Write2Sell: Why Paywalling Archive Won't Help Sell More Paid Subscriptions (And What to Do Instead)
Paywalling your Substack archive might be the worst decision you can ever make, here's how to actually optimize for hogh conversion rate...
If your Substack archive could sell for you, you would not need to email consistently.
You keep emailing because fresh words move the money.
That’s the whole game.
When I started my newsletter, I used to lock archives for paid members. I saw this as one more good reason to convert.
Guess what? It wasn’t. Even worse…
Back then, I used to walk through every single step of a new free subscriber. I’m obsessed with customer experience. And conversion rate optimization.
So I opened my “Start Here” post and I was shocked to hit the wall. The paywall.
Huge mistake.
Why?
Because this post is my first ever published post and is pinned on my publication home page. I count on it to help gain subscribers and also convert. And it delivers: by far, it alone has brought me 171 free subscribers and 19 paid, here:
If it was paywalled, people would see only the title and a paywall, nothing else.
If it was paywalled, I’d miss 190 subscribers, 19 of them paid. And that’s a 10% conversion rate.
When you lock your archive, you remove your only compounding asset from the open web and from the casual reader who just discovered you today.
You shut the door right when curiosity is warmest.
You miss the easiest opportunity to win their trust and convert them on the spot.
And THAT is valid for those of the readers who actually decide to walk through your archives.
But 99% of them don’t.
Why you should not paywall your archive?
Reason one. You cannot influence buying decisions inside a locked room.
People decide to pay while they move through your content, not when they hit a paywall without any context.
Nobody buys from outside of the store, right?
People click because today’s story solved today’s problem. If the first touchpoint is a cold paywall, this moment dies.
Reason two. No one sees your archives as a product.
If readers cared, you would not need to show up with new issues. We all open emails for what is relevant right now.
Archives are like a museum. Useful, but not where the sale happens. At least not if they’re all headlines and paywalls.
Reason three. Fresh content converts.
Newness creates urgency, proof of your work, and sparks conversation. It builds a relationship with your readers. It moves them towards becoming paid members.
None of this means your archive is worthless. It is your most powerful weapon. It is proof of your work.
It is the trust layer that lets a new reader binge before they buy.
It’s a mistake to turn that into a locked warehouse.
What to do instead?
You need only 3 simple things to increase your free → paid conversion rate: