Since the whole world is milking the subscription model these days, many would-be patrons are hesitant to add yet another monthly charge to their bill, even if the charge is just the $2 “tip jar” tier many of us offer.
It would be excellent if creators could, per tier, set an annual rate and allow patrons to subscribe annually. Creators could also make this annual rate lower than the monthly rate if they choose.
For myself (and I assume many other creators), this approach would be excellent for my lower tiers which simply grant access to content or generate donations. It’d be great if I could market my $2 tip jar tier as, say, $20 annually and give those patrons a year’s access to my private chat room. I think a lot of people are happy to throw a one-time twenty down than they are to add a monthly charge.
I believe this setting should be per-tier, though. I have some higher-priced tiers where the rewards are bespoke commissions, and I wouldn’t want people to pay those a whole year in advance. I often need to adjust the pricing based on shipping or my own work rates going up, or adjust available slots based on my workload. But like I said, the lower tiers that are based on general access, allowing annual payments is ideal.
For the display, IF creators choose to set a lower annual rate than the monthly rate, it would help if patreon displayed this, e.g. “Tip Jar: $2 monthly | -$24- $20 annually” (where the “$24” is crossed out; sorry I can’t format it like that here). It’ll help customers realize they’re getting a deal by being all-in for a full year.
We began rolling out Annual Memberships just a few weeks ago. This feature is not available to all creators just yet, but we’re working hard to make it more widely available soon! You can learn more about how our annual memberships work here.
Could you please let us know when we are eligible for introducing Patrons and future Patrons to annual memberships? Apparently I am not eligible and it took me a bit of time to find out I am not, but not knowing why. A couple of my questions were answered but ONLY because I came here.
Hi @dcowan, the help article lists the criteria that must be met for a creator to be eligible for Annual Membership. I’ll paste it here for easier visibility:
The following criteria below must be met to be eligible for Annual Membership. We’ll be working hard to make it available to everyone as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience!
Charge up front
Because Annual Membership locks in the full year’s value of a patron’s pledge upfront, it’s only available to CUF creators. Read more about switching to CUF, to see if this requirement for annual memberships works for you and your patrons.
Monthly
Because Annual Membership is based on a monthly billing cadence (patrons pay for 12 months), creators will need to charge patrons monthly in order to be eligible. Read more about switching to Monthly billing here.
Payments Risk
Creators will need to have an established payment history on Patreon. Due to the operational risk (fraud, credit card disputes) of a larger payment, we need to ensure creators have a solid history of payments on Patreon before they are eligible. Based on medium and location, this criteria may be subject to more restriction.
I hope this helps clarify for you! We’re working on making Annual Memberships widely available for more creators soon.
I’ve been doing some research with my readers and I think a lot of them would be more into pledging if annual payments were an option. Do we have any updates on when all creators can expect this?
Ughhh it’s so annoying that some creators have it and others don’t! I’ve been on Patreon since 2015, come on you guys let me try something new and shiny!
For real xD I’m in the same boat, haha. There apparently is a secret invite form though. This is what they gave me:
If you are interested in being considered for our annual memberships beta program when more spots are available, please complete this form: https://forms.gle/ZXaBLGHidtNtRTmo7
I’m uncertain of the timeline for when more spots will become available, however, if you are eligible and a spot opens up for you, a member of the Patreon team will reach out with more information.
I am interested in the annual membership option as well. One of my potential patrons prefer that instead of annual membership. Any timelines on when I can get it? patreon.com/shakethecosmos
