Terms

"You must know the people who will be your customers prior to establishing a subscription-based company" says Matt Hardigree, publisher of The Autopian. "I have encountered problems that have been solved through people who thought there was an audience. The math is hard however and it's not that complicated. It is possible to use all the information you've collected."

He recommends that, if you're writing on an online platform, take a look at the number of readers that you've. "If you're on a site with 10 authors, and 3 of us are looking to start something What is our total readership? Do we represent 15 percent of website's visitors? This isn't a huge amount. We are the ones that comprise over 80% of the traffic on websites?"

In the past, The Autopian founders David Tracy and Jason Torchinsky made up 50 percent of the traffic on Jalopnik. "They may have believed "We might be able to start something; we can do this"," continues Matt. "What's interesting is that David and Jason don't have a lot of the number of followers they have on social media that would appear to be the obvious way to convert into readership. They didn't have to be affluent, as they already had followers.

Before launching, The Autopian did a analysis of the landscape of competition within the auto industry as well as the media. "We know how many car fans visit these sites. Consider the following: after we have taken out the expenses What do we need to do in order to be successful? And then you have to ask: 'Where do those individuals originate from? What percentage of them are aware of our identity?' What percentage will we need to reach our objective of sustainability? And in relation to participation, what is the amount we will be charging ? '."

He says: "You can make some assumption - but they aren't required to prove yourself right. but you should have those information points. After you've made your first steps with the data, you'll be able to plug in these data points to discover the areas where you're off and make adjustments. If there's no information and you're just guessing then you'll need to perform the maths, and then figure it out.

Matt acknowledges that once you've done your homework, there will be an "in your head" feeling "In the initial one or two hours of beginning my membership, I was in an absolute mess! I was thinking, "What's going to occur? The memberships started coming in, it was incredible! The team is still conducting the analysis of data, and we're always analysing what's effective and what's not."

Strategies for growth and engagement

"I consider that we're just 10 percent of the members we is," Matt continues. "We've achieved success, and we've had lots of members, however that initial 10% is the easiest to get. Those last 10% of members will be the toughest. Every single tranche could be harder than the previous one. it; we'll need to think often."

Matt thinks 10x growth could be the goal of five years. "If we reach 50% of our target, we are almost completely sustainable at the current level of members. If we reach 100% we're able to sustainably fuel by members or we're earning profits from membership alone It would be great to reach that level."

Matt Hardigree, The Autopian

The team's goals to reach them? What do they have to offer now as benefits to members and how can they use this to attract members?

Matt replies: "It's a balance because we are a journalistic endeavor as well as an enthralling venture. We see it as three different buckets that we can use to encourage people to become members - and to stay in the long run by creating The Autopian feel valuable."

Strategy 1: Content

Matt states that the first bucket is the content. "We need to create content that's appealing enough, interesting enough, and distinct enough from the content is accessible elsewhere. 'I'm able to only read this on the Autopian. I have to be an active member of The Autopian if I want it to happen.'

"You're not paying to gain access to this information since it's not a paywall. The cost is to be available everywhere." Matt affirms that this content will remain be Autopian's top offering: "You need this thing to exist so badly and it's costing you the equivalent of 4 per month or 10 dollars each month or $85 per month for certain people."

Strategy 2: The Rewards

The bucket two is an example of what that members receive, such as Discord access, clothes including T-shirts, entry to occasions like trivia nights and other events along with other items such as stickers and badges.

"We provide a wide range of items you can avail as when you purchase an auto. The first is cloth ($70/year) and then vinyl ($100/year), then Velour for $250/year. Finally, the most expensive is Corinthian leather, which is priced at 1000 dollars annually. There are more people who are using velour and leather than I'd expect!"

"One one of the gifts you'll receive is a birthday drawing One of our co-founders is an artist. We hadn't anticipated having as many drawings as he has, but he's drawing more birthday cards than we had anticipated. And we're still getting caught up!"

The $1,000 per month figure seems like a lot of work, however this was the suggestion of a well-established media firm Defector. They advised Matt that they might be able to accommodate more clients at $1000 than would be expected. "I thought"I I don't know how to calculate is $1,000?' And they replied"Do this!"" Matt laughs.

"They have also expressed their wish that they could have a middle level, as they currently have two levels, one lower and another higher," he continues. "We went back and forth over it before settling to go with $250 per year. It turned out to be the magic number: There are a lot of Velour members. This yearwe witnessed greater numbers of people go in the direction of vinyl Velour as well as from velour down to vinyl More people moved between 100 and 250 than those who went from 100 to 250. That makes me think we're on the right track!"

Autopian's Autopian team has also discovered that behind-the-scenes material has been a huge hit. The team also shares procedural materials, for example, the process they used to come up with the title and also "Tales from Slack". Matt adds: "We have our internal Slack. It's not designed for consumption by the general population."

"People are inclined to make up outrageous, absurd and hilarious things!" Matt smiles. "Our director of editing David has no understanding of pop culture so he's constantly being confused about things. He was thinking Ronan was Serpico; he thought it was an Al Pacino film that was set in the 70s. It turned out to be a Robert De Niro film that was released in the 90s!"

Strategy 3: Fear of missing out (FOMO)

"The third type of content that is highly useful and is something that many people don't realize is FOMO. We want to ensure that people don't miss out on stuff," Matt continues.

"We run our own Discord that has a weekly column of advice. Our Discord is free and public, but it has a member section," he adds. "I recommend that members share images in the general chatroom"I'm wearing this shirt Here's me wearing my ID badge'. People are eager to participate with this."

Matt states that getting members can be a good idea so long as the message aligns with the type of content you compose. "Every time we'll make a 'Here's what you receive' appeal, in order to highlight the benefits of joining."

The future will see them acknowledge their communities "We are very grateful to our users who comment. We thank you for making us better. If you can't be an active member, we are understanding. There are many who don't have the funds. If you're in school, whatever that is, we understand. If you're not in the position of having funds, you can just become the reader. We'd like to welcome you as a member of our community. be one of us. If you're a fan of this idea, you have the opportunity to be member of this community."

But then we'll do a FOMO blog post in which Jason will write 'Here's all the birthday drawings I made in the month of March and those who look at them will be like 'God! I'd love to be that.'

The idea of building communities are available in a range of of shapes and sizes. This includes birthday cards designed for car lovers.

More details

To find out more about the Autopian and become a member of The Autopian, go to theautopian.com.

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