📌 Inside the 3% Who’ll Pay

Your Shopify DTC Brand Can’t Afford Q4 Without Zipchat

BFCM traffic costs a fortune. If your Shopify brand isn’t converting at its possible best, you’re not just losing sales — you’re burning money and shrinking Q4 margins.

Zipchat.ai is the AI Agent built for DTC ecommerce. It doesn’t just chat — it sells.

• Closes hesitant shoppers instantly with product answers and recommendations

• Recovers abandoned carts automatically via web + WhatsApp

• Automates support 24/7 so you scale without extra headcount

• Boosts profit margins in Q4, when every order counts

That’s why brands like Police, TropicFeel, and Jackery — brands with 10k visitors/month to millions — trust Zipchat to handle their busiest quarter and fully embrace Agentic Commerce.

Setup takes less than 20 minutes with our success manager. And you’re fully covered with 37 days risk-free (7-day free trial + 30-day money-back guarantee).

On top, use the NEWSLETTER10 coupon for 10% off forever.

Try Zipchat free

Why most paid plays flop

Everyone loves the idea: “I’ll add a paywall and monetize fast.”
Reality: 95% of subscribers will never pay.

The real question isn’t “Will they pay?”
It’s: “Will 3% pay $100… and stick around?”

That depends less on your content style - and more on who’s on your list.

Resources You Need to Know About:

1. How this ART newsletter makes $100k+ per month​

2. Create video ads in 7 minutes using AI

3. 8 underserved niches you can make with

Who Actually Pays?

1. Individuals (B2C / D2C)

• Price: $5–15/month

• Motivation: passion, curiosity, identity (“I want to belong”).

• Risk: churns fast unless the newsletter becomes a habit.

• Best play: community + exclusivity.

👉 Example: Dirt Media

• Early fans paid ~$500 for NFTs as membership passes.

• Why it worked: felt like joining a cultural club, not buying content.

• Lesson: with individuals, make paid feel like access + identity, not just information.

 2. Businesses / Professionals (B2B)

• Price: $20–100+/month or even $416/mo

• Motivation: ROI - save time, make money, stay competitive.

• Risk: only if outcomes are fuzzy.

• Best play: deliverables + direct ROI.

👉 Example: Deal Sheet (from Last Money In)

• Paid tier delivers private equity and investment deals.

• Readers = accredited investors who expect clear financial ROI.

• Why it works: one subscription can generate real returns for the reader.

• Lesson: B2B readers pay more, churn less - if your content is a profit tool.

3. Authority / Reputation-driven

• Price: flexible ($15–50+/month depending on perceived access).

• Motivation: direct access to a trusted voice.

• Risk: only works if you’ve built authority elsewhere.

• Best play: leverage reputation, then layer deliverables.

👉 Example: Write With AI (Nicolas Cole & Dickie Bush)

• Grew from ~20K to 45K subs in <1 year, with ~1.5K paid.

• Why it worked: Cole & Dickie were already respected creators (Ship 30 for 30), books, courses).

• Their authority meant people trusted them enough to pay right away.

• Lesson: if you have real authority, reputation, or niche influence, paid can work much faster for you than for an unknown.

• Use your reputation as the entry point, then justify the price with tangible deliverables.

🚫 Don’t guess - test first

Here’s a simple paid-readiness check you can run in 14 days:

1. Add a “👉 Unlock premium” CTA in your free issues.

   • Green light: 3–5% of openers click.

2. Soft-launch a founding offer to your top 200–500 readers.

   • Green light: 5%+ conversion.

If both signals are weak? Don’t build paid yet.

💡 Alternatives that work (and often faster)

6AM City: How a Local Newsletter Raised $40K in 24 Hours

When COVID hit, many media companies were struggling. Ad budgets froze. Readers were distracted. For most newsletters, that meant downsizing.

6AM City - a network of hyperlocal newsletters across the Southeast - decided to try something different: a one-day fundraising sprint.

The bet: if they gave readers one clear day to support local reporting, they could raise enough to keep their team strong.

What happened?

• They hit 1,000 supporters in 24 hours.

• Raised $40,000+ across seven cities.

• Did it with no upfront costs and minimal setup.

Want my help fixing this?

If you checked anything but “no blockers” - we should talk.

🔑 1:1 Strategy Session

Book a 60-minute call where we will:

• Audit your list type (B2C vs B2B vs Authority)

• Spot where revenue is leaking

• Build a monetization plan you can implement tomorrow

If it’s not helpful, you get your money back.

Simple. Honest. No pressure.

DIY Path: Launch & Systemize in 10 Days

My course — Newsletter in 10 Days: Start. Launch. Engage. — is built to help you set up systems fast.

In 10 days (for $87.53) you’ll:

• Never scramble on deadline night again

• Publish consistently with ready-to-use templates for content & sponsors

• Launch with strong deliverability baked in

If it’s not useful, I’ll refund you. No questions asked.

🧭 Key takeaway

Paid subscriptions succeed for three very different reasons:

• Identity (Dirt)

• ROI (Deal Sheet)

• Authority (Cole & Dickie)

Know which one you actually have - then lean into it.