Plans are right at the heart of your membership program – they are how you make offers to your community. Plans are displayed on your Steady page.

Each plan has a certain price that is paid regularly (usually every month) by a member once they select this plan. This hard-earned money (minus payment and Steady fees) goes to you, the publisher.

Plans are the means by which you turn people from your community into members. You can create plans by clicking on "Add new plan" in the publisher area. The default setting is three plans with three different prices to get you started. Of course you can and should adjust the number of plans and prices to suit your needs.

You need to give your plan a name. You can also add a photo for each plan (aspect ratio 2:1). Here are some plan name suggestions:

Or when you have three plans:

How many plans you offer is up to you. The default is one plan. In the beginning, or if you have a smaller publication, it makes sense to create just one plan. Then there is a greater chance that your potential members will choose to jump on board. Many people don't want to have to think about the decision for too long or become overwhelmed when there are too many choices. Offering just one plan also means less work for you, rather than having to think about several different plans and the benefits each one would entail.

Many publishers offer several plans and make it work really well – especially when they are larger or more established publications, then having different membership offers make sense (especially when they have a range of benefits to offer in return).

We also set a standard price for plans. You can adjust the number and price of your plans to suit your needs.

The plan URL is the web address of a plan. The plan URL leads directly to the payment process for this plan, without giving the user the possibility to select another plan beforehand.

A plan may provide exclusive access to content or include another benefit for members who book a particular plan. It's not a must, but it’s usually a good idea to offer something in return for your members’ support – it might just nudge an undecided user into becoming a member.

If you want to offer something physical, like a postcard, you will need to collect members’ postal addresses. For each plan you can specify whether members should be asked for their postal address during membership sign-up (simply create or edit a plan and tick the appropriate box).

Once a member has selected and purchased a plan, you cannot change the price anymore. Read on here to find out what changes are possible and how to archive or delete a plan:

You can either offer annual or monthly plans or both.

Got a question we haven’t answered in our Help Centre? You can contact us at support@steadyhq.com.