Most Substack creators rely on the same page to promote their paid tier: the default Substack pricing page where you only have a few bullet points to communicate what paid members will unlock.
But there’s a big problem with that page.
It’s a limited marketing asset that simply doesn’t do a great job at convincing people to upgrade to paid.
If someone lands on that page hoping to understand why they should upgrade, they get a handful of bullet points, and that’s it.
No in-depth explanation of what they’re unlocking.
No sense of the outcome or transformation they can expect.
No social proof to back any of it up.
It’s simply not enough to convince most people to join your paid tier.
That’s where a Become a Member page comes in, and it’s by far the most profitable page on our entire Substack.
This video lesson is from our Bestseller Blueprint, which is a 15-step system to go from zero to Substack Bestseller with 100+ paid subscribers.
The Bestseller Blueprint is exclusively available to our Substack Accelerator members.
→ Click here to apply for the Substack Accelerator.
What The ‘Become a Member Page’ Is
Think of your ‘Become a Member’ page as a sales page that does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to marketing your paid tier.
It’s a custom page you have to create yourself from within your publication settings (I show in the video exactly how to do that).
The goal is to create a page that builds trust, shows exactly what someone gets when they upgrade, and makes it clear what outcomes or transformation they can expect from joining your paid tier.
Once your page is set up, you need to create enough entry points to it so more of your readers visit the page - and convert from free to paid.
We recommend adding it to your navigation bar, linking to it from your about page, and regularly linking to it from within your posts.
A high-converting ‘Become a Member’ page should include the following two things:
#1: Clarity on the Offer
This is one of the biggest contrasts with the default Substack pricing page. On that page, you get three bullet points to explain your offer. That’s it.
On your ‘Become a Member’ page, you can actually go deep - so walk through each perk of your paid tier individually. Don’t just name it, but flesh it out.
Show specific examples to make the offer tangible.
If it’s workshops, show some examples of workshops you’ve run. If it’s templates, name a specific one and what it helps people do. If it’s guides, mention some of the best guides and what they cover.
Then, explain what your premium content does for the subscriber.
What outcomes does it lead to? What pain point does it solve? What changes for them once they’ve upgraded and actually used it?
Someone reading this page shouldn’t just understand what they’re buying. They should understand how it will actually improve their life.
That’s when upgrading becomes a no-brainer.
#2: Social Proof
This is one of the most important elements on the entire page, and one most creators skip entirely.
It’s one thing for you to say your paid tier is valuable. It’s completely different when someone else says it.
Social proof builds trust like nothing else. And trust leads to sales.
If you already have paid subscribers, ask them to leave a testimonial and feature those on the page (ideally with their full name and picture).
If you don’t have paid subscribers yet, feature testimonials from your coaching clients, program buyers, or even free subscribers who’ve gotten real value from your work.
Just be transparent about who they are. Frame it as “what others have said about my work,” rather than implying they’re paid members if they aren’t.
(Note: If you don’t have any testimonials at all, highlight your own story, transformation, or results as a case study to build more trust.)
Your Copy-Paste ‘Become a Member’ Page Template
You now know that setting up a ‘Become a Member’ page is one of the most effective strategies to attract more paid subscribers.
To make it as easy as possible to create this page, we’ve created a word-for-word ‘Become a Member’ page template for our premium subscribers.
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Upgrade to Write • Build • Scale premium to unlock this entire template and hundreds of other exclusive resources including in-depth workshops, ultimate guides, courses, and our Creator Growth Vault.
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