New on Substack: Subscriber Perks, saved Notes, scheduled Chats, MCP, redesigned podcast player, and more

Whether you’re spending your Substack summer tinkering with your existing newsletter or podcast or launching your first one, we’re shipping features that make it easier to publish, customize, and distribute your work, and engage with your audience. We look forward to hearing what’s most useful and what you want more of. Here’s the latest.

Paid subscriber Perks

Subscriber Perks are a new feature that lets you give your paid audience something extra beyond traditional paywalled content, like discount codes, downloadable resources, or invites to live sessions. Perks you create will appear under the new “Perks” tab on your publication. It’s another way to thank the paid subscribers who support your work and encourage others to upgrade. This is available to publishers who have payments enabled.

Here are some perks publishers are already offering their paid subscribers:

• Anna Eleri Hart’s U.S. shopping guide

• I LIKE NETWORKING’s curated list of people to meet at SXSW London

• Caroline Chambers’s six-day meal plan

Learn more about subscriber perks in our Help Center.

Saved Notes

You can now save Notes on iOS and Android directly in the Substack app. Saved Notes live in your Substack profile. Just click on the ⋯ in the top right corner to access them.

This dedicated space for saved Notes within your profile is like your curated reading list, or as Ru Rao put it, the place to revisit a Note that’s an “absolute gem.”

Scheduled Chats

You can now schedule Chat threads just like you schedule Notes and posts. Scheduling chats is a great way to build community by connecting regularly with your audience between posts. Schedule a chat by going to the Chat tab, clicking the orange button to start a new Chat thread, and selecting “Schedule” in the thread settings

Polls

You can now post polls to Substack Notes. Polls are another way to continue the conversation with your audience by surfacing their opinions, preferences, and priorities. It’s just one click for them and can lead to a gold mine of ideas for you.

You can embed a poll in a Note or a post:

• In a Note, click on the Poll icon in the bottom of the Note screen.

• In a post, click “More” on the far right side of the text editor and select Poll from the dropdown menu.

Stephanie H. Murray, the writer of Family Stuff, recently restacked another publisher’s writing and polled her own audience to gauge their reaction to a parenting etiquette question. She received over 400 responses.