Best practices for increasing your tier prices

If you have Subscription billing, adjusting your tier prices can be done quickly and easily for increases up to $20 than the original amount directly through your Membership tab.

If you have existing members on your tier and you're looking to raise your tier price beyond the $20 limit, you’ll need to create a new tier with the updated price and phase out your previous tiers – This guide is here to help you plan and ensure a smooth transition for you and your members.

Communicate changes with your members

A smooth transition begins with clear communication. Here are some tips for informing your members about upcoming price changes:

• Ideally, give them a heads-up a month before the next billing cycle, right after the current month's payments have been processed
• We recommend making announcements in any spaces where your members are likely to find it– Making a post is a great way to ensure all members have access to the information
• Consider running a Poll or sending out a survey to get their input. Polls and surveys are a great way to involve members and also help you gauge the overall sentiment towards the change
• Let your members know why you're making the change and how it benefits them. Share a clear timeline of when the old tiers will be phased out and the new ones introduced

Here's a quick template to update your members about new tier prices and guide them to switch tiers:

Hi lovely members,

I’m so excited to announce my new [ NEW TIER ] tier! This tier will be available for you to join starting March 1st. [ FORMER TIER ] will no longer be available to join starting March 10th, and will be completely deleted on March 25th. Be sure to select one of my new tiers between March 1st and 25th!

Special offer alert! [Optional]

If you join [ NEW TIER ] tier by March 25th you get a limited edition sticker!

If you’re still in [ FORMER TIER ] when it’s deleted, you’ll still be my member, but you’ll be a “no tier” member, and won’t have the same access as you currently do.

Here’s how to select a new tier: How do I edit my membership? Have questions? Thread them in the comments!

Create your new tier

Once you've gathered member insights about your tiers, you can create new tiers with your updated tier pricing.

• Make sure you follow this guide while in your creator profile. You can switch to your creator profile by clicking your profile picture in the bottom left corner and clicking on your creator profile.

  1. Click on the My Page button from the left-hand if you aren't already there
  2. While on your page, click on your Membership tab
  3. Scroll down and click the + Add tier button to create your new tier
  4. Click the Save button to save your new tier in our system. The minimum information you can add to save a tier is a tier name and price; you can fill out the rest later
  5. Once saved, you can hide your new tier from your page by clicking the Edit tier button and scrolling down to click the Unpublish button. This will ensure that no members join this tier while you finish setting it up

• Make sure you follow this guide while in your creator profile. Tap on the menu in the top left corner, and then click on your profile photo at the bottom of the menu. Select your creator profile.

  1. While on your page, tap on your Membership tab
  2. Scroll down and tap the + Add tier button to create your new tier
  3. Tap the Save button to save your new tier in our system. The minimum information you can add to save a tier is a tier name and price; you can fill out the rest later
  4. Once saved, you can hide your new tier from your page by tapping the Edit tier button and scrolling down to tap the Unpublish button. This will ensure that no members join this tier while you finish setting it up

Pro Tip: Add a Special offer to incentivize members to join a new tier by your deadline!

You can set up a special offer by visiting: Edit page > Offers. Read more about Special offers below:

• Setting up a Special offer
• Special offers handbook

Note that you can have one special offer running at a time, and this feature cannot be used with per-creation billing.

Give your new tier access to posts

Before you publish a new tier, it's important to ensure it has access to all the past content you've shared. Right now, adding access to your back catalog of posts for new tiers needs to be done manually. If you usually post content for All members or Paid members only, any new tier you create will automatically have post access.

If you've given post access to Selected tiers, you'll need to give your new tier access to your previous posts — This ensures that all your members continue to enjoy the content without interruption. With bulk editing, you can make changes to multiple posts simultaneously, saving you time and effort.

Bulk editing is currently only available on desktop and mobile web.

Follow the steps below to update access to your posts:

Make sure you follow this guide while in your creator profile. You can switch to your creator profile by clicking your profile picture in the bottom left corner and clicking on your creator profile.

1. Click on Library from the left-side navigation
2. You’ll land on the Posts tab, where you can find all your published posts and/or Drops
3. Use the Filter or type in the Search box to locate specific posts. You can also sort posts by clicking on Title, Publish date (for published posts), Last edited date (for drafts), or Price (for posts available to sell as a one-time purchase)
4. Checkmark the posts you want to edit
5. Once you have your selection, click Edit
6. Select Edit access
7. Choose the new tier you want to grant access to those posts
8. Once this is done, click on Update
9. A message will appear, notifying you that your update will replace the existing settings. Click Confirm and update to apply the changes

We've created this guide to help you mass edit your posts: Bulk editing your posts 

Unpublish the tier

We recommend unpublishing any tier you are phasing out. Unpublished tiers are hidden from your Patreon tier options, so no new members can join, while existing members experience no change. Existing members can stay in the unpublished tier until they switch tiers or cancel.

Even after unpublishing, you can still post specifically for them, encouraging a switch to a new tier.

Once your new tiers are ready, follow the instructions below to unpublish former tiers:

• Make sure you follow this guide while in your creator profile. You can switch to your creator profile by clicking your profile picture in the bottom left corner and clicking on your creator profile

  1. Click on the My Page button from the left-hand if you aren't already there
  2. While on your page, click on the Page controls “…” button
  3. Click the Edit Tiers link from the page editor menu
  4. Click the Edit tier button
  5. Scroll to the bottom of the tier editor and click on the Unpublish button > Click Unpublish to confirm

• Make sure you follow this guide while in your creator profile. Tap on the menu in the top left corner, and then tap on your profile photo at the bottom of the menu. Select your creator profile

  1. While on your page, tap on the Page controls “…” button
  2. Tap the Edit Tiers link from the page editor menu
  3. Tap the Edit tier button
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the tier editor and tap on the Unpublish button > tap Unpublish to confirm

You’ll know that your tier was unpublished when you see Unpublished at [ DATE ] for that tier.

Tiers can be unpublished indefinitely so we recommend waiting until all of your existing members have canceled or switched to one of your new tiers before deleting that tier. If you’re noticing a lag in members making the switch, send reminders via posts or private messages – some people just need a friendly reminder.

You can search your members’ email addresses or profile names to check which tier they are in. You can also send them this guide to help them switch to another tier: How do I edit my membership?

Delete the tier

We advise against deleting a tier unless it has no members. If you still have members on the tier you want to delete, we recommend that you unpublish the tier instead.

Important things to know before deleting a tier:

• Once deleted, a tier cannot be retrieved
• If you still have members on the tier you want to delete, we recommend that you unpublish the tier instead
• Members who haven’t switched out of the deleted tier will still be paying you the value of the previous tier. They aren’t within a tier but aren’t considered as Custom pledge members either, so they won’t show up if you filter by No tier. You should be able to find these members by going to your Audience Relationship manager and using the All tiers filter
• Deleting a tier is not a substitute for canceling a member’s payment. members can cancel their membership to stop future payments
• If you offer Annual memberships and have a tier with active annual memberships tied to it, we advise against deleting the tier. Members have paid for the year, so it’s recommended you unpublish the tier so no new members can join instead of deleting a tier completely

To delete a tier:

• Make sure you follow this guide while in your creator profile. You can switch to your creator profile by clicking your profile picture in the bottom left corner and clicking on your creator profile

  1. Click the My Page button from the left sidebar navigation
  2. While on your page, click the Page controls “…” button
  3. Click the Edit Tiers link from the page editor menu
  4. Click the Edit tier button
  5. Scroll to the bottom of the tier editor and click the trash can icon next to the unpublish button
  6. Click the Delete button to confirm – this is it, so check your list twice to make sure you’re ready for this step!

• Make sure you follow this guide while in your creator profile. Tap on the menu in the top left corner, and then tap on your profile photo at the bottom of the menu. Select your creator profile

  1. While on your page, tap the Page controls “…” button
  2. Tap the Edit Tiers link from the page editor menu
  3. Tap the Edit tier button
  4. Scroll to the bottom of the tier editor and tap the trash can icon next to the unpublish button
  5. Tap the Delete button to confirm – this is it, so check your list twice to make sure you’re ready for this step!