Marisa Kabas, Katelyn Burns and Kat Tenbarge recently experimented with a new tool called Trustfnd, bundling their three subscriptions together as a deal for new paid subscribers. Other publishers were especially jazzed to see it, believing that bundling is the holy grail of reader-backed publishing after internalizing that their work isn't individually worth paying for. It's certainly a cool promotional lever and one you should use in addition to marketing your own subscription.
Trustfnd launched to help journalists and indie media publishers to collaborate to grow their publications. They offer one time subscription bundling (bundle passes) and newsletter growth collaborations. Pledge drives and long term subscription bundling (indefinite bundling) are on the horizon.
So, how does it work? And who does it work for?
What kind of bundles can you run
Newsletter growth collaborations: This is basically platform-agnostic recommendations. It works better than what Ghost created because it actually signs up the reader to all lists in one step. And it's better than Substack because it includes all other platforms and you promote it as a standalone offer (not within the signup flow).
Subscription bundle passes: A one time, discounted, bundle of your paid subscription with other creators. The bundle pass allows readers paid access for a paid trial period (like a month or a year). After that, you have to convert them individually into a longterm paid subscriber of your publication. Worth noting that the Trustfnd system will recognize if one of your paid subscribers wants access to others in the bundle and it will discount pricing accordingly.
Who can use Trustfnd
Trustfnd has full support for beehiiv and Ghost publishers with built-in API connections but any newsletter can join newsletter growth collaborations (not yet subscription bundles).
If you're not using beehiiv or Ghost, you can use a webhook via Zapier to pass the new subscribers through to your actual list. You can also request an API integration for your platform and founder Michaël Jarjour said more integrations will be coming.
If you are using beehiiv or Ghost, create an integration, grab the API keys and plug them into Trustfnd. Make sure to enable automatic passing through of new subscribers (this is a buried setting under https://trustfnd.com/dashboard/settings/newsletter)
Setting up a newsletter growth collaboration
Sign up for a Trustfnd account and you can create a newsletter growth collaboration right away.
Add your publication. Trustfnd will pull in your logo or you can upload one. It will prompt you to create API keys (beehiiv/Ghost) or set up a webhook with Zapier (if not on beehiiv or Ghost). Then, you're ready to create a growth bundle.
Go to Collaborations and Create New to select Newsletter Growth. You'll invite other collaborators by email and, once they can set their account up, you'll have a joint subscribe page. I wish you could copy and share an invitation link here instead of sending emails and maybe they'll add that soon.
Once someone joins, your page is live and you can use it to promote all your newsletters at the same time. You can plug this inside your newsletter, on social media, in communities, when you go on podcasts or anywhere else you're promoting your work. If someone's already on your list, they won't be added again. They'll just join the new lists (and they'll get multiple welcome emails or in Ghost's case, multiple confirmation emails.)
Setting up a bundle pass
You have to request early access and get verified by Trustfnd to do a paid subscription bundle pass right now.
Once you're verified, you can set up a Bundle Pass. First, you need to connect your Stripe account so you can get paid. You can log into your existing Stripe but Trustfnd will create an additional Stripe account separate from your publication Stripe. (It's full Stripe, not Stripe Express which is nice though. I hate Stripe Express.)
Then, set up your offer. Choose a subscription tier, a discount offer and a length of time (this is a one time purchase.) You can choose 30 days, 60 days, 90 days or 1 year.
Every publisher in the bundle will have the same discount and time period.
Once you create your bundle, you'll be able to invite collaborators and share it. You'll each get separate payouts for what you're owed and if one of your paid subscribers tries to join, they'll only be added to the new subscriptions (and not charged again for yours.)
How to make sure this actually converts for you
Katelyn Burns did a write up of the experience bundling their subscriptions. They sold 500 bundle passes the first week, which is a lot. And 77% of them were from people "who hadn't subscribed to any of us previously."
That's exciting but also it's worth noting a few things. One is that this was extremely novel, being the first run of a Trustfnd bundle like this. Two is that Burns, Tenbarge and Kabas have big, trusting audiences. Three is that 500 bundle passes at $2-4 a publisher is $1-2k in one time revenue.
The real test comes when you have to convert these trial subscribers to longterm readers. Not everyone will convert, but ideally some of them do and that's the point of doing this.
You need to set up an automated sequence at least 7 days before the end of the trial (for the monthly trial—longer for longer trials) that persuades each reader to stay and lets them know their access is expiring. This should be at least 3 emails, ideally more like 5 with some sent post-expiration.
You can set this up manually in beehiiv using their automations feature and triggering the automation off a subscription expiration date and a tag for the bundle. It's been a while since I've seen the automation panel in beehiiv so comment if you see a better way to do this.
Ghost doesn't have many automations so you'd need Outpost to run this (full disclosure: a partner of mine). Outpost has a built-in flow for Complimentary Subscriptions that are expiring. Go to the Autoresponder -> Basic -> Complimentary and find all the emails you need to enable there. You can also used the Advanced autoresponder to make a custom campaign if you prefer.
If you need ideas of what to say, reference our recipes or the swipe files. I will write a more custom recipe for converting complimentary subs to paid subs soon.
These bundle passes are not useful if you don't put the effort in to convert people. Most won't realize their access has expired and they won't upgrade without a lot of prompting. Make sure this is in place when you launch your bundle.
Ways to promote your bundles
Social media is an obvious channel for those who have big audiences but your email list can also be a great way to promote. I'm planning to try a subscription bundle with Legend Lucy Werner in May and my main campaign will happen through the email list.
You can also promote by co-hosting events, podcasts or livestreams. I've seen worker-owned outlets do this during their individual subscriber drives. Lucy and I are planning to host some joint events leading up to our drives.
One often missed channel is your website. Make sure you use your announcement banner, pop-ups or in-line actions to make visitors/readers aware of your promotions. Outpost has easy options for pop-ups and in-line actions. Ghost has a built-in announcement bar you can use too.
A big key to these group promotions is making sure the group promotes them. Boost and comment on each other's posts, mirror each other's emails, team up on the promotion side, not just on the bundle.
Bundles are a promising option for solo, independent media, but the tech side only does so much of that lift. Like everything in our space, you remain the driver of your own marketing, audience growth and revenue growth. Who you collaborate with and how much you promote each other determines how successful your bundle will be.
Don't just lean on tools. Plan a collaborative campaign and you'll reap the rewards.
Trustfnd is free right now, but they will be introducing a paid subscription so be prepared to pay for this soon! Check it out at trustfnd.com.
