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I'm curious if anyone is doing this for entirely free Substacks, and if so what have you created as your rewards?

I think it makes sense as a good way to boost Paid growth, but I'm still not sure if I'm on board with a Leaderboard. It sort of emphasises a need to share share share, without necessarily wanting to share because you felt a post held true value. I don't know, a bit cynical of me maybe.

I'm curious, I might switch it on (as an entirely free Substack), but I'm going to spend time thinking about some weird and silly rewards first.

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Yes, lots of writers with free publications have started using referrals. Wesley who we mentioned in the post writers Process, a free Subtack. Checkout his rewards: https://wesley.substack.com/leaderboard

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Thanks Katie for sharing Wesley's rewards. I'm about to launch a similar referral program. In thinking about the funnel, do you know if people have been testing and finding success putting a referral blurb and button in their welcome email? Are we able to track if that triggered the conversion? I wonder if it's too early in the funnel to get a new subscriber to start referring a substack and if you've seen any data on that.

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Thanks Katie.

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I’m the same. As an entirely free Substack with the intention of going paid at some point, I’d still like to start using the referral feature now instead of later. But the leaderboard thing also seems a bit fishy to me, or maybe I just don’t like being reminded of the business side of things. I’d like to think that if I write well, people will come. But it’s not quite so simple, is it?

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My newsletter has a paid option, but I don't paywall anything. So it is essentially free. Those who want to support my writing can, but everyone gets everything.

I chose to use collections of stories in ePub and pdf formats as rewards because they are easy to create (I already had two created as eBooks) and the reward process is automated. The reader downloads them from the reward letter they get when they reach a certain number of referrals. I chose low numbers (1,3,5) for rewards because I can't imagine people recommending my newsletter 25 or 50 times.

So it has become a "set it and forget it" system.

I also turned off the leaderboard. It seems a little too gamifying to me.

I think of the rewards as a little "thank you" for sharing my newsletter.

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Thanks Mark. That's incredibly helpful. I'm considering what you are discussing - a pdf as incentives, but the numbers - 1,3 or 5 vs 25 or 50, is tricky to figure out. I'm considering surveying some of my loyal readers, bc I don't want to guess and guess wrong.

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Thanks Mark, that all sounds very sensible. Agree on the gamification.

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I'm in the process of setting it up. My stack is all free and I'm planning to include PDF/EPUB of other writings of mine that normally cost some money.

However, I'm not good with the idea of the leaderboard. It looks to be another number bandwagon feature like badges and "more than x subscribers" on the welcome page. I've heard you can turn the leaderboard off. I hope so.

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Ah that's good. I'll definitely turn it off if that's possible.

Good luck with the process :)

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I imagine I've got to finish setting it up before all the settings are revealed. You too, good luck with the process!

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I'm with you Nathan! I'm a free publication and I don't know what I should offer...Giftcard to starbucks? I don't really know...I don't have a PDF guide or Ebook to offer as I'm not at that stage in my writing career to have done those things. If you have any ideas, could you share them with me? I'd love to grow my audience too!

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I don't have many ideas yet either 😅

Maybe a personalised letter/email, the chance to choose a topic for a story, or a prompt, or to write them into a story 😄🤷‍♂️ I dunno. Could get tricky if one got to lots of followers hitting such milestones!

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Hey Nathan! Mine is completely free at the moment, I've set mine up like this:

1 referral - free wallpaper (light mode)

5 referrals - free wallpaper (dark mode)

10 referrals - PDF sharing my desk setup

Far from perfect, but it's definitely a start 😅

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That's great, appreciate the input Austin. Cheers.

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Those ideas was pretty good!

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I include a discount code on my space-inspired artwork in every post. It’s an appreciation offer for readers, no matter if they are subscribers or simply stumbled across my posts on the web. No strings attached.

All my posts have been free from the start and I don’t intend to start charging in the future.

For me, this is consistent with my main original goal for writing a “NERDSletter” ... that being to foster a connection with potential patrons of my artwork and other Space Geeks.

Regarding referrals, my sense is that growing organically, as opposed to offering action dependent rewards, may lead to a subscriber population that is more genuinely interested in what I write about ... as opposed to people who may have signed up as a result of a reward.

That said, I do understand the value of a referral system (whether reward based or not). I always include a “share” button in my posts. And, I have certainly benefited from Substack’s recommendation feature. Getting the word out about your writing seems essential, otherwise you’re just talking to yourself.

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Love the thoughts Dave, thanks.

I very much agree re: referrals.

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I will switch this on, once I have figured out what to offer. Custom voice messages? An ePub of flash fiction pieces, one of my photos? Free comp on a free Substack seems moot, I agree. And yes, the leaderboard can be switched off.

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Great to know leaderboard can be turned off.

Those all sound like great choices 👍

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I’m an avid reader but not an author on Substack. However, I’ve noticed that many writers with tiny subscribers numbers don’t allow non-paying readers to either finish the whole article or, more commonly, write or read the comments UNLESS one is a paying subscriber. Do these writers not realize that sophisticated readers of articles are also interested in the Comment section to see the overall quality of the subscription? If I find a writer who puts together intelligent articles, and sometimes has guest writers, and the commentators are informed, intelligent, challenging, and so forth. It is highly likely I will become a faithful PAYING subscriber. If writers think that sophisticated readers are going to buy their subscriptions without the reader, getting enough opportunity to see the full array of what the writer and the commentators have to offer, forget it. I am willing to pay to encourage the writer to continue writing. This is no different than buying something to encourage the seller to continue making and selling their product. I hope this helps.

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Thanks for your feedback! It helps to know that comments are an important part of the reading experience for you.

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I agree. The substacks I pay for are either entirely open or substantially open, which means I knew exactly what I was paying for.

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I can understand why the big hitters on Substack put pretty much everything behind a paywall, but some even ask for payment just to comment on free posts! Which smacks of greed to me. Again, I understand they already have a large loyal following that probably followed them from social media or some other platform but I can't for the life of me understand why they would make it so difficult for newcomers to join in whatever they have to offer. Surely, a better approach would entail maintaining the usual open-ended funnel that leads to even more happy paid subs in the end.

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Agreed, but maybe it's a daunting task to keep up with all the people commenting. That could be a lot to read and comment on each day. I don't have that problem. Just started using the comment zone.

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Agree completely. For me, the best writers, thinkers and doers don’t need a cent in the first place; they attract readers and commentators because they are committed to 1A, free speech and dialogue. I’m willing and able to pay for that; some aren’t but they should be able to participate.

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These are wonderful ideas! Thank you! I especially love the 50% off anything in the merch store option from Ryan Broderick.

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You're welcome! I did nothing to contribute to this article and am replying with nothing of substance, but I will graciously accept credit for any positive experience you had from the ideas.

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Comped - a word not really used in the UK. I had to check that it means complimentary. 😀

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This might be one of the best add-ons!

Thanks Substack for the great tips 💭🎙️

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aren’t you just making very big people even bigger? not gonna change much for new writers whose subscribers don’t even use the platform themselves

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This can be said about pretty much every new feature that’s been coming out.

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This has already produced results for me! ✨

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Hi there! What your results and what did you offer?

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Hi there, Lacey! I collaborated with a print company on a limited-edition merch (notepad, pens & stickers). I did the design, they did the printing.

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I plan on announcing this new program along with a free book offer and our latest giveaway this Saturday.

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I like this feature and hopefully it will be useful. The article helped me understand how it all works.

I don't have paid turned on, but will be offering something that I believe my readers would enjoy: PDF and EPUB copies of other stories of mine that would normally cost some money. I like the idea that I can get it set up and then just let it keep ticking.

Thanks for the helpful intro.

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Hiw do you prevent people gaming the system. Every time I’ve tried this in the past, everyone just “refers” themselves at a different email address and most of these programs have substantial anti-gaming detection algorithms. Does yours? Or are we just going to give away paid subs to people for referring themselves?

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We have a variety of controls in place to block readers from getting credit for self/spam referrals (suspected fake emails, domains, bad IPs, etc.). We are also closely monitoring for abuse to see if tactics change and will add additional restrictions as necessary. If you do enable the program and suspect spam isn't being caught definitely let us know!

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Are we able to see WHO referred WHOM? I'm nervous because, just being honest with you (as a developer who runs a website/blog platform in a different space than substack), your spam filtering for blog comments isn't very good.

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love this. Now just need to build my base of subscribers 🤔 and then we are a go!

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So excited about this feature and way to engage the readers, thank you for building it and mentioning me as an example :)

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We're excited to see how Process continues to grow with referrals!

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I'm an entirely free Substacker just publishing poetry (who still cares about poetry these days?). Not really sure what else to offer for rewards. Maybe an in-person recitation of your favorite poem of mine? (that would require a LOT of subscribers and some income for the flight/hotel/rental car, etc. LOL...Anyhoo, I'll have to think about it to see what makes sense (if anything). I'm open to any creative suggestions. 1k thanks.

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For a poet, the ability to unlock and see live drafts would be pretty neat.

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Thanks for the suggestion Michael. I'll think it over. It's always fun for us cultural detectives to get a peek behind the scenes at the creative process.

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@Substack Maybe this is not the place for it, but I can't find a place for help/support.

I unpublished 16 posts within a timespan of a few minutes. But only 5 of them show up in my drafts.

Are the others gone?!

That's not supposed to happen, I assume...

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I think Substack needs to integrate a way to reach out to paid subscribers and tell them to "introduce a friend." The referral program understood as launching an active email the leaderboard is in my opinion too little to entice. Substack AI, get to work!

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Hey Mirko, do you mean reach out to paid subscribers on an ongoing basis about referrals?

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Paid subscribers may not want to be bothered more than is necessary: they already pay for a service and are happy to do it. I think more emphasis should be directed toward free subscribers directly from Substack. But I wouldn't know how, I'm just saying as a thought.

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You can update your headers and footers so they include info about referrals for free subscribers, but not paid.

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Appreciate this feature a lot. My subscribers are gonna love sharing this free content!!!

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