in paid membership, giving them some direction before they start exploring.

Podcaster I Know Dino uses a Start Here: Member Sampler shelf to give new fans something to explore after public polls bring them in. The poll can get someone interested, and the sampler shelf gives that interest somewhere to go once they arrive.

Writer Brian James Freeman has built out a whole free experience where fans can start getting real value right away while also seeing hints of what paid membership adds. A new fan gets enough to actually experience his Patreon and decide whether they want to keep exploring.

Make the first few weeks count

Your new fan just joined your free membership. Hooray! 🎉 Now what?

Start with a warm welcome. New members receive an email confirmation when they join and you can customize the welcome note included in it. Use that moment to help them understand what they just signed up for. Remind them what they can expect as a free member and point them toward anything you’d especially like them to know about, whether that’s your community chat, livestreams, recurring posts, or other parts of the experience you’ve created just for them.

Your welcome note doesn’t have to do all the work. Think about the first couple of weeks as a simple onboarding experience, with a few opportunities to see what being part of your Patreon is actually like.

Maybe they get your welcome note on day one. A few days later, there’s a poll they can vote in. Later that week, you invite them to an upcoming livestream or engage them in your community chat.

You don’t need to fill every day on the calendar. A few thoughtful moments can help someone go from “I joined” to “I know what happens here, and I want to come back.”

Give them a reason to come back

Once someone joins for free, you want to give them reasons to keep spending time with you and your work. The more they come back, participate, and experience what you create, the more opportunity they have to build the kind of relationship that can eventually lead to paid membership.

A recurring experience gives them something specific to return for. It could be a monthly challenge, a regular poll, a livestream, a newsletter, or something else that fits the way you create.

You may already have something you can invite free members into.

If you're not sure what would interest them, ask. Your free members have already raised their hands to hear more from you. Run a poll or ask a question about what they'd like to see, do, or participate in.

That’s exactly what podcasters SurvivingPod did. They surveyed their free members directly to learn what they expected when they joined, what would make them want to stick around, and what would make free membership feel more valuable. Sometimes the easiest way to figure out what your members want more of is to let them tell you.

And if a poll or survey doesn't get much response? That's information, too. Try another way of asking or a different approach and see what connects.

💡 Want some inspiration for what they could come back for? See what these creators did:

Give free members something to participate in. British Horror Studio uses polls to let fans vote in community awards like Best Actor, Actress, and Director. Their Best Actor poll brought in a spike of new free members and sparked conversation in the comments. Giving fans a vote makes them part of the experience and gives them a reason to come back and see what happens.

Sometimes you already have a recurring moment to build around. JayESims shares compatibility updates whenever a new Sims game patch comes out, helping fans know which mods are ready to use. The game keeps changing, so fans have a practical reason to come back for the latest update.

If you have a lot happening, consider giving free members one place to keep up with it. Jordan Sorcery brings work from across his videos, podcasts, articles, and other projects together in a recurring newsletter. He also includes community polls, so readers can catch up on what they missed and have a say in what happens next.

You can even help free members plan what they want to come back for. Wrekonize shares a monthly calendar with upcoming music, livestreams, samples, and other experiences across his Patreon. Members can see what’s coming and know when to return for the things they’re excited about, helping to keep the same members coming back month after month.

Pattern and craft creator RavenCoven has a permanently pinned post, The Vault, where free members can find the free patterns and promo codes currently available. She updates it weekly, so members know it’s worth popping back in to see what’s been added.

Let free membership show the value of upgrading

As free members spend more time with you, they’re getting a better sense of what it feels like to be part of your Patreon. That gives you a great opportunity to show them what they could experience as a paid member.

So when you’re deciding what to share for free, take a look at what you already offer in paid. The two experiences can work together.

Say your paid members get detailed tutorials. Could free members get a preview that shows what they'll learn? If paid members get the finished project, could free members weigh in on an early decision or follow part of the process? If paid members get a full bonus episode, could you share a favorite clip for free?

Instead of only telling free members what paid membership includes, you’re letting them see some of that value through what you share.

Molly Remer of Goddess Magic Mystery School brings past work out of her archive each week for free members and groups it all in one collection. She’s creating value for her free members while also showcasing what paid membership has to offer.

Now try it with your own membership. Pick one paid benefit and work backwards: What could you share for free that connects naturally to it?

Your free membership is strategic

Free membership gives interested fans time to get to know you and your work. What you do with that time is what makes consideration an intentional part of your conversion strategy.

Give fans something worth sticking around for. Help them find their footing. Invite them to participate and give them reasons to come back. Along the way, make it easy to understand what paid membership could add when they're ready for more.

🧭 Your next steps

• In the Patreon Conversion Strategy Workbook, use the Design your free member experience activity to turn what you learned into a plan

• Decide what role free membership will play in your Patreon. What will you share, how much, and why? Keep what you offer in paid membership in mind as you make those choices.

• Map what a brand-new free member will experience during their first 7–14 days. How will you welcome them and help them find their way around?

• Choose one or two recurring experiences that give free members a reason to come back over time.

• Choose a small set of free work for your sampler shelf so new members immediately have somewhere valuable to start.

That connection helps your free experience lead naturally into the next part of your funnel: conversion.

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