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Anyone else having issues getting people to stay in memberships?

by countonuspr
7 replies
Recently I launched a program with a couple of other marketers that had nearly 10 hours of training videos and weekly live group coaching calls for $1 and after 30 days it rolled into a $39.95 monthly charge for our ongoing coaching and support.

The crazy thing with our live group coaching is that twice a week we meet with our members and do live Q&A and live trainings with them. Each one of these calls last 2 hours. So each month we are giving our members 8 hours of live time with us on the phone. We also have a forum where are members are adding value to each other and we offer new training materials on a monthly basis.

The problem we are finding is that of our over 600 buyers that took us up on this offer we will be lucky to have 150 people stick into the program. What is amazing us is that of the 600 buyers we are lucky to have a core group of 40 people show up for the calls and an even smaller group take part in the forum part which is where the new trainings are.

The frustrating part is that we had so many people take the $1 training and just leave and not take action in the training. We figured out that next time around we are just going charge up front for our content because we will have come out way ahead.

What else could we do differently to get them on the calls and to get them to see the value of our time? We are giving them 8 hours per month of our time to ask any question they want related to IM. The three of us make a great team and two of us have even been featured speakers at IM seminars as well. So we know the things we are talking about, we are offering so much value, but getting so little in return. It is sickening.

Is anyone else having these issues?
#give #members #possibly
  • Profile picture of the author Taylor French
    Any time you have a free or very cheap trial, you're going to get a ton of people who just sign up to get some stuff super cheap. A majority of them probably never intended to stay, and many of them might not really even be able to afford $40 a month right now. I don't think there's necessarily anything you're doing wrong, but it's the nature of the beast with trials like that. I dropped trials on my sites because of it.
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    • Profile picture of the author countonuspr
      Taylor,

      Thank you for your feedback. We are actually going to take away the trial as well. It is good to hear that we are not alone. What is really funny is that we have an OTO for $297 and our refund rate is less than 10% which is great compared to nearly 75% cancel rate on the trial. It goes to show that customers who pay more tend to be more serious about their products and they have no problem showing up for the calls and they get great value from our program. We could have sold 100 packages at $297 and came out with more revenue than from selling 600 people into the monthly with the trial.

      I appreciate your thoughts.

      Originally Posted by Taylor French View Post

      Any time you have a free or very cheap trial, you're going to get a ton of people who just sign up to get some stuff super cheap. A majority of them probably never intended to stay, and many of them might not really even be able to afford $40 a month right now. I don't think there's necessarily anything you're doing wrong, but it's the nature of the beast with trials like that. I dropped trials on my sites because of it.
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      Paul Counts, Host of the "Count On Us Internet Profits Radio Show"
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  • Profile picture of the author kmg
    Have you thought about asking your departing members why?

    My first thought is that many people wouldn't have a whole 8 free hours a month to invest in your program (time can be more valuable that money to some people). Do you also offer transcripts, summaries, checklists or other forms of 'at a glance' information for members who don't want to listen in?
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    • Profile picture of the author countonuspr
      Thank you for your input. Yes, we offer videos, ebook training, and other training materials. The 8 hours per month is optional and we are there to answer questions that they have related to their businesses. So we are there to help them, but we don't see them taking the help.
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      Paul Counts, Host of the "Count On Us Internet Profits Radio Show"
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  • Profile picture of the author lilydab
    Your $1 trial for one month was a way for people to get a lot of information for virtually nothing.Of course you would have had a lot of signups.But a lot of people can"t afford a monthly fee.There are membership sites available for one off fees and still provide the conference calls etc,with no further payments. Probably one of the reasons for drop outs. Good Luck with your venture.
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  • Profile picture of the author tommygadget
    I've had people drop out of my membership and I've asked them why. The majority said that the content was fantastic and they put me on a list to re-subscribe in the future. As to why they left, some said they were having financial difficulties, and some decided to move in another direction in IM. A few simply did not read the sales page and subscribed without knowing what they were getting.

    TomG.
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  • Profile picture of the author Tyrus Antas
    Divide your course/training into monthly modules and tell them upfront how much time it takes to finish your course.

    Optionally allow them to pay upfront for the entire course.

    Use teasers to make them stay another month. Ever read a long sales letter? The teasers are usually at the bottom. Create a "Next month" section on your website and put your teasers there.

    Once the course is about to finish, create another one and ask them if they want to stay for the duration of this new course. Rinse and repeat.

    Tyrus
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