How to increase engagement on Substack

More speculation about Substack's future as a reading platform

Substack is an excellent place for writers and, of course, readers. However, the future of Substack relies on its ability to attract a broader consumer base through the Internet and social media. That’s not to say writers aren’t readers and vice versa. I encourage everyone to start writing, and Substack does as well. But can a platform’s creator base mainly subsist on the interconnectivity between its creators?

The simple answer is “Yes.” The more complicated answer is “Yes, but with diminishing returns.”

Imagine if filmmakers spent all their time producing a movie, and the audience comprised only other people in the film industry. The idea is wild and implausible—even unsustainable. The film industry makes movies for moviegoers, and writers need readers. Substack focuses on attracting big names in the writing industry to bring their respective audiences to the platform, hoping those readers will check out other publications.

But how do you get readers to flock to the platform without being dragged along?

Reader Analytics

As a writer on Substack, I’m pleased with the analytics in the Dashboard. I see where my traffic is coming from, my most active subscribers, and post stats, among other things—too many to list here.

I'd love to see the most common open timeframe and day of the week, so I know when to send an article. That I can’t think of much else is impressive, and Substack should be applauded.

However, as a reader, analytics are nonexistent. My profile has tabs that show Posts, Notes, Likes, and Reads (the Substacks I follow). And yet, there’s nothing to show how active a user I am. Do I read the posts in my inbox? Am I an outlier when paying for subscriptions? Am I a chatty commenter or a faithful lurker? How often do I share posts? There’s no way to quantify my reading experience.

I receive a monthly summary of my publication's statistical trends. But I wonder what a reader summary might look like. Would it encourage me to finish reading my saved library or comment on a post I liked last week? Could it help me catch up on a publication’s posts I’ve missed? If this exists in any capacity, please let me know!

Badges Revisited

One way to highlight milestones for readers is to offer unique badges to collect. Maybe the badges remain on the profile forever, or they cycle based on periodic refreshes to keep users active. These could be publication-specific or Substack-wide. Here are some simple ideas off the top of my head:

• Founder - Reader pays for one or more founding membership

• Devoted - Reader hasn’t missed a publication’s posts in # months

• ‘Stacker - Reader has restacked more than # posts

• Advocate - Reader has liked # posts

• Life of the Party - Reader has made # comments

• Patron - Reader is a paid subscriber to # publications

Badges were a hot topic for creators, but I don’t anticipate such a negative response to rewarding readers for being active in the community. It adds a bit of fun competition and reading-oriented objectives. One of my favorite things on Goodreads is setting my book goal for the year and trying to reach it.

I'd welcome this even if badges remained in an email summary rather than on the profile.

Substack Re-Wrapped

Another significant engagement tool is the “Wrap-up.” A wrap-up is an annual review of your activity, making for a fun end-of-year thing to look forward to. Many platforms use this technique to increase customer loyalty and personalization. Here are a few examples:

• Goodreads’ Year in Review shows how many pages and books I read, the shortest and longest book, the average book length, the most and least shelved books, my average rating, the highest rated on Goodreads, and a list of all the books I read.

• Spotify’s Wrapped provides a fun, interactive collage of statistics that show how much I enjoyed certain artists and genres. One of my favorite stats is the top fan percentage I fall in for a specific musician (e.g., the top 3% of listeners for Post Malone). It also lists top songs for the year in a convenient playlist that I can listen to again and curate more songs I might be into.

• PlayStation’s Wrap-up is less influential, but it shows the types of games I played, the number of hours played, and other usual top-ranking metrics.

Implementing a wrap-up feature has many perks. It’s free advertising for Substack when its staunchest advocates promote their wrap-ups across their social media. It gives me something to reflect upon. And to beat a dead horse: personalization, personalization, personalization.

Gamification Works

In January, I wrote about the pros and cons of gamification in the digital era. By the end of that article, I realized gamification doesn’t have to be deceptively evil if done for the right reasons. Substack implementing more analytics and metrics for the platform’s readership would add value to those users and, as a byproduct, increase engagement, which would be a net good overall as long as an algorithm isn’t implemented.

Gamifying reading has noticeably improved my own reading habits. It provides a sense of achievement and quantifiable progress. While it won’t apply equally to all users, it might be the one thing that gets the ever-growing population of digital readers to commit to reading a publication or creating their own Substack.

If you’ve watched a Twitch or YouTube stream, you’ve seen the chat where users post unique stickers and sport special icons. These gamification aspects make community members feel unique and want to engage with the creator more often. It’s also a way for them to show off to other folks in the chat and convince them to become members as well.

Substack has courted writers. Now it’s time to court readers.

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What are some pros and cons of adding more analytical tools to Substack's reader base? Would this have any impact on your experience? Are there ideas I missed in this topic that you’d like to see implemented instead?

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