HELP: Very IMPORTANT membership site questions please...

10 replies
Here are some questions I'd like to see what others that own membership sites are doing...and your reasons as to why you're doing things this way please...

1) DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT OR NOT:
Do you let your members download your videos and other paid-for content to their computer so they can access it offline? Or is ALL your content accessible online only from the membership site?

2) SPECIAL COMMENTING SYSTEM: Kajabi's comment system enables your members to have a central dashboard where they can see all comment(s)/question(s) they have ever posted on your membership site and they can see when others have replied to their comments or questions. The central dashboard system for this makes it user friendly for the members and I'm assuming it may make them want to stick around longer as a paid member. Have you duplicated a system like that with a membership site using Wordpress...or are you aware of one that works?

3) FACEBOOK COMMENTS: Are you using the Facebook commenting plugin even on your pages accessible to members only?

4) ACCESS EVEN AFTER MEMBER CANCELS: When your members cancel their membership, do you continue to let them have access to the content they already paid for? Or do you cancel their access to everything?

Thanks
Steve

P.S. If it matters, my membership site is using Wordpress with DAP.
#important #membership #questions #site
  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Hill
    Hello Steve,

    Yes, I give people the option to download the videos if they want...usually in mov or wmv format.

    I don't use a comment system and am unaware of a Wordpress function that does this.

    No if they cancel the membership they lose access to everything...as that's what they're paying for.

    Kevin
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    • Profile picture of the author Kevin Hill
      Originally Posted by Kevin.Hill View Post


      No if they cancel the membership they lose access to everything...as that's what they're paying for.

      Kevin
      Just to clarify, I DO let people have access to the content up until the billing period ends, like Zeus said above. Just in case this shows up on a Google search or something

      kevin
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  • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
    If it's a monthly membership thing, then most membership software will continue allowing that person to have access until their membership term expires. So, if they pay for Feb. and then cancel on Feb. 15, they won't be charged for March, but they will have full access through Feb. 28. That's only fair.

    I like downloadable content. In fact, you'll most likely find that your attrition rate (percentage of those who do not renew their membership) rises if you only make the content accessible from within the membership. It depends on the format of the content, of course, but you'll probably hang on to members longer if you let them download it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Zachmo
      I prefer downloadable videos but I don't go for commenting system. If member cancels membership, hey will lose everything.
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      • Profile picture of the author magentawave
        a) I'm wondering how you would handle cutting off access to a one year fixed term membership where members pay monthly to access content that is drip-fed every 10 days? That means they can only access content they have paid for instead of being able to access the entire years content immediately. So lets say Joe Blow joins and then cancels at the end of month 4. That means Joe Blow has paid for 4 months of content. Would you let Joe Blow have access to the first 4 months of content forever? Or would Joe Blow be cut off from ALL access after the 4 month term ended?

        b) Do you think its better to drip feed a large quantity of content every 30 days or a smaller quantity of content every 10 days?

        Thanks again.
        Steve


        Originally Posted by Zeus66 View Post

        If it's a monthly membership thing, then most membership software will continue allowing that person to have access until their membership term expires. So, if they pay for Feb. and then cancel on Feb. 15, they won't be charged for March, but they will have full access through Feb. 28. That's only fair.

        I like downloadable content. In fact, you'll most likely find that your attrition rate (percentage of those who do not renew their membership) rises if you only make the content accessible from within the membership. It depends on the format of the content, of course, but you'll probably hang on to members longer if you let them download it.
        Originally Posted by Kevin.Hill View Post

        Just to clarify, I DO let people have access to the content up until the billing period ends, like Zeus said above. Just in case this shows up on a Google search or something

        kevin
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  • Profile picture of the author CyberSorcerer
    To answer the drip-feed content question, yes all my members have access to everything up-to the point they stop paying. So if a members has paid 4 months of payments, he will have access to just those 4 months if he stops payment on the 4th month.

    Reason I'm choosing to drip-feed my content is because there's about 400 hours of videos and my students are usually complete newbies so they don't need information overload. They learn this weeks lessons then move onto next weeks and so forth.
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    • Profile picture of the author magentawave
      But does that mean that if they cancel at month 4 (or whatever) that you will give them access to the first 4 months of content in perpetuity?

      Oh and here is another membership site question... If they cancel at month 4 (or whatever) and then later come back and want to re-subscribe, do you let them start where they left off when they first canceled at month 4, or do they have to start all over again?

      Steve



      Originally Posted by CyberSorcerer View Post

      To answer the drip-feed content question, yes all my members have access to everything up-to the point they stop paying. So if a members has paid 4 months of payments, he will have access to just those 4 months if he stops payment on the 4th month.

      Reason I'm choosing to drip-feed my content is because there's about 400 hours of videos and my students are usually complete newbies so they don't need information overload. They learn this weeks lessons then move onto next weeks and so forth.
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      • Profile picture of the author CyberSorcerer
        Originally Posted by magentawave View Post

        But does that mean that if they cancel at month 4 (or whatever) that you will give them access to the first 4 months of content in perpetuity?

        Oh and here is another membership site question... If they cancel at month 4 (or whatever) and then later come back and want to re-subscribe, do you let them start where they left off when they first canceled at month 4, or do they have to start all over again?

        Steve
        Yes they have full access to the content that they have already paid for for as long as they want to come back and visit it.

        If they do cancel at month 4 then decide to come back 6 months from now, they continue from month 4, where they left off.
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        • Profile picture of the author magentawave
          I'll check out Disqus again to see if it will do what I want (give my members a central dashboard where they can see all the comments/questions they have left on my membership site).

          Thanks
          Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author Josh Anderson
    1) DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT OR NOT: Do you let your members download your videos and other paid-for content to their computer so they can access it offline? Or is ALL your content accessible online only from the membership site?
    It all depends on the content.... we provide a mix of content that is only viewable online as well as supplimental downloadable resources, tools, and pdf documents.

    By keeping some content online only in the members area we can update it at any time dynamically for all users so they have the most current content.


    2) SPECIAL COMMENTING SYSTEM: Kajabi's comment system enables your members to have a central dashboard where they can see all comment(s)/question(s) they have ever posted on your membership site and they can see when others have replied to their comments or questions. The central dashboard system for this makes it user friendly for the members and I'm assuming it may make them want to stick around longer as a paid member. Have you duplicated a system like that with a membership site using Wordpress...or are you aware of one that works?
    Disqus has provided a centralized tool for this for quite some time... and it has only gotten better adding facebook comments, tweets... everything in one place. Check out this thread:

    http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...tips-list.html
    4) ACCESS EVEN AFTER MEMBER CANCELS: When your members cancel their membership, do you continue to let them have access to the content they already paid for? Or do you cancel their access to everything?
    Inside of Nanacast we decided to leave this decision to the publisher. We allow the publisher to decide whether someone gets to keep access for a period of time or whether access is immediately canceled when the billing subscription is canceled by the subscriber.

    I think that there will always be reasons for both options.
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