A free community can fill up fast. It's easy to end up with hundreds of people chatting in a group while your paid membership stays the same size. The free group feels busy, but nobody in it can see where the paid part is or why they'd want it.
This post shows you how to set up a free community so it has a clear path into a paid one. You'll see what to put in the free group, what to save for paid members, how to invite people up without being pushy and what to watch each month. It's one of the ideas from my full list, 99 Ways to Make Sales Every Day Without Launching. It sits in the membership and community section of that list.
What a free community with a paid upgrade is
It's a free group, on a platform like Skool, Circle or a Facebook group, where anyone can join and get real help. Inside that group there's a clear next step into something paid, like a membership, a course or a mastermind. The free group is where people get to know you and each other. The paid upgrade is where they go when they want more help, more access or more structure.
I run a free Skool community called the Creator's MBA Boardroom and I also sell paid memberships. The free group and the paid upgrade each have their own job. Your work is in making the path between them easy to see.
Decide what the free group is for before you open it
The biggest choice you'll make is what people get for free. If the free group gives away everything, there's no reason to upgrade. If it gives away almost nothing, people don't stay long enough to trust you.
A simple way to decide is to split things by type of help.
Good fits for the free group
- A place to ask questions and get answers from you and other members
- A short starter resource, like a checklist, a template or a short video lesson
- A regular post or thread, like a weekly wins thread or a monthly question
- Invites to free events you run
Good fits for the paid upgrade
- Step-by-step trainings and the full library of lessons
- Live calls, office hours or reviews of members' work
- Templates, tools and resources that save people time
- A smaller group where members get more of your attention
- Replays of past events and workshops
Write down one sentence for each: "The free group helps people ______" and "The paid membership helps people ______." If you can't tell them apart from those two sentences, keep adjusting until you can.
Build the path from free to paid
Once you know what each side is for, you need a clear path that takes people from one to the other. Here's how I'd set it up.
A welcome message that points somewhere
Set up an automatic welcome message for new members. Thank them for joining, tell them where to start and link to one starter product or resource that fits most new members.
A pinned "start here" post
Pin one post at the top of the group that explains what the group is, how to get the most from it and what's available in the paid membership.
A way to capture emails
Ask for an email address when people join, if your platform allows it. Then add them to your email list. A free community member who's also on your list can get your welcome series and offers.
A regular invite to upgrade
Pick a rhythm, like once a month, for a post that tells people what's happening in the paid membership this month and how to join.
The automatic welcome message is its own idea on the Sales on Repeat list. It's one of the easiest things to set up because you write it once. Make sure it links to one thing only, so new members aren't choosing between five options on day one.
What to post so people want to upgrade
You don't have to post a sales pitch every day. Most of what you post in the free group should help people. The invites to upgrade can come up naturally from that help.
Here are some types of posts that show what the paid side is like without giving it all away:
- Answer a question, then point to the full training. Give a helpful answer in the free group, then mention that the full step-by-step lesson lives in the membership.
- Share what's coming up for members. "This month in the membership we're doing a live review of members' sales pages" tells free members what they're missing without making a big deal of it.
- Run a free event. A free live workshop for the community can end with an invite to the paid membership. If you run events, Turn Every Past Event Into Its Own Sales Funnel shows how to keep that replay selling after the live day.
- Celebrate member wins with permission. If a paid member shares something they built and says it's okay to share, a short post about it shows free members what the membership helps people do.
Give the upgrade a real reason to happen now
Free community members can sit in the group for a long time without upgrading, simply because nothing asks them to decide. You can give them a reason by opening a short window with something extra.
Some options:
- A short enrollment window each month, with the doors open for a few days instead of all the time
- A lower first month or a bonus for people who join during the window
- A paid trial, like $1 or $7 for the first month
- A live kickoff call for everyone who joins that month
Keep the lower price inside that window and off your public pages, so it still gives people a reason to decide. I explain how I handle this in Stop Leaving Your Discount Codes Out in Public.
An invite to upgrade should read like you're telling a friend about something that would help them. Say who it's for, what they get and how to join. Then leave it there. People who aren't ready will still feel welcome in the free group.
Connect the community to your email list
A community platform is a place you don't own. Rules change, features change and posts can get buried. Your email list is the place you can reach people directly, so it's worth connecting the two.
When someone joins the free group, get them onto your email list with a tag that says they came from the community. Then they can get your welcome series, your weekly product email and any upgrade offers you send. If your welcome series doesn't end on something to buy yet, The Welcome Series That Makes Your First Sale for You walks you through it.
You can also do the reverse. Invite your email subscribers into the free community in your welcome series, so people who found you through a freebie or a blog post have a place to ask questions and meet other members.
What to watch every month
You don't need a big dashboard. A few numbers once a month will tell you if the path is working.
- How many new people joined the free group
- How many of them also joined your email list
- How many free members upgraded to paid
- Which posts got the most replies or questions
- How many people clicked the link in your welcome message or pinned post, if you can see that
If lots of people join but nobody upgrades, look at your welcome message and pinned post first. If people upgrade but leave the paid membership quickly, look at what happens in the first week after they join.
Mistakes to avoid
- Giving away the paid content in the free group. If the full trainings are free, the upgrade doesn't make sense. Keep the step-by-step work on the paid side.
- Never mentioning the paid option. People can't upgrade to something they don't know exists. A pinned post and a monthly invite are enough for most groups.
- Pitching every day. If every post is an offer, people stop reading. Most posts should be helpful on their own.
- Running the group with no email connection. If you only reach people inside the platform, you're depending on them to log in.
- Letting the group go quiet. A free group with no posts for weeks doesn't make anyone want the paid version. Pick one regular post you can keep up with.
- Sending direct messages to every new member with an offer. Many people find that pushy. A welcome message and a pinned post do the job.
A hypothetical example
This is a made-up example with round numbers so you can see how the pieces fit together.
Say you teach knitting and you sell a $29 a month membership with monthly patterns, a live knit-along and a library of technique videos. You start a free community where people can ask questions, share their projects and get a free beginner pattern.
Here's how you'd set up the path. Your automatic welcome message thanks people for joining and links to the free beginner pattern, which is delivered through your email list so they land in your welcome series. Your pinned post explains that the free group is for questions and sharing. It also says the membership is where the monthly patterns and the live knit-along happen.
Once a month you post a short note about that month's pattern in the membership and open the doors for five days with a bonus pattern for anyone who joins in that window. Your welcome series ends on the same membership offer, so people who never check the group still see it.
Now say 200 people join the free group in a month. You'd check how many joined your list, how many clicked the membership link and how many joined during the window. Those numbers would tell you whether to work on the welcome message, the pinned post or the monthly invite next.
"An invite to upgrade should read like you're telling a friend about something that would help them."
Dr. Destini CoppHow this fits with the rest of Sales on Repeat
A free community works well with a few other ideas on the list. The automatic welcome message points new members to a starter product. Opening the doors every month gives the upgrade a real window. A monthly live workshop open to non-members can sell the membership at the end. You don't have to set them all up at once.
If you're not sure where to start, the free Sales on Repeat skill can help. It's a Claude skill that asks a few questions about your business and picks the first three Sales on Repeat ideas you should set up.
Wrapping up
Start by writing your two sentences, one for what the free group helps people do and one for what the paid membership helps people do. Then set up your welcome message and pinned post, connect the group to your email list and pick a monthly rhythm for the invite. You can see every other idea in the series on the full list of 99 ways to make sales every day without launching.
Find your first three Sales on Repeat ideas
The free Sales on Repeat skill asks a few questions about your business and picks the first three ideas you should set up, including community ideas if they fit.
Get the free Sales on Repeat skill →Frequently asked.
How do I turn free community members into paying members?
Give the free group a clear job and the paid membership a different one, then make the path between them easy to see. Use an automatic welcome message, a pinned start here post, an email signup and a regular invite to upgrade. A short enrollment window or bonus gives people a reason to decide.
What should I give away for free in my community?
Good free fits are a place to ask questions, a short starter resource, a regular thread like a weekly wins post and invites to free events. Save step-by-step trainings, live calls, reviews, templates and replays for the paid side. If the full trainings are free, the upgrade doesn't make sense.
How often should I pitch my paid membership in a free group?
Most posts should be helpful on their own. A pinned post that mentions the membership plus a monthly invite is enough for most groups. If every post is an offer, people stop reading.
Should I connect my free community to my email list?
Yes. A community platform is a place you don't own and posts can get buried. Getting free members onto your email list with a tag means they also get your welcome series, weekly product email and upgrade offers.
What numbers should I track for a free community?
Each month, look at how many people joined the free group, how many joined your email list, how many upgraded to paid and which posts got the most replies. If people join but nobody upgrades, check your welcome message and pinned post first.
Dr. Destini Copp helps digital product creators build sustainable, systems-based businesses through the Creator Growth Flywheel framework. She's the founder of Creator's MBA and HobbyScool, and has been teaching online business strategy for over a decade. Learn more →
