Turn big events into a repeatable marketing engine that grows lifetime value.
If most of your customers show up for one specific event and buy the day of, this playbook gives you a repeatable way to market each event, price it so a subscription looks like the obvious choice, and keep more of the people who arrive.
Who this is for: memberships with cyclical events (competitions, live events, season premieres, finales) that see churn after every event or struggle to move customers past pay-per-view (PPV).
Annual plans churn at roughly one third the rate of monthly plans on Uscreen. Every event buyer you move onto annual is one of your most stable customers.
By the end of this playbook, you will:
Most of your customers show up for one specific event and buy the day of. Your events run in certain seasons, so people don't think they need a subscription the rest of the year.
That pattern is called cyclical churn. Members are billed on one schedule, but the value they want arrives on your event schedule. The gap between the two is where they cancel.
The good news? This can become your advantage. You know when demand spikes and you know why people are there. You can build your funnel, messaging, and packaging around that moment, then fill the quiet months over time with content that makes sense. Some of the best funnels we see on Uscreen belong to customers who create a spike on purpose, like a yearly summer challenge.
The goal is a repeatable playbook for how you market each event, so you aren't scrambling to rebuild.
Before you change prices or build pages, pull six numbers from your Analytics. Use a window of time that covers at least one full season, and compare event weeks with the weeks around them. The Analytics Playbook shows where each chart lives.
| Question | Where to look | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| When do people buy? | Analytics > Subscriptions | If most signups land the week of an event, your business is event-driven |
| What do they buy? | Sales by plan around each event: PPV, monthly, annual | Lots of PPV and monthly with little annual means people pick the cheapest way to watch once |
| How many subscribers stay past the event? | Retention Cohort chart (Analytics > Subscriptions > Churn) | A steep drop at month 2 (or the end of the event series) is cyclical churn |
| How much of your base are annual subscribers? | Subscriptions | A starting target is at least 5% of customers going through annual |
| Which plans sit between PPV and annual? | Your plan list | Quarterly and season passes usually leave money on the table and churn heavily |
| Does each event have its own page? | Your site and your ad links | One generic join page for every event leaves conversion on the table |
When to take action: if signups cluster around events, month-2 retention drops off, annual is under 5% of your customers, or everything points to one join page, start with Step 1.
People who arrive for one event buy whatever the page makes obvious. Price your plans so each step up looks like the better deal.
Here you are using relative prices to steer which plan people pick. Also known as price anchoring.
| Plan | Its job | How to price it |
|---|---|---|
| PPV | Captures people who want exactly one event, and gives monthly something to beat | Price it so a second event makes monthly the better deal |
| Monthly | Where people who want more than one event land | Price it below two PPV purchases. |
| Annual | The plan for anyone who wants three or more months, and the source of your retention | Price it to pay for itself after a few major events, about three to four months of monthly |
Example ladders (illustration only, test your own numbers):
| Setup | PPV | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | $30 | $35 | $99 |
| Aggressive | $29 to $35 | $29 | $89 to $99 |
PPV captures people who would never subscribe, and it gives monthly a price to beat. Raise it on purpose so it looks less attractive next to monthly. More people will reason their way into a subscription, and the ones who truly want one event still have a way to buy.
Pull three numbers for your last few events:
Then compare what each group pays today with what it would pay under the new ladder. A quick floor: raising PPV from $20 to $30 earns the same PPV revenue even if you lose one third of PPV buyers, and every buyer who moves up to monthly or annual adds to that.
Want a second opinion on your numbers? Paste this into Claude or ChatGPT with your own data:
I run an event-driven membership. My current plans and prices: [list]. My events: [number per year, note which are major and draw the most buyers]. My last 12 months: [signups by plan around each event, share who cancel before month 2, churn by plan]. I'm considering this ladder: PPV [price], monthly [price], annual [price]. Using pricing research and psychology (for example the decoy effect and anchoring from Predictably Irrational), explain (1) why this ladder might work and which principles are at play, and (2) the break-even math: what share of event buyers must choose each plan for total revenue to match or beat what I earn today. Show your assumptions and flag any number I should double-check before I change prices.Announce new prices in advance. This is an opportunity to run a very effective campaign type: the price-increase campaign. Promote it with a message like "Lock in the best rate before prices go up." Keep current members on their existing rate. The Flash Sale Playbook has a price-increase example you can adapt.
Build one funnel and run it for every event: a landing page, a plan block that nudges people up the ladder, an annual push at the right moments, and a follow-up after the event. Making a templatized plan means you spend less time building per-event.
Here for one event? Watch it for $30.
Planning to watch more? A month of access is $35 and covers every event in that window.
Want the whole season? Annual is $99.
| When | Do this | Go deeper |
|---|---|---|
| Before the season starts | Push annual first, emphasize getting a whole year of access. If prices are going up, use a lock-in message. | Flash Sale Playbook, Play 1 |
| Run-up to each event | Event page live, email and social pointing to the page. Use the 10 to 14 day runway for major events and a shorter version for smaller ones. | Campaign Operating System |
| Event window | Hold your offer steady: same prices, same deadline, same page. | |
| First major event of the season | Second annual push | Off-Season Retention Playbook, item 05 |
| Right after each event | Nurture & upsell (details below) | |
| Between events | Newsletter, light content, and a win-back push timed ahead of the next event | Customer Newsletter Template |
| Within a week of each event | Debrief: plan mix, month-2 renewal, annual upgrades | Campaign Operating System, Part 6 |
The people who just watched are your warmest audience. Make the next choice obvious.
Build one event page end to end. For each later event, give your AI tool the finished page and ask for the same page for the new event. A quieter stretch of the calendar is the lowest-risk time to build and test this, and once the formula works, every event after it gets easier.
You know your audience better than we do, so treat this list as a menu, and skip any that stretch you thin. These are things we've seen work.
Compare each event with the last one, and use your own history as the baseline. Review within three to seven days of each event.
| Metric | Why it matters | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Month-2 renewal of event signups | Shows how many event buyers stay past the event | Better than your last event. No universal benchmark |
| Plan mix at each event | Shows whether your ladder steers choices | A growing share on monthly and annual each event |
| Annual share of customers | Annual gives you stability across the off-season | At least 5% of customers as a starting point, then rising |
| Churn by plan | Confirms cyclical churn is shrinking | 10% or below monthly, 5% or below annual. Annual typically churns at about one third the rate of monthly |
| Event page conversion | Shows whether the page does its job | Better than your last event |
| Annual upgrades after each event | Shows whether your follow-up works | Rising per event |
A simple rule: if people aren't buying, fix the event page. If they buy PPV and never upgrade, revisit the ladder and the follow-up. If they subscribe and leave right after the event, push annual earlier and nurture sooner.
Do this instead: build a page for each event and put the current one on your homepage.
Do this instead: price PPV so monthly wins for anyone who would buy a second event.
Do this instead: keep PPV, monthly, and annual. If you sell a championship pass, add an annual upsell at checkout.
Do this instead: price annual to pay for itself after a few events.
Do this instead: push before the season starts, again at the first major event, and follow up after every event.
Do this instead: set prices, bonuses, and deadlines before the run-up and hold them, as the Campaign Operating System recommends.
Do this instead: run it on a smaller event first, and use the results to set up the major ones.
Do this instead: announce ahead of time, use a lock-in message, and keep current members on their rate while you watch results.
Do this instead: build content from footage you already have, and check that people watch it before you make more.
| Playbook | Use it when |
|---|---|
| Landing Pages That Convert | You're building event pages, using the Live Event template, or building with AI |
| How to Build a High-Converting Funnel | You want the email sequence and funnel models behind your follow-up |
| Campaign Operating System | You're planning the run-up to a major event, or running the scorecard and debrief |
| Flash Sale Playbook | You're running an annual upgrade or announcing a price increase |
| Off-Season Retention Playbook | You're planning content, push notifications, and a newsletter between events |
| Member Reactivation Playbook | You're bringing former members back before the next event |
| How to Combat Churn | You're setting up retention automations, including Upsell to Annual |
| Onboarding Playbook | You're welcoming new subscribers in their first 7 to 14 days |
| How to Look at Analytics | You're reading the Retention Cohort chart and the Benchmarks tab |
| Customer Newsletter Guide | You're keeping members in touch between events |
| The Black Friday and Cyber Monday Playbook | Your season overlaps the year-end sale window |
Your events already bring people to you. This playbook gives you a way to meet each of them with the right plan at the right moment, every time.
Start small. Pick one smaller event, build the page, set the ladder, and run the follow-up. Debrief, adjust, and reuse the same formula for the next event.
And you don't have to refine this alone. Bring your event page, your pricing ladder, and your numbers into the Membership+ community. It's included in your Uscreen plan, and is the fastest way to get feedback from our coaches. Share what you've built and ask for a pressure test. Our coaches and other creators will help you spot gaps before your next event.