How sending emails to your declined, canceled, and free members can increase your Patreon income

Setting up automated emails that engage your declined, canceled, and free members is one of the easiest ways to grow your Patreon income.

If you've built an audience on Patreon, you likely have a whole pool of users who've fallen off or remained free members. Emails tap into that valuable pool by filling in communication gaps to convert free members, recover declined patrons, and reactivate former members.

We know emails work. Okoa users who send emails to their canceled and declined patrons increase their monthly income by an average of 7%.

Why do emails work?

Emails reach the users who might not use Patreon frequently

There are so many ways to communicate with your patrons whether its Discord or Patreon chat or direct messages, but everyone has email and everyone understands email.

So for important messages, including decline notifications or cancellation reminders, email has the highest visibility and the greatest chance of re-engaging users.

Emails get more attention because when you're the sender, not Patreon

Let’s be honest, we all sometimes glaze over emails sent from a platform like Patreon/Twitter/Facebook/Instagram because we just become numb to aggregated emails.

That's why an email sent with your name attached to it has such a big impact. It's a direct way to communicate with your patrons.

Patrons respond best to your language

Maybe you literally speak a language other than English with your patrons or maybe you speak a different internet subcultural language, but your patrons respond best when you speak to them directly in the language that brought them to your page in the first place.

So emailing a declined patron in your own language is more likely to convince someone to update their payment method than a generic declined payment message.

Patreon can’t always act on your behalf

Patreon has emails they send out for their platform and all the creators who use their platform. That means they can’t always send too many emails on your behalf without risking looking spammy as a platform.

So emailing your patrons directly ensures your message gets read.

Emails are always an opt out situation unlike chats/messages

Anyone who doesn’t want to hear from you can easily opt out. Emails are inherently built for easy one-click opt outs. So rest assured, you won’t be emailing anyone who doesn’t want to hear from you.

Emails work with your existing Patreon strategy

Since emails can be set up in advance to send at precise moments, like three days after a patron’s payment gets declined, emails supplement your existing posts instead of adding to them. Active patrons won’t receive any emails.

Want to test setting up emails for your Patreon account?

Set up automated emails that convert more free members, recover declines, and reactivate former patrons.

Written by Naomi @ Okoa. Okoa is an email marketing and analytics platform for Patreon creators. Okoa increases Patreon income by converting more free members to paid, recovering declines, and reactivating former patrons. Interested in increasing your Patreon income with less work? Try Okoa for free.