Asking someone unfamiliar with Patreon to sign up is less successful because pledging is a two-step signup process when it should be a one-step signup.
I never actually checked out what it looks and feels like for someone who doesn’t have a Patreon account to sign up for our Patreon page and I have to say I think I’ve identified an appalling reason why we struggle to get new patrons – it’s not a clean process when many people expect online membership platforms to be one-stop subscription services. Here’s the process now:
Step 1. I land on my Patreon page and click “join” to sign up for a tier. Step 2. I’m directed to a sign-up page as a new patron supporter. Step 3. I’m redirected to the pledge sign-up for card information.
Instead, it should be this:
Step 1. I land on my Patreon page and click “join” to sign up for a tier. Step 2. I’m directed to a page that takes payment information and account sign-up simultaneously.
(Even greater if it can be set up with ajax or something so you never actually leave the page, making it all happen under Step 1.)
This may seem a bit arbitrary but it does make a difference and this UX flow for new account creation and patronage is money we’re all not able to realize for reasons I can’t think of. Jack said it himself – everything is funnels – and user sign-up UX is exactly that, another funnel. It’s a commonly understood statement that the more clicks you put between the product and the consumer, the less chance they have of following through. This is especially pertinent because many of us creators have to repeatedly explain to new people what Patreon is and how it works in addition to trying to upsell them on supporting us through a Patreon membership.
Patreon is a platform that acknowledges successful creators need to bring pre-existing audiences to the platform from non-Patreon sources. This makes it an absolutely dire need for both our marketing success and Patreon’s that new accounts and tier payments can be made simultaneously from clicking “Join” on a creator’s page tiers.
TLDR: Patreon, please combine your user sign-up and tier selection pages to remove one step from the UX funnel making the new user patronage process more fluid! This is what happens on a competitor when I click the join button without an account:
Please see the above sample, Patreon should be doing this! Your competitors already do this, so please consider implementing this new account patronage UX approach instead of the 2-step signup currently used!
This sounds like a good idea! I bet that a lot of new patrons get a bit nervous when they have to go through a multi step process just to become a patron. I think cutting down the steps would make things easier for new patrons.
I literally had potential patrons decline to sign-up when the charity I run had a table at a pop culture convention. People were hyped to sign up and support, but when they saw they had to create an account first then sign up, they decline and instead opted to swipe their card at our table reader to make a one-time donation instead.
We never got conversions of those who said “I’ll sign up for Patreon when I get home and sit down at my computer though.” It seems to frivolous, but it was disheartening knowing if Patreon just did this one simple thing to make supporting us easier, we’d have had new patrons that day.
This change would be simple, cost nothing and give even at the least a marginal improvement to creators and Patreon’s revenue alike.
I agree! I was pledging to support another creator. I support several and my credit card is active, but I was asked to re-enter my card information. What!?!? I was short on time, so I didn’t do it. I will have to go back and do it again when I think of it, and have the time to go retrieve my card.
Agreed. My analytics show that people get to the page where they have to create an account and ALL of them have dropped off. This could also mean that they were curious only, but once you think about this process. Makes more sense to me.
Yes please. We need the process to be as streamlined as possible. People want to “set it and forget it” quickly, and the burst of desire to support is usually quick and then it passes. I also personally know of friends who got annoyed with the sign-up process and didn’t join until months later when I asked them. And those are friends!
Adding one more vote for this feature. I know quite a few potential patrons who have told me personally that they wanted to pledge but found the process too clumsy and gave up. This is lost money for Patreon and for me. Thank you to the OP for putting it more succinctly than I’ve been able to do in my complaints to Patreon about this.
Thanks @lutzbone! I don’t have any updates for you ATM but rest assured I’m keeping tabs on the feedback added to this thread and have shared with the team.
