The Best Patreon Rewards to Send Your Fans

Last updated Sep 19, 2023 @ 11:10 am

Looking to entice your fans to sign up for your Patreon? The best Patreon rewards and benefits are the ones that will genuinely excite your fans. That excitement will convert into pledges.

The best Patreon rewards

There are several great Patreon reward ideas that can work for a wide range of creators. Those include: T-shirts, stickers, something with a signature, and bonus audio/video content.

Patrons should feel like they're part of an exclusive club -- one that gets them closer to the creator(s) they love.

However, the best Patreon rewards can also take up the most amount of time on your end. Packing t-shirts, signing a card, or creating bonus content can take up hours and hours of time. And in some cases these benefits will cost you extra money.

So how do you balance the additional income against the expenses you'll incur?

First, it's important to offer a range of both digital and physical rewards. In most cases, digital rewards won't cause you to incur additional expenses other than your time. And that's not a bad thing -- if being a little busier leads to a new income stream, why not? My Patreons have added several hours a week to my schedule, but the additional revenue is well worth it.

A personalized video thank you message works wonders

For all types of creators, an excellent digital benefit that won't take up much of your time is creating a personalized, video thank-you message for each new Patron. There's a tool called Bonjoro that will create a list of new Patrons and help you easily record a video message for each of them.

Think about if you received a video thank you message (like a Cameo) from a creator you love. Wouldn't you be flattered and excited to hear your favorite creator say your name a couple of times and talk about what your support means to them? Plus, I have to think that the fan will be less inclined to cancel their subscription to you, if they know you took the time to create a video thank you for them.

Definitely check out Bonjoro, and I think it'll be greatly beneficial in exciting and retaining Patrons!

Bonus Content

For podcasters and those who create other video/audio content, an example of a great digital reward is 30 minutes of bonus content each week. For example, my podcast #Millennial records a half hour of extra show called After Dark exclusively for $5+ Patrons. The audio is uploaded to our Patreon and listeners can actually listen to it via their favorite podcast app.

After Dark takes up a little extra time for us to record each week, but our listeners love having extra content to listen to. What's great for us is that it's not much of an extra burden on us. By recording it right after the main show that we release to the public, we can easily fit it into our weekly schedule. I will also edit this bonus content at the same time I do the main show to further streamline my workflow.

Then there are physical rewards, which will take up both time and money. If you decide to offer a physical reward, I suggest not offering more than one or two at a time. Another very important tip: You must require Patrons to stay signed on to your Patreon for several months before you send them the physical item. This helps you earn the money it's costing you to purchase/mail the physical goods, and profit, before you send it to them.

A list of the best Patreon rewards

There are dozens of great Patreon reward options that'll please your supporters.

Keep in mind that the exclusivity of these benefits make them special. If your fans can't get these benefits anywhere else, they'll be tempted to pledge!

• A personal, video thank you message to your fan using Bonjoro
• Bonus audio or video every week
• Live streams of your usual recordings
• Zoom events in which hosts can hang out live with supporters
• Signed physical album art
• An exclusive t-shirt
• A segment on your show that only Patrons can contribute to
• Your existing content, but ad-free
• Behind-the-scenes looks at your process
• A handwritten card or letter expressing your appreciation

There are plenty more excellent reward ideas, but they'll vary depending on what type of creator you are. My new Patreon online course includes dozens more ideas tailored to different types of creators and will take you from the planning phase to launch and beyond. The most important part of launching a Patreon is knowing exactly what your fans want from it, and I can help you find out.