12 Patreon Poll Ideas That Give Patrons a Real Say

Patrons rarely cancel because the work got worse. They cancel when the pledge stops feeling like it does anything. A poll is the cheapest recurring benefit there is: it costs you one post, and it turns a subscriber into a participant with a stake in what ships next.

Here are twelve poll ideas creators run on Patreon, grouped by what you make — with a note on how to run each one well.

For artists and illustrators

1. The next character or subject

The classic. Shortlist four to six characters (yours, or commissioned suggestions) and let patrons pick who gets the next full illustration. This is the poll that runs entire YCH communities — and the one that suffers most from text-only voting, since the options are pictures. Run it as an image poll with a grid layout.

2. The cover art duel

Two finished cover candidates, one head-to-head vote, 48-hour deadline. Works for album art, book covers, thumbnails. Duels get the highest turnout of any poll format — one tap, instant gratification — and settle the argument with numbers instead of a comment thread.

3. Work-in-progress direction

At a milestone, post two crops of the same piece — warm palette vs. cool, armor A vs. armor B — and let patrons steer. It doubles as progress content: the same WIP becomes a post, a poll, and a reveal.

4. The monthly theme

Let patrons pick next month’s theme (season, setting, trope) from a shortlist, then everything you make that month traces back to “you chose this.” One poll, a month of ambient engagement.

For game and software developers

5. Feature roadmap priority

List the next four things you could build and let members order the queue. Backers accept “not yet” far more gracefully when they watched “not yet” win the vote. Give higher tiers more voting power here — the people funding development get a heavier hand on the wheel.

6. Which render gets the polish?

Post three in-engine renders or scene blockouts and ask which one becomes the showcase piece — the wallpaper, the trailer shot, the Steam capsule. Screenshots are image polls by nature; a grid vote fits perfectly.

7. Name the thing

A character, a spell, a ship, the update itself. Collect suggestions from top tiers, shortlist five, everyone votes. Naming polls have the best comment sections of any format.

For video and podcast creators

8. The next video topic

Three or four topics you’d genuinely make, patrons pick the order. This is the retention poll: the member who voted for a topic comes back to watch it win, then comes back again to watch the video.

9. Format and guest picks

Deep-dive vs. quick tips, solo episode vs. guest, which game for the next stream. Low-stakes, high-frequency — good filler between bigger votes, and a natural fit for native text polls if you don’t need images or weights.

For any creator

10. The bonus content pick

Each month, patrons choose the extra: wallpaper pack, process video, PSD file, early chapter. You were going to make one bonus anyway — letting members pick it converts a giveaway into a benefit they exercised.

11. Which WIP gets finished first?

Every creator has a drawer of half-done pieces. Show the drawer. Patrons love triage votes because the honesty is the content — and whatever wins arrives with a built-in audience that chose it.

12. The two-stage suggestion round

Stage one: higher tiers submit ideas (that’s the tier benefit). Stage two: the shortlist goes to a vote for all paid members. You get engagement twice from one decision, and both layers of your community get a distinct role.

Making the vote actually matter

• Only ballot things you’ll happily make. Patrons decide priority, never scope. If an option winning would ruin your month, it doesn’t belong on the list.
• Keep it to five options or fewer. Long ballots split votes into noise; shortlisting is your job, choosing is theirs.
• Deadline every poll. “Closes Friday” creates the small urgency that turns readers into voters.
• Close the loop, loudly. Announce the winner, ship the thing, and link back to the poll when you do. The memory of “we voted for this and it happened” is what renews pledges.
• Weight votes when tiers differ. If a $25 patron and a $3 patron are voting on the same roadmap, flat voting quietly punishes the person funding it — that’s what weighted polls are for.

Not sure where to actually host these polls? The honest comparison — Patreon Polls vs Discord vs Google Forms vs StrawPoll — walks through what each option can and can’t do.