$97+ membership sites - Why did you quit ???

19 replies
You signed up, you were motivated by the sales page, you had a dream, then the second or third time they ping your account for $97, $149, $250 or whatever it is, you quit. Why did you do that? Did you think you would get everything up front for the first monthly price? Did you lose focus? Was the content crap?

We don't have to mention sites, but you can post the type of content and why you quit. Please. I would like to hear.
#$97 #membership #quit #sites
  • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
    Scott,
    No idea what your post is about.. I assume you offered membership sites or something for a monthly fee ???

    James
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    • Profile picture of the author Scott Ames
      Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

      Scott,
      No idea what your post is about.. I assume you offered membership sites or something for a monthly fee ???

      James
      No I don't. I am trying start a conversation about all the reasons people quit a membership site especially the expensive ones. I have some opinions on why they do, but I don't want to lead the discussion.
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      Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. -Winston Churchill

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  • Profile picture of the author AndyBeard
    There is actually a lot of false logic in a number of $1 trial then $97/month sites currently promoted.

    The value is heavily front loaded, so you get the most bang for your buck in the trial period. Many might forget to cancel who intended not to stick around.
    There must be a huge percentage who don't stick around after that first payment hit.

    The exceptions?

    1. Some suitable "lock in" as a service like an autoresponder or hosting
    2. A training series, possibly with a visible end with significant added value
    3. Continual flood of new content, live training etc. Value
    3a) A system in place to raise expectations for up coming products to stop people cancelling
    4. Members only aff program

    I am sure it was easier when there were less sites using the same model - everyone is competing for the same subscription payments, though even the IM market is huge.
    It is very easy for people to shop based upon value, or their perceived value to stick around.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
    Oh ok .. Personally I would not pay that for a membership site but that is me.. I pay $47 a month for MyArticleNetwork and I think Matt has done a great job on the site. I feel the fee is a little high though but not because the site does not offer what it promises but because I feel for $47 a month you should be getting more tools.

    I have paid for the site for several months and probably will continue as long as I see my articles are being published.

    Would I pay more than $47, probably not.. but as I said I would in no way pay $97+ for any membership. I may be a little bias here though because as a developer I can build many of these tools and scripts myself.

    James
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    • Profile picture of the author sylviad
      Just a guess... but maybe they sign up for the low price just to get "something", but have no real intentions of ever paying the full price, so once they get what they came for, they're gone.

      Apart from that, it's important to keep members happy and interested. Leave them in a state of expectation - either for the next course, a new product you'll be adding soon - valuable seminars/webinars - guest speakers, etc. Let them know it's coming, and then make sure they pay you another month's fee before providing it. So you schedule your crazy wild bonuses and specials to launch on a date after month-end. Keep doing that every month and they will stick around.

      While they might not see that your original product or service is worth the full amount, they might think that what's coming will be extremely useful to them. That's what makes them quit or stick around.

      In the end, though, it's all about giving them what they really want and can use - high value or perceived value - every month.

      Sylvia
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  • Profile picture of the author SMP
    I think there are plenty of people who join membership sites to try to download as much info as possible within the first few weeks and then cancel before the second month's subscription goes out of their account.

    Alot of membership sites don't offer good quality, new and up-to-date info and just pack the sites with PLR, ebooks and old data. What you want is good quality training material, lots of free info, lots of how-to videos / audio, etc. It also needs to cater for IMs of all capabilities as there is no telling who will subscribe.

    It's a great model for a recurring passive income, though.

    Steve.
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    • Profile picture of the author mrcouchpotato
      I think if you under promise and over deliver, you'll keep members now matter how much it costs.

      Mike
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  • Profile picture of the author Scott Ames
    Ok... I'll give some of MY reasons for quitting an expensive site. Perhaps that will get the discussion on the right track.

    Repetitive information. The first few months were great, but I started seeing the same themes and tricks presented over and over. I seemed to have learned the scope of the subject matter and they were inventing ways to make it fresh.

    No love. They didn't really care of I were a member or not. I seemed to be just one of the crowd even though I was paying a good deal of money per month. I wanted to feel special, I wanted a little gift now and then. One guy that provides this love is X and his AffiliateBlackBook site. He should be applauded and studied.

    Upsells that just went wrong. One site wanted to upgrade me to an even higher, more expensive level and they tricked me into signing up. I didn't even realize I was changing levels. I got a small gift in return for a peek into the higher level but didn't know how I agreed to keep it at that level. When I complained they didn't lower me to my previous level, they just stopped everything. I didn't say a word, their loss.
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  • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
    Because they have a $3,000 bonus package I get free for signing up to the site. I didn't really want to be a member in the first place; I just thought the bonuses were worth the money.

    Once I get to the membership area, they may want me to fill out a lot of "required" information I don't want to give out, like home address and phone number - without any privacy policy to be seen. I'm pretty sure they actively intend to sell it.

    Other times, I get into the main discussion area, and there are twelve posts. Two of them are from the marketer, telling me how great things are going to be. Six of them are from new members, saying how excited they are to be here. And the other four are asking basic questions that nobody has answered for weeks.

    And still other times, I try to participate in these discussion areas, and nobody shows up. I post something, and nobody comments for a week and a half. Or I haven't been there in three days, and when I click "new posts since last visit" I get told "no posts matched your search criteria."

    And when the second bill goes through, I look at that, and I think "this is not worth it" - so I cancel.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kirk Ward
      Haven't seen one that offered enough value to cause me to stop using the Google search function for my information.

      But, I do run some at various price points and have my own observations.

      I notice that price is not a material object at signup. If the sales page and the products offered are motivational enough, no trial period is needed.

      First observation ... If there is a trial period, then the cancellation rate is highest if there is a high perceived value in the bonuses and a large difference between the trial period price and the monthly subscription price.

      Opinion on first observation ... A lot of people are looking for free and low cost goods. They may or may not have any use for the product, but they are hunting and evaluating.

      Second observation ... As the price rises, there is a temporary increase in the drop or cancellation rate of new members for a short period after the price increase.

      Opinion on the second observation ... Maybe buyers have been looking at the site and were aware of the lower price before they returned to buy. They are then caught off guard by the price increase and feel like they were tricked.

      Third observation ... As the price increases, I see more and more notices from PayPal that the subscription payment failed.

      Opinion on the third observation ... This is a combination of the poor economy and people having less and less cash to spend. They may have been looking for a miracle and reaching above their ability to pay.

      One last note, related to people trying to "rip you off."

      All of my products are set up as time release products. I had one member who joined approximately a year ago at one price, and came back a year later at a higher price. Each time he stayed only a month.

      The second time when he canceled his membership and requested a refund, his reason was that he quit the first time when he saw my content was set up on time release. He joined a year later thinking I had changed my setup, but since I hadn't, then he was quitting. His comment: "While it may be good for me, he didn't work that way."

      My opinion ... He is quite aware that most all membership scripts time content release from the buyers initial signup date and was thinking that he could get a full years worth of content for a very nominal cost of one month. Only thing he didn't realize was that my custom built time release script checks the membership list each month and resets the content timer for all prior members still listed in history.

      I banned him from buying another membership.

      Anyhoo, that's my opinion of membership site pricing.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rich Struck
    The answer is obvious: Most membership sites are crap. Why is this even in doubt?
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  • Profile picture of the author PanamaRex
    In my experience, most membership sites that I've seen do not keep enough new content coming each month to warrant expensive payments ... but if they are making you $$$$, then I say give the devil his due.
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  • Profile picture of the author Voasi
    I launched a membership a few years ago revolving around pre-built adsense sites, just plug-in play into hosting and you're good to go. It was based on a $97 a month price point and they received 4 sites a month.

    What I found out was that as easy as I made it, it was still TOO MUCH WORK! Most people would pay the $97 a month for 3 months at most, then would cancel because they just weren't uploading the websites and producing revenue. The few that did, were doing $5 a day with a majority of the sites they uploaded.

    So, as with anything we do online, it's the lack of focus. They get into something else that is...

    - quicker
    - faster
    - makes them more money
    - and they don't have to do ANYTHING but breathe

    How do you compete with that? Again, most people just get caught up in the membership site from the get-go, then something else comes along that requires less amount of work and more potential for profit so they stop working your membership and then the "value" is dropped, which equals CANCELLED.
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  • Profile picture of the author dean_holland
    Hi

    IMO its all in the value of the content or service that is received

    Clearly there will always be a percentage that never pay, after a trial for example

    As much so as you will always have a percentage that refund

    However if the content / service that is received is top quality and is over-delivered upon then people will pay. I know of memberships as many of you will that are FAR greater than $97 a month that people remain in for many months because what they receive is worth more to them than the cost

    To put it in simple terms for me, I would quit if what I was paying per month would not make a difference to my own income of at least double the membership fee.

    If I pay $97 per month but the results of what I am receiving would make me $200 per month at least then of course I would continue to pay as you would I'm sure

    There's my thought

    Dean
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    • Profile picture of the author Joshua Kwentoh
      Originally Posted by dean_holland View Post

      Hi

      IMO its all in the value of the content or service that is received

      Clearly there will always be a percentage that never pay, after a trial for example

      As much so as you will always have a percentage that refund

      However if the content / service that is received is top quality and is over-delivered upon then people will pay. I know of memberships as many of you will that are FAR greater than $97 a month that people remain in for many months because what they receive is worth more to them than the cost

      To put it in simple terms for me, I would quit if what I was paying per month would not make a difference to my own income of at least double the membership fee.

      If I pay $97 per month but the results of what I am receiving would make me $200 per month at least then of course I would continue to pay as you would I'm sure

      There's my thought

      Dean

      I totally agree here.. You said it exactly as it is.
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  • Profile picture of the author Wintermute
    I recently joined and quit one that was free for the first month and then $97 dollars each month after that. It only took me five minutes to realize the package of monthly content was cookie cutter, low-quality crap.

    I canceled only three days after signing up.
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  • Profile picture of the author TyBrown
    I've joined a couple $97 sites because there was some very specific info I wanted about a topic. I didn't want the whole business model, though, so I didn't intend to sign up for the long haul, just that piece of info.

    I've typically stayed on for a month to give one payment as a thanks for the info.
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    • Profile picture of the author Wintermute
      I should also add, I have joined and quit several others also. They either had cheap crap or they were upsell hell, or they had a blog or update page that had not been posted to since 2006 or something.

      If the owner is not even active enough to have a post from THIS YEAR, then why the hell would I bother with the membership?
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