Beyond Substack: Insights into Reader Habits Across Social Media, News, and Digital Spaces
Survey results that highlight what readers are watching, reading and following
This month we’ve been exploring the results of my Substack Reader Behavior Survey.
The entire goal of this survey was to give creators, new or established, an invitation and call to action: If you want to grow or evolve your newsletter, you have to put your readers in the context of their motivations, interests and habits.
We’ve looked at answers from 400+ respondents (63% of whom identified as readers) and explored why they don’t upgrade (and what feels too pricey to them), how they feel about the cost settings on Substack and how often they like hearing from creators, plus specifics around the creator-reader relationship. We haven’t even touched on the free-form answers about what they love (and what annoys them) about Substack and what they’d like to see change about this space they love.
From where I stand as an editorial strategist, who a reader is outside your Substack is just as valuable as who they are inside your Substack. If I’m not continually learning about my readers, gathering information, picking up on anecdotes and gathering data-based feedback, I’m only ever driving in the dark. And when we’re creating in the dark, our best laid plans tend to quickly go askew.
Let’s put readers into context
Today I want to help creators on Substack put readers into context around how they use social media and traditional news outlets. 12 We can learn a lot of valuable information about where readers spend their time because this information tells us something about what readers value and where they already have reading habits established. (And since Substack is a relatively new and growing space for readers, creators here should absolutely care about what readers find effortless to spend money and time on.)
OK, let’s see what readers had to say.