Callie and Jeff run a podcast called The Upside with Callie and Jeff. They’ve built a vibrant community of fans with a passion for bringing gratitude and positivity into their daily lives. When Callie and Jeff decided to create a membership program for their show, they set out to answer this one crucial question:
What additional value should we offer to our fans that have an interest in financially supporting us?
Using their email newsletter, Jeff and Callie connected directly with their biggest fans to answer this question. And in doing so, they gained their first 100 members.
Here’s how they did it:
Step 1: They went straight to their fans to ask what to include in their membership and how much to charge for it
Callie and Jeff had a few different ideas for what their members might receive: additional content from the regular show, special Callie and Jeff merchandise, extra episodes where Jeff makes prank calls (his specialty from his time in radio), and community meetups.
The problem was they weren’t sure what their audience would be willing to pay for.
So, they asked them.
How? Jeff and Callie and Jeff have a newsletter called The Pick Me Up, a weekly digest of ten brief news stories about positive things going on in the world. Since they’ve accumulated subscribers over time, Jeff and Callie were now able to use their email list to ask their fans what they might want out of a membership program.
Callie and Jeff created a simple survey that they sent to their newsletter subscribers, as well as their followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
They asked the following:
- Would you be willing to pay for a membership?
- What would you want included?
- If so, how much?
- Enter your email address, and we’ll let you know when it’s out
And the responses to their survey gave Callie and Jeff two important pieces of information:
First, they discovered their membership offering
Based on survey responses, Callie and Jeff learned that their fans were interested in bonus content and exclusive merchandise.
Second, they identified soon-to-be members
Since receiving hundreds of positive survey responses, Callie and Jeff knew how many fans were interested in becoming paying members, and they were confident that they could contact these fans know as soon as the membership was ready.
By the time they were ready to launch, Callie and Jeff already had a list of hundreds of fans who had told them they were interested in a membership program.
Step 2: Callie and Jeff launched their membership program in an email directly to the fans who indicated interest
Using the information they received from their fans via the survey, Callie and Jeff launched their podcast’s membership program through an email.
This is the email Callie and Jeff sent out to supporters who indicated via survey that they were interested in The Upside’s membership program:
The result
When Callie and Jeff launched their membership program, hundreds of their listeners signed up and paid right away. How? Callie and Jeff simply asked their audience what they wanted, and then told them as soon as it was available.
The Upside’s membership program continues to grow every day. The email was just a start, but is supplemented through calls to action in the podcast, social media, and in email.
Glow is proud to be a platform that helps Callie and Jeff turn their vision into a reality and build a thriving community.
Interested in launching a membership with Glow? Test out Glow for free.
Interested in Upside with Callie and Jeff? Subscribe here.
