2020 Yr-in-Evaluation, and a Peek Into 2021

[UPDATE] With this weblog put up, our intention was to provide you an early take a look at future product updates however we ended up inflicting confusion and frustration. We’re sorry about this, and you’ll be able to learn our response right here.

2020 was difficult to say the least. Everybody has needed to adapt to new methods of dwelling and dealing, however it’s apparent by now that the artistic group has been among the many hardest hit. We’re humbled that Patreon was capable of present so lots of you with a monetary and emotional lifeline throughout unsure instances. Due to your communities, hundreds of artists and creators have been in a position to deal with canceled occasions, slowing advert income and the lack to carry out, observe or join.

Our crew is grateful for the chance to construct and keep a platform that helps creativity and group survive and thrive by these awful instances. Trying again at 2020, we made progress collectively regardless of the challenges. We listened to your suggestions and launched extremely requested options resembling Annual Membership, new currencies, and a greater manner for podcasters to share patron-only episodes. We seemed for tactics to make patrons happier and stick round longer, and labored to unite our world group of creators and patrons.

Right here’s a glance again at among the largest milestones for Patreon in 2020, and a peek at what’s to come back this 12 months.

In 2020, we:

1. Opened as much as our world group

We rolled out help for Euro and GBP, and enabled each creators and patrons to decide on their most popular forex. We additionally added help for Four new languages: German, French, Spanish and Italian, permitting tons of of hundreds of creators and patrons to make use of Patreon of their native language.

“With Patreon, it appears like I’ve an viewers now that actually appreciates every little thing that I need to do and who’re fairly versatile and interested in it.” – Judith Holofernes, Berlin-based musician, author, and podcaster

“Patreon has been elementary – not solely has it allowed me to get nearer to my group, however it has additionally allowed me to bridge creativity and schooling.” – Laura Velazco, illustrator primarily based in Bilbao, Spain

2. Made hassle-free merch accessible to extra creators

Creators who cost month-to-month now have entry to Merch for Membership: our resolution for getting unique merch out to patrons as a part of their membership, with none of the hassles for creators. Patreon takes care of monitoring eligibility, manufacturing, world delivery, and help. That’s proper, your patrons get pleasant merch, whilst you get to skip the road on the put up workplace.

“Merch for Membership incentivizes individuals to stay round for a 12 months, and it makes it so every time they get one thing, it’s distinctive, and it feels thrilling.” – Keith from The Attempt Guys

3. Launched Annual Membership, with a reduction!

Who doesn’t love a reduction? This 12 months we launched Annual Membership, probably the most requested options from creators and patrons alike. Eligible Creators can allow the characteristic and set a customized low cost on an entire 12 months of membership of their settings. Annual membership is a good way to get new patrons: 35% of annual pledges truly come from new members, and the low cost has allowed creators to supply compelling promotions to their viewers.

4. Improved important instruments for working a membership

We made enhancements to the Patron Relationship Supervisor that will help you simply handle your patrons and save time fulfilling advantages. You now have entry to customizable columns, time-saving shortcuts together with “New” and “Cancelled,” Saved Filters to trace recurring advantages, and extra. Be taught extra right here.

5. Took a giant step ahead for our Podcast group, with Acast

This 12 months we launched our partnership with Acast, the world’s largest podcast community. Our integration allows podcasters to ship safe, patron-only RSS feeds to patrons who can hear on their app of selection. Utilizing it offers you entry to superior listener analytics by Acast, and seamlessly convert listeners to patrons to develop your membership. Be taught extra right here.

“I really like the Acast integration! The analytics let me know that patrons ARE listening to the content material and provides me clear perception into precisely what and the way they’re consuming. It’s safe and straightforward for patrons to get arrange, and the truth that there is just one hyperlink to share makes it easy for listeners to search out the content material and brings new patrons to our membership!” – Sleep With Me

In 2021, we’re taking a look at:

Enhancing the patron expertise

In 2021, we’re specializing in bettering the patron expertise. 1000’s of you depend on Patreon to maintain your artistic enterprise and join along with your viewers, and we take that significantly. The velocity and reliability of the cellular and desktop platform is a elementary pillar of the patron expertise, and we are going to proceed to spend money on it. And whereas Patreon must be reliable, we additionally need it to be a extra participating expertise to your patrons. This 12 months you’ll see some updates to the patron expertise that make Patreon sooner, extra dependable, extra enjoyable and simpler to make use of.

Simplifying billing

Persevering with the theme of preserving patrons pleased, in 2021 we’re additionally tackling one of many largest areas of confusion for patrons; understanding why and once they’re charged.

Proper now, patrons of cost up entrance creators are billed instantly once they first enroll, and thereafter on the first of every month, leaving some patrons feeling like they’ve been wrongly double charged. Consequently, we see fewer patrons signing up towards the tip of the month, and elevated cancellations in the beginning of the month. [Update] Since penning this weblog, we made an up to date put up right here with higher context concerning our strategy to billing.

This 12 months we’re transferring in direction of anniversary billing, the place patrons’ renewal date every month would be the similar date they joined. This can assist improve conversion and retention and cut back strain across the 1st of the month, providing you with the liberty and adaptability to advertise your membership in your schedule.

We’re engaged on introducing this mannequin rigorously by in-depth analysis and a pilot take a look at with a handful of chosen creators. We acknowledge that this will imply change for a few of you — we don’t take that evenly and we’re devoted to taking your suggestions on board. We’ll be sharing common updates with you all as we make progress to make sure you have loads of discover and time to arrange forward of any adjustments.

Rising our world group

We need to proceed making Patreon a welcoming place for creators and patrons throughout the globe, so we’ll proceed including new languages, currencies, and fee strategies all year long. Extra particulars to come back!

Making it simpler so that you can handle your membership

Whereas the Patron Relationship Supervisor helps you handle your viewers, its actual worth is facilitating that direct connection that makes your membership significant to your patrons. We need to make it as straightforward as doable so that you can handle your important duties rapidly, so you may get again to creating and connecting with patrons. In 2021 we’ll work on making issues simpler to handle on the go, streamlining profit monitoring and supply, and making important patron particulars extra simply accessible as you work together with them throughout posts and messages.

Serving to patrons uncover extra of what they love

We all know that as a creator, you place quite a lot of work into rising your viewers and your artistic enterprise. Once we ask you what you need extra assist with, rising your viewers is the #1 request. Once we ask patrons what they need, lots of them say they’d like a greater approach to uncover extra creators on Patreon. We additionally know that patrons who pledge to a couple of creator have a tendency to stay round longer. We imagine that by serving to patrons discover extra creators they love, we may also help you develop your enterprise and enhance patrons’ general expertise on Patreon. However we don’t need to construct a system that recommends content material in the identical manner that the large platforms do.

We don’t want extra algorithms that reward click-bait, superficial engagement, and sensationalist content material. We need to construct options that permit creators to suggest different creators, and amplify the connections that exist already between communities that share pursuits. We need to do all of this in a manner that respects you and the communities you’ve constructed. We’ll begin by bettering search in order that anybody on the lookout for a particular creator has a greater probability of touchdown on their web page, and including extra methods to look by subject or style. Then we’ll begin testing methods to get community-curated suggestions to patrons and construct options round what works finest.

We’re excited to dive into this new 12 months by doubling our efforts to make Patreon even higher for you and your patrons. If you wish to be a part of the dialog about the place Patreon goes and keep updated on what we’re constructing, be a part of our Group Discussion board.