Monetization
The Paywall That Lets You In Three Times
Asking €12 from someone who has never read a word of your gated content is asking them to gamble. Three free reads change everything.
The classic paywall asks an impossible question: "will you pay to find out if it's worth it?" The visitor has no way to answer, so they leave.
What three reads change
Three free gated posts are enough to judge a tone, a pace, a level of detail. They aren't enough to make membership unnecessary, because the fourth one arrives fast when the content is good.
- Join within 7 days22 %
- Come back without joining31 %
- Don't come back47 %
Illustrative order of magnitude.
Twenty-two percent is well above what a closed wall produces. And the thirty-one percent who come back remain reachable later.
The three rules not to break
- A free read is spent explicitly: the visitor clicks, and knows what they're using up.
- A granted read is never taken back.
- Content sold individually doesn't count toward the free reads.