Hi Chris, when will you think it's the right time to start your own mini-netflix? I want to do a Qigong version of Find what Feels Good. I think at least I need 10k subscribers on YouTube.
This is a complicated but great questions. I don't think there is one answer or metric that applies to everybody.
Personally, I wouldn't use YouTube subscribers as a metric for making a decision as to when to launch a subscription product. I haven't successfully been able to convert YouTube viewers to paid subscribers on a sustainable basis - even though we have a very active channel. When people are on YouTube they are in a viewing rather than buying mindset. And a lot of them are on TVs where there's not a frictionless way to purchase something. So there are a lot of barriers. Particularly for a subscription/recurring product.
A more effective metric would be the size of your engaged email subscribers (or even your social following). Promoting and selling via email has been much more effective in our case. Plus - you can measure it, so if you ever layer on paid marketing you'll have a good idea of what to spend.
I'd also suggest starting with a standalone product. For example a series of Qigong videos that are maybe focused around a theme. Maybe something along the lines of Qigong for Deep Sleep. (I'm just brainstorming.) But selling an individual one-time offer is easier and will give you a baseline on your numbers and what percentage of your following is open to purchasing something from you. It will give you a solid baseline to build on. And launching a product tends to have the nice bonus of growing your list.
All this being said - we launched way before we were ready. I just had a sense of momentum and wanted to try it out. It was new and exciting. And it worked. So don't let my advice slow you down if you are feeling strongly about it.
Hi Chris, when will you think it's the right time to start your own mini-netflix? I want to do a Qigong version of Find what Feels Good. I think at least I need 10k subscribers on YouTube.
This is a complicated but great questions. I don't think there is one answer or metric that applies to everybody.
Personally, I wouldn't use YouTube subscribers as a metric for making a decision as to when to launch a subscription product. I haven't successfully been able to convert YouTube viewers to paid subscribers on a sustainable basis - even though we have a very active channel. When people are on YouTube they are in a viewing rather than buying mindset. And a lot of them are on TVs where there's not a frictionless way to purchase something. So there are a lot of barriers. Particularly for a subscription/recurring product.
A more effective metric would be the size of your engaged email subscribers (or even your social following). Promoting and selling via email has been much more effective in our case. Plus - you can measure it, so if you ever layer on paid marketing you'll have a good idea of what to spend.
I'd also suggest starting with a standalone product. For example a series of Qigong videos that are maybe focused around a theme. Maybe something along the lines of Qigong for Deep Sleep. (I'm just brainstorming.) But selling an individual one-time offer is easier and will give you a baseline on your numbers and what percentage of your following is open to purchasing something from you. It will give you a solid baseline to build on. And launching a product tends to have the nice bonus of growing your list.
All this being said - we launched way before we were ready. I just had a sense of momentum and wanted to try it out. It was new and exciting. And it worked. So don't let my advice slow you down if you are feeling strongly about it.