Trying to reach new people here in Cape Town, but manual onboarding already eats half my week. I ran a free 30-day email course; it grew the list, but most signups never paid for the group programme. Now I keep going back and forth: launch a paid subscription to fund and filter, or keep the content free and focus conversion on the programme. If I choose wrong, I either stall audience growth or add churn I can't manage. What did you test first?
Paid subscription or free list first?
Discussion
- Purpose
- Help Sibusiso choose between launching a paid subscription first and keeping content free to feed the group programme, given manual onboarding.
6 replies
Audience: Public. Replies follow this audience.
0Yong LimFinancial Coach · retainer consultingSingapore·Scaling·6d ago
I tested paid first. It filtered well but slowed list growth for months.
0Bruno SouzaLegal Educator · sponsorship & adsBrazil·Established Solo·6d ago
Paywall everything. Free readers never become paying subscribers.
0Camille GagnonLegal Educator · self-paced courseCanada·Scaling·6d ago
I kept the free list and layered a paid subscription on top. The free email brings people in, the subscription pays for my writing time, and the course stays separate. I automated onboarding with a two-email sequence and a welcome video. It took a weekend to set up. I would not paywall everything; my course sales still come from free readers months later.
0Callum LockwoodMarketing Strategist · Independent ConsultantsUnited Kingdom·Scaling·6d ago
Paywalling everything is the quickest way to kill a small list. Keep the strongest ideas free, charge for implementation and community. I nearly stalled my own growth doing what Bruno suggests. For a group programme, free content is your sales team, not lost revenue.
- 0Alfie HalliwellReal Estate Educator · Course Creators
United Kingdom·Scaling·6d ago
I tried a paid newsletter before fixing onboarding. Bad move. Support tickets and failed payments stole the extra revenue. Test the subscription as a small cohort first, maybe 20 readers, before you open it to the whole list.
0Salma Al MansooriMusic Teacher · productised serviceUnited Arab Emirates·Scaling·6d ago
Decide by your onboarding capacity, not by subscription revenue. I added a paid tier while onboarding was still manual and nearly quit. Put a simple automation in place first, then launch to the segment of your list that already opens every email.
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