How WhatchaGot2Say keeps members around longer with subscription billing

Nico has been making YouTube videos for over a decade, but it wasn’t until he lost his job seven years ago that he decided to go all in on being a creator. He launched his Patreon, WhatchaGot2Say with first-of-the-month billing because it was the best monthly option available to him at the time. But as soon as subscription billing rolled out, he was positive making the switch would be better for his business.

Now, creating Kpop reaction videos is a full-time job for Nico and his team. Their Patreon is about 90% of their income, so the stability they get from it is vital.

Member confusion with first-of-the-month billing

When Nico launched his Patreon, members were charged on the day they signed up, and then again on the first of the month. “It was mad confusion,” he says. “Every single month I was getting hundreds of messages very confused about the billing cycle.”

No matter how many times the billing process was explained in their welcome video, welcome note, or in the checkout, members didn’t understand why they were being charged twice within a 30-day cycle — especially those members who signed up close to the end of the month who were then charged again a few days later on the first.

Nico had to be on top of communications every month to prepare people for the charge in order to reduce the number of confused DMs from new members.

“People were disgruntled and they’d just leave,” Nico explains. Of his roughly 2,000 members, he estimates about 30-40% were leaving within the first few days of every month. “I cannot tell you how scary it is knowing it’s coming,” he says. “I didn't even want to look at the Patreon app.”

Solving the problem by adopting subscription billing

What is subscription billing? Subscription billing is when members get charged on the day they sign up and that same day every month going forward.

As soon as Nico heard about subscription billing, he was on board. “I knew it was gonna work because that’s just what people expect,” he says. And the switch was easy for him and his team. Nothing more than a click.

He chose to share the details with members in three places for transparency, but this change did not impact existing members at all. “[The explanation] was one time and I didn’t get a message asking about the change at all. Literally zero,” he says.

1. Welcome video: A short, enticing video in the About tab
2. Welcome note: The message members receive in an email when they join, which is also featured in the About tab
3. Patreon post: An in-feed text, video, audio, or image-based post

Since switching, Nico has noticed far less drop off each month (around 10% rather than 30-40%). He also doesn’t have to spend any time managing billing communications or speaking with confused members, and instead he can focus on what matters: making videos and building his community.

Takeaways from Nico’s experience:

- Transparency is key: Share the update with your members, but also remind them it won’t impact them at all if you're moving from a first-of-the-month billing model.

- It’s a one-time thing: After Nico communicated the change, he never had to answer a confused DM about billing again.

- Subscription billing can help build consistency: To other creators, Nico says, “I feel strongly this change will be beneficial to you and your business. It will help to solidify consistency in the revenue you need in order for you to create what you love to provide a value to the fans who love you so so much.”

How to switch to subscription billing

If you’re ready to switch now, head to your settings. For more examples, check out how a singer migrated from per-creation to monthly billing, and how a TTRPG creator saw his earnings increase when he migrated to subscription billing. To learn more about how to change billing models visit our Help Center article, How to move from 1st-of-the-month to subscription billing, and learn more about new features Patreon is building for subscription billing.