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One-Time Memberships vs. Recurring Membership...Which is More Profitable?

by Jesus Perez
11 replies
Today I was sitting with my wife at dinner while we discussed a video tutorial membership site I was planning. During the conversation, she asked how much I was going to charge. I turned the question around and asked how much she would pay. "$40 bucks," was her firm reply.

"But I plan on charging recurring memberships," I countered.

She replied with a simple question. "Why?"

Her question made me think. Up until now, I was planning to charge anywhere between $9.95-$19.95 a month on a recurring monthly basis. Thing is, most people will only signup for a month, see or download what they want, cancel and never come back. I've lost a "lifetime" member so to speak.

So what happens if I charge a one-time fee for lifetime access? Now that same visitor has become a "lifetime visitor". They will always be able to come back and I will have further attempts to market them newer products. This could prove to become even more profitable than a recurring member that stays 3-6 months.

Obviously this type of membership depends on the contents and materials being offered. But I suspect the longterm benefits of keeping someone coming back for new content will prove more profitable.

Any thoughts? Does it make sense? More importantly, has anyone tried this or shifted their business model in such a way.

Thanks,

Jesus
#memberships #membershipwhich #onetime #profitable #recurring
  • Profile picture of the author websitemoneynow
    Maybe Charge a one time fee for the first 4months till you get your products gravity up and have some affiliates then switch your program to a re occuring fee and you would probably benefit .
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  • Profile picture of the author Sylvia Meier
    I was questioning this myself for a future product release and finally settled on doing it as recurring. Say you charge the $40 for a lifer, thats all you will ever get from them. If you set it as a low enough monthly cost, I dont think many will cancel, even if you lose 30% of subs, you could still come out way better in the longrun with the monthly program by keeping new content ongoing, run contests whatever to keep em coming back. I mean if WF started charging monthly I am sure many will still stay here for the information they gain. You just have to make the price small enough they don't grunt and groan or overthink it and overdeliver on the content.
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  • Profile picture of the author teenmoney
    idk maybe this is just me but it seems like i would pay for one or two months on the membership site and then leave... so it seems like a $40 one time fee would also appeal to people more.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeffery
    Why not use both?

    Monthly fee for monthly access.
    One-Time fee for life-time access.

    Monthly access is more expensive than life-time access. Customers that signup for monthly access have the option to upgrade to life-time access after X months.

    Most members want to be a member of a site that helps them make money. Your videos may very well help people make enough money to subscribe to the life-time membership. That is your leverage if you can make it work for you and your members.

    Jeffery 100% :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author lakshaybehl
    HINT

    Most successful membership sites are those with regularly updated content and regularly REMOVED content as well.

    I would go on to recommend having an option for them to pay a 147 for a year long membership.

    Many people like that kind of discount and this could be a potential gold mine for you...

    -Lakshay
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  • Profile picture of the author Jeffery
    BTW, I used to run public membership sites and though they do earn money the private membership sites earn more. Thing is there are already lots of high quality, long standing, and established private membership sites. Matter of fact, the leaders of those sites rarely post on this forum anymore because their customers/members would prefer to keep those site leaders and sites out of the public eye. Over time the members of the sites have become investors in the site leader's business. Some of the sites evolved into investorship sites. A very different level of Internet Marketing and from my experience the most profitable.

    Something for you to "think ahead" because I have seen you contribute a lot to this forum.

    Jeffery 100% :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author blokh
    Depends on the market, how much money can your customers afford.

    if I have a $97 / month product, I would sell it on a one time payment or an annual for at least 800 bucks. I don't think most customers can afford that amount, so I would let them pay monthly. Like easy payments.

    But if your product is 19 bucks, you can still sell an annual access for like 199 or so .. still affordable.

    Flickr charges $24 per year for a Pro account ... $2 per month ... people can afford, rather they keep gifting pro accounts to friends and fello flickr members ..

    All depends ... don't think about what is going to be profitable for you, think of it from a customer's point of view. If you can make them comfortable, you will automatically be profitable.
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    • Profile picture of the author psresearch
      There's a Warrior that did something that I thought was brilliant - I think it was Kurt with the dombom membership.

      After your with the membership for so many months, the monthly price drops substantially - to something like $7 at the time I think.

      So if you know your average retention rate, implementing something like that seems incredibly smart.

      It's hard to cancel at such a low price, because to rejoin you have to sign back up at the higher monthly rate. Plus the dropped monthly rate is so low it's pretty much a non-issue for a lot of people.

      It seems to me that he's probably retaining and continuing to get paid by people that likely would have quit otherwise.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jeffery
        Originally Posted by markquinn View Post

        There's a Warrior that did something that I thought was brilliant - I think it was Kurt with the dombom membership.

        After your with the membership for so many months, the monthly price drops substantially - to something like $7 at the time I think.

        So if you know your average retention rate, implementing something like that seems incredibly smart.

        It's hard to cancel at such a low price, because to rejoin you have to sign back up at the higher monthly rate. Plus the dropped monthly rate is so low it's pretty much a non-issue for a lot of people.

        It seems to me that he's probably retaining and continuing to get paid by people that likely would have quit otherwise.
        Yep, that works a charm :-)

        Jeffery 100% :-)
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  • Profile picture of the author Steven Carl Kelly
    I much prefer to market recurring memberships over one-time memberships. Simply dole out new and valuable content each month, and make sure you tease the content for the next month so that it will be hard for your members to jump ship.
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  • Profile picture of the author BizBooks
    great thread.

    if you have a "pay once for life" membership, you can always still make money off the members by promoting additional products in your newsletter or on your board....
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