How to create subscription cards that convert more paying subscribers

Publisher citybiz asked Leaky Paywall’s Pete Ericson to audit their subscription page, hoping to improve performance and increase paid subscriptions.

Watch the video for Pete’s review and answer or skip to the highlights below.

The goal when designing a subscription page is to smooth out the flow for your potential subscriber, creating a high-motivation, low-friction experience.
The subscription experience starts with the in-article or on-page subscription nag:

Step 1 of your subscription process should always using your free registration level to collect an email address.
- Casual visitors should go directly your free registration sign-up; no thinking required.
- Asking visitors to pay right off the bat is like getting married on a first date; take time to build the relationship first.
- This also keeps your funnel clean: fewer options means less indecision and a pre-collected email address means one less registration step when they do decide to subscribe.
IP Blocker keeps casual citybiz readers from using incognito browsing to get around the paywall, sending them back into the subscription funnel.
Your registration page should always include a brief list of subscription benefits (whether for the free level or the paid subscription) to remind them of why they should join.
- For a free level, the benefits would include the number of extra articles they get, the quality of your reporting or analysis, being added to the weekly newsletter, etc.
- For a paid subscription level, the benefits would include unlimited access, the quality your content, the support of your mission, etc.
- While you don’t want the list to be long or false, you want something a little more than this:

Keep your subscription card options as clean and simple as possible. The fewer decisions your reader has to make, the less math they have to do, the better.
- Rather than three, citybiz could streamline down to one card. They could make the free level an opening salvo as described above and create a separate, tailored conversation for enterprise level subscriptions.

By honing the subscription options down to just the individual subscription, the reader is left with no decisions to make and a much better flow in the funnel.
To recap, the ideal subscription page would look like what Small Boats Monthly has to offer:
- clean design,
- simple benefits statements,
- no decisions to make.

Have any questions on how to make your subscription page better? Reach out. Let’s chat.

All the newest Leaky Paywall tech updates and tips

Stripe Checkout: Now Stripe Checkout will automatically calculate and include the correct taxes based on user location. Learn more.
Profile Page: Learn how to include additional data on the user profile page. See the available filters.
Targeted Messaging for Premium Content: Ensure that the correct upgrade messaging is shown when the subscription nag is triggered on premium content.