Proposed Changes to DTNS Patron Rewards (Patreon)

DTNS has had essentially the same lineup of tiers and rewards for most of its 5 years. In fact the last time we really changed rewards was when Sarah joined in November 2017. So it's time to look at what rewards still make sense, what tiers make sense, make a stab at some ideas for changes, and ask you what you think.

Here are a few of our considerations 

1. The $1 tier is almost break even these days. Patreon makes our lives infinitely easier but that meant it costs more. We still 100% value every contribution but it's a fact to consider.

2. We have new opportunities to deliver stuff. A lot of these rewards were created when there was no option but making a post every month. 

3. Some of the rewards just aren't as cool as they used to be. Whether that's because people got tired of them or tastes changed, we notice some rewards just don't get used. For instance some of you may remember the "Treasure Chest." It used to have almost a 100 users and then sometime a couple years ago it dwindled to less than 10. 

4. New stuff just makes people more interested. It's a psychological fact that when you add new things more people talk about it and more people pay attention to it.

SO

Roger, Sarah and I brainstormed some ideas on how to improve the rewards and tiers. We got some other folks to look at it and we came up with the ideas below.

Now we need you to look it over. Keep in mind that if you're currently a Patreon, tier changes won't affect you. If you're a $1 Patron now at the Production Assistant tier you can keep being a $1 patron and get the Production Assistant tier rewards. These tier changes only affect new patrons.

So look this over and let us know what ideas strike you and if there's anything you just can't live with. We'll take your comments for the next couple of weeks and then we'll make any adjustments and make the changes to the tiers and rewards October 1.

$2 Production Assistant

- RSS feeds (either DTNS or GDI)

- Monthly update

- Name on website

CHANGE LOG: Just raising the entry level of new subscribers to $2. New people can still give us $1 if they want but it won't get rewards. Existing $1 patrons at this tier still get these rewards for $1. Again, no change for existing patrons.

$5 Associate Producer

- All benefits in the previous tier PLUS…

- Tom's Editor's Desk

- Roger's column

CHANGE LOG: Really nothing here except we're dropping the business card as a reward. Still want the business card? Just ask. We'll post a link in the Discord.

$10 Co-executive Producer

All benefits in the previous tiers PLUS…

- Monthly flashback show. 

CHANGE LOG - same as AP

$20 Analyst

All benefits in the previous tiers PLUS…

- Len Art

CHANGE LOG - You now get digital art from Len at a lower level than before. Also we'd be changing Slack to become something you get when you've supported us for a certain amount of time (TBD - ideas on what that amount of time should be?) Once you're in Slack, you're in though, so existing users stay in.

$30 Adviser 

All benefits in the previous tiers PLUS…

Poster (new one eventually)

Read-access to the show doc

CHANGE LOG: You still get the Len Art of course but you also get to watch the show Doc as we prepare the show each day if you want. You can also look back at older episodes in the tabs of the doc.

$50 Master 

All benefits in the previous tiers PLUS…

Mug (new one eventually)

Custom Voicemail 

CHANGE LOG: Also I may do the online chess game or virtual story again too. But the addition here is the custom voicemail you can ask us to record for you. Details on that TBD.

$100 (to be named - ideas?)

All benefits in the previous tiers PLUS…

Backstage pass (including things like Exclusive Discord chats with the team - at least once a month, join us for post-show shenanigans, etc.)