On top of paid memberships, you can now offer a free option for fans who are not yet ready to commit for a recurring monthly charge but would like to stay connected and receive updates from their favorite Creator.
Free account users receive updates on newly released public posts (posts marked as viewable by “Everyone”) and can also interact with them in form of likes & comments. On their feed, they’ll also see members-only content in a locked state that will prompt them to upgrade their account to a paid membership.
Benefits of offering free accounts:
- Community growth - You can dramatically increase the pace at which your community is growing by offering a free option for fans to get a sneak peak or those who are not yet ready to commit to a paid monthly membership. Using all the different tools, such as members-only posts or direct messages, you can then convert them into paid members.
- Greater reach & engagement - With many more supporters signed up on your website, your reach with public posts will be greater, and you will be able to engage with a much bigger group of your fans directly in your own community space.
- Win former members back - Once your member cancels their subscription, they automatically become a free account. You can reach out to them with public posts to keep them connected and tease them via member-only posts which will help win them back into a paid membership.
How do I offer free accounts?
Free accounts exist on your Fourthwall membership via a universal account system. For example, former members become free accounts, and people who begin checkout and complete the first step but don’t proceed with the payment will also end up with a free account. With that in mind, free accounts are easy for your supporters to have!
However, you can control whether you promote a free account sign-up more prominently by visiting the Memberships / Settings tab:
If you enabled Memberships after April 23, 2024, this option will be automatically enabled. If you enabled Memberships before that date, you’ll need to toggle it manually.
Once the “Show free account signup link” option is selected, a “Start with a free account” link will be displayed above your Tiers in all the different locations (e.g., Tiers section, Become a member page, etc).
And once they click on "Start with a free account", your supporter will be taken to a free account sign-up form:
If you don’t have Membership enabled yet, start here!
How do I create a free tier?
If you want to promote a free account option even more prominently, free tier is a perfect way to do so. To create a free tier, just navigate to the Perks & tiers tab, create a new tier and just set its price to $0.00:
When setting the tier price to $0, you’ll see an information that “All free accounts will be automatically assigned to this free tier” - this is because free tier members are equal to free accounts and it’s the exact same group of supporters.
After the free tier is created, you can assign perks as to any other tier to highlight the benefits for free accounts. As of now, only custom perks are available for free tiers with more advanced ones (such as Discord or exclusive discounts) reserved for paid tiers only.
Once your free tier is setup, you will see it be presented in the Tiers section and your pricing pages along the other tiers:
You’ll notice that the “Start with a free account” link referenced in the section above for free accounts is hidden as only one can be presented at a time. Once you delete your free tier, you can re-enable the link.
What benefits do free accounts get?
There are multiple perks for free account holders:
- Access & notifications on new public posts - free accounts get full access to your public posts (marked as viewable by “Everyone”) and will also receive both email & push notifications whenever you publish a new one!
- Public posts comments & likes - they can also interact with your public posts by leaving a comment or dropping a like!
- Upgrade option - free accounts can upgrade their account to a paid option at any point in time. They will be prompted to do so directly through locked posts (those available only to members). They can also upgrade by clicking the “Upgrade now” button on their feed at any point.
Free accounts don’t have access to members-only posts or direct messages that are reserved for paid members only.
What kind of content can I post for free?
Your imagination is the limit! Since public posts allow you to engage with free accounts, you can use them to post simple updates in the form of a newsletter, share information about your new merch drop and promos, ask for new products or content ideas with a poll post, or many other types of posts!
Free accounts analytics
To see stats on your free accounts, navigate to the Analytics tab, and you’ll see your free account numbers in two charts:
- Total free accounts - this chart will show your current total number of free accounts including former members and people who didn’t finalize the checkout but completed the account creation step.
- Free accounts changes - the second chart will give you an insight into the daily change of your free accounts. If you see a drop, it means free accounts have upgraded to a paid member accounts.
Can I disable free accounts?
You can hide the promotion of free accounts, but they’ll continue to exist in your system since former members become free accounts. By disabling the promotion, our platform will no longer offer your fans an option to sign up for free. To hide the promotion, visit Memberships > Settings and select the “Hide free account signup link” option.
FAQ
Can free accounts access my members-only posts?
No, they’ll see them in their feed as locked posts and be prompted to upgrade their account to access those posts.
Can I assign perks to free accounts?
Not at the moment, but we plan to add this option soon! You’ll also be able to promote your free accounts more prominently in the Tiers section.
Can I display a free option in the Tiers listing as a separate column/tier?
Not yet, but we plan to introduce an option to do so soon, along with an option to assign perks!
Can free accounts unsubscribe from notifications?
Yes, free accounts can unsubscribe from receiving notifications on updates from your website by visiting their Profile tab or clicking the “Unsubscribe” link directly in the email.
I disabled the promotion of free accounts, but new ones continue to show up.
This can be caused by a couple of different reasons: someone has obtained a direct free account link or didn’t complete the regular membership checkout and stopped at the account creation step, without completing the payment. However, if you’re suspicious about a particular account and suspect a scam, please report it to us. Free members' growth in the analytics can also be caused simply by membership cancelations, as former members become free accounts.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at support@fourthwall.com. We'll be happy to help!