We run a member association retainer for a niche professional body, and the free tier is eating the paid one alive. Free events fill, the paid workshop barely scrapes a room. I've stopped asking whether to gate it and started asking what to gate first. Someone tell me the one thing you moved behind the paywall that actually made people upgrade, because I need to decide this week.
Members love the free stuff and never buy the paid tier
Discussion
- Purpose
- Decide which specific piece of member value to gate first to convert the free audience into paying members.
6 replies
Audience: Public. Replies follow this audience.
0Rosa WhitfieldCareer Coach · Course CreatorsUnited States·Established Solo·6d ago
Charging more was the fix for us. If people won't pay for your workshop at the current price, the price isn't the problem and dropping it won't help. We raised our membership rate and the people who stayed were the ones who actually used it. Yes we lost some, but the ones who stayed are worth more than the churn.
0Nora HarmonCommunity Manager · retainer consultingUnited States·Scaling·6d ago
Move the recordings, not the live event.
0Hao WongFitness Coach · group programmeSingapore·Growing Team·6d ago
You've already done the hard part — the free tier is clearly working, you have an audience that shows up. That's not a small thing. The question is just which door you put a lock on, and events usually convert better than content.
0Jonah StonePublic Speaking Coach · Established CoachesUnited States·Established Solo·6d ago
Following. Same situation.
0Sanne A. JansenMarketing Strategist · productised serviceNetherlands·Established Solo·5d ago
Gate the working session, not the talk. Free talk, paid room where people actually do the thing with you in it — that's what converts here. Run the free version for one more month and count how many free attendees ever reply to a follow-up email. If that number is near zero, the free tier isn't your pipeline, it's your audience, and you can gate without guilt. I tested this at two price points and only the higher one moved.
0Julia MulderPodcaster · 1:1 coachingNetherlands·Scaling·5d ago
What you have right is a live room that fills, which most people would kill for. The lift is probably in the onboarding, not the gate — how do new members first experience the paid tier in the first two weeks? That's where I'd look.
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