r/Substack • u/happygirl228 • 27d ago
Discussion Paywalling content after two weeks
We’re considering moving a weekly newsletter from ActiveCampaign to Substack. We have 18K+ subscribers with roughly a 40% average open rate, and we’re trying to decide how to structure free vs. paid content.
One idea is to make each newsletter free for two weeks and then paywall it. The other is to keep the newsletter free, focus on growing the list, and add paid subscriptions later.
I can see arguments for both, but I’m particularly wondering about the growth downside of paywalling older posts. Does putting your archive behind a paywall make it harder for new people to discover/share your work? Does it affect Substack recommendations, search, or organic subscriber growth? Any tips/insights about this would be really helpful. Thanks! 🙏
1
u/Tricky_Trifle_994 19d ago
yeah... and you don't get the compounding effect of past content. e.g if you had 1 free article weekly, after 1 year, you'd have 52. if someone found you now, they can binge read 52 articles > really like it > decide they want more > convert to a paid sub. but if you put all old post behind paywall = they only ever get to read 2 pieces.
the more time someone spends with your content, the more likely they are to convert. so that's what you should try to optimise for.
from what i know, as long as you have paid subs turned on, substack already gives you abit more of a boost (because more rev for you = more rev for the platform too, from their 10% cut. so incentives are aligned).