Fixed Term Membership Site vs. Selling a package

Personally I'd just prefer all the info in a package so I can finish it in a few days - most people expect to be making money in 3 months from a program, not still learning from it. just my opinion.

Do you as the teacher find that people who get the whole package actually follow through on it, or are they overwhelmed and unable to make real progress?

You're the expert. Not your consumer. Sometimes it doesn't matter what your consumer wants, because what the consumer wants is bad for him.

I was talking to Lance Tamashiro about this last night, and he pointed out that on his FTM sites, more people finish the course and implement it than would do so with a monolithic package.

It depends very much on your target market. When you're teaching people something new and different (and probably scary), bite-size chunks make it a lot easier for them to make forward progress. When you're teaching them an intermediate or advanced strategy for something they're already comfortable with, bite-size chunks are frustrating, so a monolithic course is a better deal for them.

I have a few fixed term membership sites myself and they do very well - it's about making it a no brainer with superb quality information.

I've found you can earn more with the FTM than you can from an info product. For instance, I had a product which I sold for $47 which sold ok, but not brilliant. I moved it to a 5 month FTM at $17 a month and it sold a lot better and my income was higher from it.

I think a lot of people have to um and ar about payments these days and if you offer it at a "I don't have to ask the wife" price then you find people will sign up.

I personally prefer the FTM model for products as I've got a hard drive full of books I've bought but never read. The FTM encourages them to use the product (hence it has to be good) and it keeps you fresh in their mind giving you more selling opportunities.

All the best

Jason

what's your conversion rate?
is the traffic warm or cold?

I tried to look at your salesletter, but it's not coming up for me.
edit: ok, it's coming up now.. i'll check out the copy

ok.. not so keen on the sales letter..
no headline, very little regarding benefits, etc..
"lessons" & "assignments" sounds a lot like school work drudgery..
I'd suggest Dan Kennedy's book "ultimate salesletters", it'll help you a lot regarding copy writing. It's usually in stock at most Barnes & Nobles I believe.

I really appreciate the feedback, both on the copy and on the FTM vs Package question. I've been able to put together nice offerings, but know my sales and marketing and copy are weak. At some point I would like to hire someone to rewrite for me... but unfortunately good copy isn't cheap and my budget is non-existent (I've been unemployed for a while and trying to get something online to fly) The Kennedy books sound like a great choice for me at this point. Thanks again!

Hey Rob:

I love the Fixed Term Membership model from both a consumer and seller viewpoint.

As a consumer I've already got too much going on in my life and the books and courses I simply download I always have a good intention of getting back to and finishing but frankly - I've got over a Terabyte of information on my hard drives waiting for me to return.

In contrast, I was a member of Jimmy D. Browns FTM's starting with Membernaire then Outsource Weekly, which he did with Nicole Dean, and several others.

Every week I got at least one reminder and lesson saying "Hey, don't forget your lesson this week and did you do last weeks lesson yet?"

At least once a week, I was downloading and doing my lessons simply because I was reminded to. I loved it and learned from the system - stayed a member for the full length of all of my FTM memberships.

In contrast, I've quite every single traditional non-SaaS membership I was a member of eventually - usually sooner rather than later, due to lack of communication or new information or "engagement" from the seller or... boredom maybe? Lack of ROI? Whatever... I quit.

(*Note: SaaS = Software as a Service like my hosting company or autoresponder services. I keep those memberships for obvious reasons - but, that is a seed of something for you to consider as well )

As a seller FTM's rock.

For years I've set up sites for myself and my clients and even some of Jimmy's clients.

Some do well, some do not do very well.

Those that do not are usually due to poor target marketing, poor traffic or marketing in general, wrong product, wrong timing, wrong price point or just a crappy product that people don't enjoy.

FTM isn't magic - success demands that you still offer a great product with high value at the right time to a hungry market.

Doesn't matter what business model or whether you offer a product or program as a one time purchase or a traditional membership site or a FTM if those elements don't pretty much all line up.

That said... I know you didn't request the salesletter critique like John had stated but glancing at your site I think that the copy and frankly, the video, have a LOT to do with why your product isn't moving like you want it to.

Video is a two edged sword - especially if you are selling a course on using them. People are very critical.

You don't need to pay for a copywriter to do your copy but your copy does need to be good enough to connect with your target audience the right way.

I recommend to folks who can't "write copy" to write a letter, a sincere letter, telling a friend about the program and why they might enjoy going through it themselves (imagine your friend is your perfect client, the guy or gal just looking for what you are teaching). Your copy might not be pro but if you handle it correctly, you'll connect.

Sometimes a simple connection is BETTER than expensive copy (although the reason it's expensive is because it connects... or it most certainly should anyway). Don't pretend to be a copywriter if you are not...

... people can see and feel the insincerity dripping off of websites written by people pretending to be copywriters when a simple letter would have been so much more effective.

Connect first... then go back and work on that headline. Get rid of the pre-head, tighten up the header like John said and get rid of the video sidebar altogether. Redo the video and make it more sincere, less trying to be funny or cute - that might work for teaching but this is a sales video and people want to know what they are getting, why they should get it and who you are to be the one they get it from.

Your video does none of this in my opinion and leaves you open to a whole lot of judgment that has nothing to do with your program and everything to do with you or your teaching style and demeanor.

You lost me at hello actually.

Anyway... stick with FTM... offer a small report as a front end and use the FTM as the backend maybe? It's hard to sell memberships cold.. but selling them as a backend offer to a one time, self liquidating, purchase is pretty easy if you position the training correctly.

The report is the "What to do..." the membership site is the "How to do it..." make sense?

Sorry to hear about your employment situation - know that it's tough. If you keep moving forward with this kind of effort however, you'll be ok. I am impressed with your first effort and think it just needs a little seasoning and TLC. Keep up the good work, you'll get there.

Forward, ever forward.

You should consider doing both. You already have customers willing to spend a decent chunk of change so offer a mega-product for more revenue. But offer coaching, or tutorials, etc. for a monthly membership site. Your members will be your BEST and most responsive customers. If your value is high and you price inexpensively, you will have customers stick around for a long time. One thing you'll notice with a membership site is that your revenue will increase every single month..... providing of course that you have a strong offer with high value.