3 Insights From the Substack Reader Survey + a Year of Data Audits

📊 What changed how I think about pricing, trust and reader psychology

One year ago, I sent out a reader survey to better understand why people decide to pay — or not pay — for the newsletters they love.

Over 400 responses later, that dataset has shaped a year’s worth of strategy sessions, Publishing Labs and subscriber insights. And today I want to share what I’ve learned since the data dropped — and how it’s evolving how I work and also publish inside my newsletter.

If you want to see the raw data, question-by-question breakdowns or my original synthesis post, you can find those resources inside the Substack Survey archive.

But here’s the bigger picture I’m focused on:

Data is only valuable if you know how to understand what it’s saying about your audience and publication.

So today, I’m sharing the 3 biggest insights that have stayed true a year later — and what they still mean for Substack publications today.