Comments on a non-patron's experience of landing on a creator's page

[zelaphas]

A number of months ago, Patreon changed the layout of creator pages. When a new customer/non-patron lands on your creator page, they see the banner at the top (expected) and then pledge tiers right away. They only see the first three and have to click to see more.

Then there’s a blurb about number of posts that will get unlocked.

Then there’s a teensy area of “about” that’s also cut off and the user has to click to read more.

Then we see the posts timeline (expected).

I imagine many/most people who land on a creator page already adore that creator and just want to pledge right away (or I assume that was the thinking behind the redesign).

However I spent a ton of time planning my ‘about’ section to clearly explain what my particular patreon experience is like and what’s included. I made sure it was succinct, but still clear (and with lots of catchy graphics) for new people or those on the fence about pledging. I also offer custom and shipped rewards, so details about which pledge is which is also clarified in here. Yet now all this is not only buried at the bottom, but only the first few lines show and the user has to click to read more.

On desktop at least, there’s PLENTY of room to nudge the about section back up again and the reward tiers selections on one side or another of it. The rewards can still take the most real estate, but there can still be plenty of room to show the full ‘about’ section without forcing the user to click to read it all (users are happy to scroll, but asking them to click is work they’re less likely to do).

I’m not sure how to address this on mobile, perhaps you need to create a new tweet-length field that creators can fill out that still shows at the top and then maybe the most popular reward tier after that, followed by the full ‘about’ section. I think users are fine to click around more on mobile so expanding the full list of possible rewards after showing the first one works fine.

Do any other creators have opinions on this? It’s happened more than once while browsing twitter I see a creator’s patreon link related to an art piece they just shared and I want to learn more about what they offer on patreon, only to land on the ‘tip jar’ rewards and everything else is hidden under ‘learn more’ buttons. It feels like a lot of digging just to figure out who this person is, what their story is like and why I should get involved, and what the full tier options are.

[John_Porcellino]

Yes, I have the same opinions about this as you do. The new format is unnecessarily confusing and hides important information. Hiding tiers beyond the first three (requiring a prospective Patron to click a small link in order to see them) is counterproductive. And hiding the About stuff below the Tiers asking for money makes me feel a little queasy. I’d rather have the first thing patrons see be “Here’s what I do, here’s why you might like to pledge” rather than “Here’s all the ways you can give me money!” It cheapens the feel of the Creator page a little, IMO.

Like the old Patreon Manager, the former Public Creator Page design put everything a person (Creator or Patron) might need in one easy to navigate page. The new designs hide stuff, require extra clicks and unnecessary navigation, and otherwise provide a less effective interface.

Edited to add: I did contact Patreon Help Desk with these issues as soon as they went live… I guess not enough people have spoken up, or maybe more people are fine with the changes?

[chriscade]

As a tithe-based creator, the entire Patreon landing page for creators is absolutely horrible. I mean the worst possible layout imaginable.

My audience is supporting a mission, through me, so putting membership tiers before the intro & the “why” is really really REALLY bad.

To work around the issue, I created a video post with my entire “why” and intro. I send all of my traffic to that specific video post.

This works way better - and could be a potential workaround for tithe-based creators who would prefer a video + message instead of putting the membership tiers first.

[sambeawesome]

I definitely fall into a similar boat. I’ve spent a lot of time working on my about section, making it as clear and precise as possible, explaining as much as I can in as few words as I can, while also providing helpful links. To have it shoved at the bottom and hidden under a ‘read more’ button is discouraging, but on top of that, there seems to be a bug currently where the text cuts off? So not all of my about text is displayed properly. Luckily it’s the tail end and the point still gets across, but still.

[artbyemilyhare]

Totally agree and I’ve had a bit of a moan about this previously too. It would be great if they could give a few template options for what different creators want. I hate that my video is hidden now, whereas before it was the first thing under the banner. It has been pretty much forgotten now and I wonder if there is any point in making a new video as mine is 2 years old now. I find it so frustrating that we build something nice and then a big change happens and it looks like crap. I hate the new look, even though now it’s not that new of course. GRUMBLE!

[StudioMikarts]

I also think the non-patron landing page is very poorly designed. Like so many others, I set up my about sections to explain my page properly and convince potential patrons that supporting me and my work is a good decision. Now, they have to dig if they want to see that.

Even worse, the way Patreon hides everything but the three CHEAPEST tiers is bad in terms of the science of persuasion. I have read multiple books that reference scientific studies which show it’s actually better to present someone with an EXPENSIVE option first. They see the best they can get, and perhaps they’ll sign up for it, but in the case that they like what they see but feel it’s too expensive, it makes it much more likely that they’ll opt for a cheaper option, but higher than what they would have chosen if they saw the cheapest options first.

Here’s some info about the principle:

Anchoring (cognitive bias)

northcraft_neale.pdf

The fact that all but three tiers are hidden still remains a problem even if they’re sorted from most to least expensive, though. Potential patrons need to see a range of prices. If the three tiers that are shown are still too expensive, the patron might not bother to click to see more…

[lutzbone]

+1 for multiple templates!!

[Siderea]

Oh, yeah, the new landing page is appalling. I’m planning on putting together a landing page for prospective patrons somewhere else, where I have creative control, and then treating my landing page at Patreon as the place a payment gets made.

And what StudioMikarts said. I’m a psychology professional, with some knowledge of the psychology of pricing, and, WOW is the handling of the display of tiers terrible for all the reasons they explain. This is not how a funnel works. This is not how you convert clickthroughs.

What I see when I look at the new landing page layout is a layout that sacrifices pretty much everything just to render better on phones.

I’m an old. I remember back in the late 90s and early 00s when the great thing about the Web – as opposed to print – from the perspective of creatives was we could have all the space in the world to express. No column inch limits for writers, no page size limits for visual artists. We were all so excited about this.

Now everywhere, we’re being crammed back into the little tiny boxes we escaped from, to fit on phone screens. Phooey on that.

I do not want to prioritize phone users to any of my sites. Doing so severely compromises my creative options. I want to optimize for the desktop. I want the option of a layout that prioritized the experience of desktop users and makes use of the visual real estate that gets me.

[american.mcgee]

Adding my voice to this - though it will come as no surprise to Patreon since they’ve seen this complaint from me before. It’s a terrible landing experience.

At least allow creators the option to turn on/off a custom Sticky for non-Patrons to see.

To suggest that Creators can’t be CREATIVE about crafting the landing experience based on their understanding of their unique audience is to suggest that Patreon might as well take over the rest of that Creator’s Patron-facing creative efforts.

My team is pretty good at crafting ads that convert clicks into purchases. But that only works because we control the experience from the ad visual/copy to the landing page and beyond. We no longer spend advertising to send potential new Patrons to Patreon. Why? Because The Metrics Tell Us It’s A Waste of Money!

Hey, Patreon, simple question: Would you (and your investors) like Creators (like me) spending our own money on ads to drive traffic to your site? If the answer is “yes” (it should be) then give us control of the Landing Experience.

And this will be ignored and forgotten in 3, 2, 1…

[IlseMul]

Oh, I contacted them in several ways. The answer I got:
We will pass your feedback on to the engineering team.

Oh, and my “favourite”:
Our developers decided based on the feedback from “fill in whtever group” and found this is the best set up.
uh-huh…

[BrianJamesFreeman]

I am a very data driven person, but the landing page is definitely one of those areas where my brain does not “care” if the testing showed 6% more revenue or whatever with the current design…

Putting the “GIVE ME MONEY!” at the top is SO very off-putting… I actually stopped promoting my Patreon a while back because it’s embarrassing…

And for the rewards tiers, please show ALL of them or at least give us the option. It could be a checkbox in the backend. Easy-peasy.

Ultimately, it seems like it would be super easy to make the landing page a series of “blocks” that the creator could reorder as they wanted:

• Optional Pinned Post for the top for breaking news, special offers, etc
• About Me/My Patreon
• Rewards Levels
• Posts

And whatever else…

There was a great idea above about creating your own “landing” post that you can link to instead… I might have to try that!

Brian

[simrell]

we’ve been begging for these basic changes to the landing page for months now and they just won’t do it. i’ve really given up on anyone from patreon listening to us.

[artbyemilyhare]

Yup, this is something I’ve had a good moan about (in this post as well) but it seems they aren’t interested in it. I was looking into how to build my own membership site, but at the moment I don’t have the time unfortunately and I would doubtless lose a few patrons moving platforms, so at the moment i’m stuck.

I noticed they don’t encourage us to make a good landing page video anymore… OH, I wonder why that might be…

And yeah, 6% more revenue isn’t much, yes we are here to make money, but man it frustrates me that these things get changed and it seems to be some mythical behind the scenes group that does it and we don’t get asked?

[lutzbone]

Tagging @reyna - please pass along the feedback in this thread to anyone who can address it.

[suzuki.shinji]

The old design was definitely better. When I clicked on the profile picture it led me to the front page of my site, and I saw the about section with all the explanations of why and how. Tiers with their explanations were on the right side, featured tags on the left, the site looked clean. A bit like a newspaper page. Lots of information on the landing page without the need to scroll along or click any buttons. Now information is hidden somewhere, so if a potential new patron lands on your page he won’t know who you are and what you do, or why you do it.

New is not always better…

[zelaphas]

So, I just updated my ‘about’ info to reflect some changes to my Patreon. I had the audacity to use a H2 headings to separate the sections, and now this is what you see:

You can’t even see the first line of paragraph copy about who I am and what I’m doing. Come on, Patreon, this is ridiculous.

[sambeawesome]

I honestly don’t know what the about section is for anymore, it’s basically invisible. I have no idea why they want to hide it so badly.

[John_Porcellino]

Said it before, the way the landing page looks now is embarrassing to me. The ABOUT info should be at the very top so people can see what I do and why I’m asking for their support, THEN list the tiers, or better yet keep them in a sidebar like it was originally so people can scan all the info without clicking/scrolling. Otherwise as it is now it just feels money-grubbing: “Here’s all the ways you can give me money, oh and if you want to know what you’re going to get for your money, I guess somehow figure out you have to scroll down to find it…” Yuck.

Also dislike the way only three tiers are visible, you have to click again to see higher tiers (which for me includes tiers for international Patrons, who are a big part of my support). Too much clicking/scrolling now to get only partial info. The previous design worked perfectly.

[Voltergeist]

I remember back when they were new, they started out emphasizing how important YOU are on your landing page. It’s about a potential supporter getting to know you.

You only have ONE shot at a first impression and putting the tiers first and creator as an afterthought takes all the autonomy of making that first impression out of your hands. Patreon makes you scramble around for functions and information. The design really downplays the amount of work people put into their descriptions.

I’m also not a fan of the language they switch to (I.e from “support” to “membership”, etc). Maybe that makes people feel special, I don’t know, but there’s something so detached and “money first” about it that hits wrong.
The entire point of that front page is to spark an interest in developing a relationship with your supporter. Maybe you’d have a lot in common but they’d never know it at first glance if the description is squashed down and minimized.

To me, that sends a message that “your money matters more than how you feel about supporting this creator”. And that’s really messed up. It’s certainly not the message I signed up for to broadcast. And I’m sure it wasn’t a lot of other’s, either…

[brianmcf]

Hey there,

I posted an update in this thread here, just wanted to drop in here to let you know we’ll catalog this feedback alongside it. Thank you all for taking the time to post your feedback here.

Best,
Brian