Updated: Dec 19, 2024
How to set up and use multiple paid subscription tiers
One of the many advantages to offering paid subscriptions to your audience is being able to establish multiple levels of memberships for your publication. This allows for differentiated tiers (for example, Bronze, Silver, or Gold), each offering unique price points, perks, access levels, and payment plans; creating endless opportunities for you to monetize your publication.
Quick tips to get you started
- Connect your Stripe account first: Before diving into the setup process, ensure your Stripe account is connected to enable payment processing.
- Offer gifting options: Publication tiers can be gifted, allowing someone to purchase a subscription as a thoughtful present for someone else.
- Customize your Upgrade Page: Use the beehiiv Website Builder to fully customize your Upgrade Page, tailoring it to your publication's branding and style.
- Create flexible paywalls: You can hide posts behind custom paywalls to offer exclusive content for paid subscribers while still including free content in the same post if desired.
How to set up multiple tiers of paid subscriptions
- From the left panel Dashboard, click Monetize > Paid Subscriptions.
- Navigate to the Paid Tiers section.
If you haven’t already, you’ll see a notice that you’ll need to connect to your Stripe account first.
- Once you’ve connected your Stripe account, under Configure Paid Subscription Tiers, toggle on the option to Enable Paid Subscriptions for your readers .
- Click on the Create New Tier button to configure your first paid subscription tier.
- A tier creation menu will appear where you can configure the following:
Tier Details
- Give the new tier a Name (required).
- Under Preview Text, you can add a description for the new tier that will be displayed to your subscribers (optional).
Tier Plans & Pricing
- Set the plan type(s), choose from:
- Monthly Plan
- Annual Plan
- One Time Purchase
- Name Your Price
- Be sure to toggle on the options you’d like to include.
- Set a price for each plan.
- Add Button Text for each one.
- Set the type of currency for the tier, found in the top right corner of the form.
Choose from these currencies:- USD: United States Dollar
- AUD: Australian Dollar
- BRL: Brazilian Real
- CAD: Canadian Dollar
- EUR: Euro (used by multiple countries including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, etc.)
- GBP: British Pound Sterling (United Kingdom)
- INR: Indian Rupee
-
MXN: Mexican Peso
If you enable the Name Your Price option, all other plans (Monthly, Annual, and One Time) will be disabled. You’ll receive a warning regarding this and will need to click on the Confirm Changes button to continue.
Tech Note: Stripe limitations prevent the use of the Name Your Price option in these countries: Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, and Thailand.
Plan Benefits (optional)- This is where you can highlight what your subscribers get access to with the new tier.
- You can add multiple benefits to each plan.
- Enter in the description of each benefit and then click on + Add benefit.
- This information will automatically be featured on your Upgrade Page tier cards.
Advanced Options (optional)
- You can also choose to add an (optional) Redirect URL. Doing so will bring subscribers to the specified URL once they completes the subscribe flow.
- If you wish, you can toggle on the Gift option to allow users to buy a subscription for someone else.
- When finished adding the details of your new tier, review your configurations and then click on the Save Tier Changes button.
- Once saved, the new tier will be featured on your Upgrade Page. If at any time you wish to customize your Upgrade Page, you can follow the instructions below or click Design Upgrade Page in the upper right of your tier creation page.
How to edit paid subscription tiers
After creating multiple subscription tiers, you can further customize them using the Website Builder where you’ll also have access to the Layout tab.
Tech Note: Only Admin or Owner user roles will be able to access the Layout tab of the Website Builder.- From the left panel Dashboard, go to Design > Website Builder.
- The Website Builder will open on the Home Page, click into the dropdown menu options at the top of the builder and select Upgrade Page instead. Then switch the left panel options to the Layout tab.
The subscription tier aspects that you can edit include:
- The plan card colors
- The page color
- The headline text
- The tier benefits on each card
Please refer to this article for more details on customizing your Upgrade Page using the Layout tab.
Where to access paid subscription tiers in your account
After you’ve added multiple subscription tiers to your paid offerings, there are a variety of places throughout the app where you can access tier-specific audiences.
From the Post Builder, you can:
Specify the audience for email and web
- Go to the Audience page of the Post Builder.
- Under Email Audience, click into the dropdown options and make a selection.
- Under Web Audience, click into the dropdown options and make a selection.
- On the right you’ll see a Summary of your choices.
Create content to only be seen by your paid tiers
- While creating your newsletter and using the Post Builder, you can add content visibility settings to display certain sections to specific paid tiers.
- To access these in the post editor, click on the 6 dots icon next to the + sign for the section, and then select Visibility from the menu options. You’ll be presented with several visibility options that you can toggle on or off.
From Segments, you can:
When using the Segmentation tool, you can create segments for your paid tiers.
From Automations, you can:
When creating or editing your Automation workflows, you can select specific tiers using the Upgraded trigger.
From an individual subscriber profile page, you can:
While you can’t change a subscriber’s status, you can view and confirm the exact tier and plan that they are currently on via the subscriber profile page found in your Subscribers.
Frequently asked questions about paid subscriptions
What happens to existing paid subscribers if I change the price of my subscription?
When you update the price of a paid subscription, the new price will only apply to new subscribers who join after the change. Existing subscribers will continue at their current price unless they cancel and re-subscribe.
Can I pause the paid subscription instead of canceling it?
Yes, you can toggle your paid subscriptions on or off anytime by navigating to Monetize > Paid Subscriptions > Paid Tiers > Configure Paid Subscription Tiers in your account. However, keep in mind that subscribers pay for monthly or annual access to your paid content. Pausing your subscription tiers could impact the value they expect within their active subscription periods.