How to create and apply paid subscription offers

One of the best ways to convert your non-paying readers into paying subscribers is to incentivize them by offering a free or discounted trial for your paid tier. You can customize the trial experience, decide whether a credit card is necessary, craft a personalized upsell email, and more.

We'll first cover creating a paid subscription offers and then go over how to apply these offers to your subscribers. 

How to create a offer for a trial of your paid subscriptions

1. From the left panel Dashboard, go to Settings > Publication, then click on the Paid Subscriptions tab on the right
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Scroll down to the Paid Subscriptions Offers section. Click on the Add New Offer button.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. A new offer form will appear on the right. Give it a Name (required) and a Description (optional). Select a Tier, or leave it set to All Tiers (optional).
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Under Terms, you’ll need to select a Free Trial or Percent Discount from the dropdown options.
   
   
   
   
   

Free Trial Selections

• Length of Trial: Select the number of days you want the trial to run.
• Advanced Options: Choose from the following:
  • Allow trial redemption without a credit card.
  • Send an email to remind readers their trial is going to expire.
  • Set when subscribers must redeem this offer by.
  • Limit this offer to specific plans.
• Upsell Email Date: Select the number of days before or after the trial ends that the upsell reminder email should be sent. 
• Set as Default: You can set it to be the default monthly or annual subscription offer that is shown on the Upgrade Page.
• Edit Upsell Email: Click the Edit Reminder Email button to be brought to the post editor where you can customize your email to remind a subscriber that their subscription is expiring. 
  
  
  

 

Percent Discount Selections

• Percent Discount: Select the percentage of the discount that you’d like to offer. 
• For how long: Choose between Forever, Once, or Repeating.
• Advanced Options: Choose from the following:
  • Set when subscribers must redeem this offer by, then select a date
  • Limit this offer to specific plans, then select monthly or annual
• Set as Default: You can set it to be the default monthly, annual, or a One Time Payment offer on the Upgrade Page.
  
  
  

5. Review your selections and click on Create to confirm them. You’ll see a success message at the top of your screen and your offers will be visible under Paid Subscriptions Offers.

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Upsell Email

After setting up a trial, you can create and enable an upsell email for any trials that do not require a credit. card. 

1. Further down on the Paid Subscriptions page, go to the Upsell Email Reminder section and click Set Up Upsell Email.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Your Upgrade Reminder Email dashboard will open, click on Edit in the top right corner to draft the email.
   
   Note: At this stage, your dashboard won't display any analytics, and the Upgrade Reminder Email will appear as Inactive until you create it.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. At the top of the Upgrade Reminder Email, toggle on the option that says: Send the upsell email to subscribers who’s trials are expiring?
   
   Provide a Subject Line and Preview Text for the email, both are required.
   In the Content box, you’ll have access to all of the beehiiv editor tools to help you create a high-conversion upsell email reminder.
   Use the Preview option to review what the email will look like on mobile and desktop.
   When finished drafting the email, click Save in the bottom right corner.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. After saving, you’ll receive a quick success message at the top of your screen and the Upgrade Reminder Email will now show as Active.
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. When you return back to the Paid Subscriptions page, the Upsell Email will show as Active. You can also view and update the email reminder from here by clicking Set Up Upsell Email and repeating these steps.
   
   
   

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Advanced Options

In this section of the Paid Subscriptions page, you can enable tools to collect Subscriber Tax IDs and accept payments via Apple Pay.

Collect Subscriber Tax IDs

By enabling this feature, you will optionally allow subscribers to submit a tax ID when they upgrade to a paid subscription. This will be saved to your connected Stripe account. Complete the Stripe Tax onboarding process to automatically add tax information to your invoices.

 

Enable Apple Pay

Add this option as a payment method for your Upgrade Page. Please note, Apple Pay is browser and device dependent and won't show up on all devices for all users.

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How to apply a paid subscription offer to a subscriber

1. From the left panel Dashboard, go to Audience > Subscribers. Search for or navigate to the subscriber you wish to apply the offer to, then click on their name to open their profile.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Once inside a subscriber’s profile, click on the down arrow found next to Unsubscribe in the top right corner and select the Gift Paid Subscription option.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. A box will pop up for you to choose the Paid Subscription Gift, make a selection and then click Send Gift.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. You’ll receive a quick success message at the top of your screen confirming the gift was sent.