What types of rewards work best?

Rewards come in many different shapes and flavors, but the majority of rewards can be broadly grouped into one of the following categories:

Exclusive Content : Content that can only be seen as a Patreon subscriber. This can be entirely new content or behind the scenes insights.

: Content that can only be seen as a Patreon subscriber. This can be entirely new content or behind the scenes insights. Early Access : Content that will eventually be released to a general audience but gets posted to Patreon first.

: Content that will eventually be released to a general audience but gets posted to Patreon first. Credit in Content : This is when the patron gets their name mentioned in whatever the creator is working on.

: This is when the patron gets their name mentioned in whatever the creator is working on. Fan Input : The patron is able to vote or suggest content for the creator’s work.

: The patron is able to vote or suggest content for the creator’s work. Physical Goods : This is any reward that needs to be physically mailed to the patron. This includes anything from stickers to custom commissioned art pieces to random goody bags.

: This is any reward that needs to be physically mailed to the patron. This includes anything from stickers to custom commissioned art pieces to random goody bags. Digital Downloads : High quality or exclusive downloadable content.

: High quality or exclusive downloadable content. Discord/Server/Community Access: Access to an exclusive chat or forum for Patreon subscribers. This could also entail access to a private gaming server if the creator is a gamer.

There are additional reward types like offering one on one time, or providing an ad free experience, but there aren’t enough of these rewards to be statistically significant in this data sample.

The top performing reward types for a random sampling of Patreon creators across all categories are:

Top performing reward types for Patreon users

Exclusive Content is by far the leading reward type for most Patreon creators. This isn’t necessarily surprising information given how the Patreon platform is built around the notion of providing exclusive content, but its still a good reminder that its working for most creators.

Let’s break it down further by type of creator:

Top performing reward types for Patreon users by creator type

Again, Exclusive Content comes out on top across all categories, but then we start to see variations depending on what naturally works better for each creator type. Early release works well for work that tends to have longer gaps between releases (game development, comics, and writing). Credit in content works best for work that is produced on a regular schedule (videos, podcasts).

Takeaway: Exclusive content is far and away the best performing reward for most Patreon users. It’d be wise to make sure your reward strategy focuses on providing quality Patreon only content if you want to maximize your earnings.