How to Build a Podcast Membership that WORKS

Setting up a membership site can be a great way for content creators to tap into the subscription-based economy, monetize some of the content you create, and build a community of like-minded fans. But before you start inviting members, it’s crucial to understand what you’re offering and how you’ll deliver it.

Read on to learn:

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How to create compelling membership rewards for your website (and why you don’t want to offer too many options)
How to create exclusive membership content that is low-effort and high-reward (For example, pre- and post-show conversations make for a great member benefit.)
The software stack I use to power the Build Something Club and how to evaluate which tools you’ll need for your own community

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I began cultivating the seeds of my podcast membership community — the Build Something Club — all the way back in 2017 when after only nine months of podcasting, How I Built It reached 50,000 downloads.

Back then it seemed like everyone in the podcasting world was turning to Patreon to make money from their communities, and so I started a Patreon membership too. To make a long story short, it was not a good fit. (If you want to hear more, listen to Episode 205: My Failed Patreon Experiment.)

After many months of learning what not to do, it was time to build the membership I actually wanted — one that could provide meaningful benefits for my members in a way that was sustainable for me, too.

Creating the Build Something Club required consideration of both the members-only content I was offering and the tech stack I would use to deliver it. 

Here’s a look at everything that went into it, based on what I’ve learned along the way:

How I chose it: Member rewards

The rewards for the Build Something Club are robust for the $5/month price tag, and I was very deliberate in choosing them based on what would allow me to deliver.

There are three things to keep in mind when you’re deciding what goes into your membership program:

1. Keep it simple

Provide an easy option for people who want to support your show and access bonus content.

When I launched my Patreon community, I had five different pledge levels ranging from $1 to $100 per month — and it was way too much. It was confusing for members, and I didn’t have a clear idea of how I would differentiate the rewards at each level.

By contrast, the Build Something Club has only one set of rewards that are accessible to all members.

2. Look for the low-hanging fruit

The name of the game when you’re starting a membership offer is low-effort and high-reward.

What can you offer your members that is compelling and helps to address their problems but does not add a lot more work to your plate as a creator?

A lot of what goes into the Build Something Club is a natural extension of the work I already do to create and publish the podcast, such as:Ad-free episodes: The sponsored content on How I Built It is already recorded separately and edited in later, so it’s no extra trouble to publish an ad-free feed.
Pre- and post-show conversations: If the guest says something intriguing during the interview, I keep the recording going and ask them to expand on that. For solo episodes, I can go deeper into a particular topic or provide behind-the-scenes content or resources.
An advanced look at the schedule: I use Airtable for keeping track of my podcast schedule. I created a custom view of the schedule that I published to the membership site along with a simple form for members to submit questions to upcoming guests.Member interview: These conversations with members about what they are building require a little extra effort — about 20 minutes of my time per conversation — but they are mutually beneficial in building our community and helping me to understand what my audience is up to.

3. Adjust accordingly

As you’re choosing member benefits, be clear on how they may affect your current efforts — especially existing revenue streams.

Each person who accesses ad-free podcast episodes through the Build Something Club is one less person who hears the ads my sponsors pay for. And since those sponsors are paying for a certain number of podcast downloads, I needed to adjust my sponsorship agreements appropriately.

How I deliver it: Tools & tech stack

One thing that became very clear during my Patreon experiment was the need to build something that met the needs of the membership I wanted to create. 

I wanted more control than a one-size-fits-all product could offer, and I got there by assembling my own collection of tools, beginning with a robust WordPress plugin for memberships.

Why choose a WordPress plugin?

As a developer with more than 16 years of experience with WordPress, the technical aspect of building a membership site using a WordPress plugin was not an obstacle for me. 

Depending on your technical skills, you may also consider platforms such as Memberful that make it easy to set up members-only content areas.

Important aspects to evaluate when looking at membership platforms:

• Private podcast feeds: This is probably the #1 thing to consider for a podcast membership.
• Integrations: How will it work within your existing site, and how can you connect with the other tools you will need to deliver member rewards?
• Fee structure: Are the available features worth the price tag? Consider payment fees as well as any subscription costs.
• Ease of configuration: If you plan to have both public and private content on your site, you’ll want an easy way to indicate which is which.

Pricing your membership without scaring people off

One of the biggest mistakes I see podcasters make is pricing their membership based on what they hope it’s worth rather than what their audience can actually afford or justify. When I first launched the Build Something Club, I had grand ideas about a $25/month tier with all the bells and whistles. It flopped. Not because the content was bad, but because my audience — largely solo creators and indie developers — saw that price as a subscription to a streaming service, not a monthly investment in themselves. After a few months of tinkering, I landed on a much simpler structure: one low-cost tier that covers everything, plus an optional annual discount. Keeping it under $10/month removed the mental math for most people.

Don’t be afraid to test pricing, but do it intentionally. I ran a two-week “founding member” promotion where I offered a lower price to the first 50 people who signed up, then increased the standard rate slightly after that window closed. That gave me a useful cohort of early adopters who provided feedback, and it also told me whether the membership had enough perceived value to survive at the full price. If you’re unsure where to start, look at what similar podcasts in your niche are charging, then ask your own listeners directly. A simple poll on social media or in your newsletter can save you months of guessing.

Onboarding that turns new members into active participants

Getting someone to click “join” is only half the battle. If a new member shows up, pokes around for five minutes, and never comes back, you haven’t built a community — you’ve just collected a one-time payment. My onboarding process changed everything for the Build Something Club. As soon as someone signs up, they receive a short, personal email from me that explains exactly what to do first: introduce yourself in the members-only forum, grab the latest bonus episode, and check out the resource library. I keep that email to four or five sentences because nobody reads a wall of text on day one.

I also created a “Start Here” page inside the membership area that walks new members through the same steps with links and a short welcome video. That video is not fancy — just me on a webcam for two minutes saying thanks and showing my face. The goal is to lower the barrier to participation. When members make that first post or comment, they’re dramatically more likely to stick around. I’ve seen the data in my own dashboard: members who engage in their first week retain at double the rate of those who don’t.

Keeping the content pipeline manageable long-term

The biggest reason podcast memberships die is that the host overpromises on content and then burns out trying to deliver. I fell into that trap early on with weekly bonus episodes, a private newsletter, and a monthly live Q&A. By month three, I was exhausted and the quality was slipping. Now I operate on a much simpler cadence: one bonus episode per month, a monthly group call that doubles as a recording session, and occasional written resources when I have something genuinely useful to share. That might sound sparse, but my members have told me they’d rather have one great bonus episode than four mediocre ones.

Part of keeping the pipeline manageable is batching. I record two or three bonus episodes in a single sitting, then schedule them to release over the next couple of months. The same goes for written content — I draft member resources in bulk during slower weeks and drip them out later. If your membership is built around a podcast, your regular public episodes are already a content production engine. The membership content should feel like a natural extension, not a second full-time job. Ask yourself: what can I produce in under two hours a month that would genuinely help my biggest fans?

Handling churn and turning cancellations into feedback

Every membership has churn. People lose interest, budgets change, life gets busy. The mistake is treating every cancellation as a failure and ignoring the signal underneath. When someone leaves the Build Something Club, I send a brief exit survey with one open-ended question: “What could I have done better?” Most people don’t respond, but the ones who do give me gold. One member said he loved the bonus episodes but couldn’t attend the live calls due to his time zone. That single comment led me to add a text-based discussion thread for each monthly call so non-attendees could still participate asynchronously.

I also keep a simple spreadsheet of cancellation reasons, tagged into categories like “price,” “content not relevant,” or “life circumstances.” Once a quarter, I look for patterns. If the same issue keeps appearing, I address it. For example, when several members mentioned they didn’t have time to consume all the resources, I added a “best of” section that curates the most popular items so people don’t feel overwhelmed. Churn isn’t personal; it’s data. The goal is not zero cancellations but a steady, honest feedback loop that makes the membership better for the people who stay.

In the end, I chose to set up my membership site with Restrict Content Pro because it offers many of the features I need, as well as tons of add-ons and integrations.