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Which Launch Strategy Would You Use? (Membership Website)

by Brandon Lam
10 replies
Hey guys,

I'm about 2 weeks away from launching one of my main websites and I'm torn as to which avenue to take for the actual launch phase. Would really appreciate any input

I'm launching a membership site for DJs set at a price point of $8.99/month which will be our standard price. Because of our huge social element to the site, I know many of you guys will say that I should start out with free memberships to get the ball rolling.

I've come up with a couple different options but I'm still not sure which route would be better.

Option A.)
Run a week long launch where the first say 48 hours, the memberships are free, then once that time runs out, offer my lifetime membership(which we won't ever be offering again) at a fixed, one time payment to run for another 48-72 hours and then after that time is up, finally set back to the normal $8.99 monthly rate.

Option B.)
To not use a timeframe structure like above and grandfather in the first 100-200 users free, scale back to my lifetime membership for another 100-200 members, then finally go back to the normal $8.99 rate.

Cheers guys,
Brandon
#launch #membership #strategy #website
  • Profile picture of the author RonnyRaygun
    How big is your market and how many members do you expect to gain?
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    • Profile picture of the author Brandon Lam
      Originally Posted by RonnyRaygun View Post

      How big is your market and how many members do you expect to gain?
      The market is huge but in terms of website owners etc, it's not overly saturated with products or other membership sites.

      I've accumulated about 700 subscribers to my E-course and I've got my Adword campaigns set with some keywords that I've found to be converting very well. Adwords will most likely be my main source of paid advertising to begin with. My goal would be to have 300 paid members by the end of the year. But to be honest, that's still a rough guess. If I'm able to get a big name DJ involved, things could turn over night.

      I would say the site would be getting a decent amount of traffic during this launch but not as much as another site where affiliates are involved. I've launched a Clickbank product before with many affiliates on board and sales were through the roof. I don't expect the same kind of results with this but trying to map the launch strategy will still help to get it off the ground I think.
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      • Profile picture of the author RonnyRaygun
        I don't know that niche to be receptive to major launches, so I'm not confident in option A.

        The tiered membership limit in option B stands a chance at backfiring on you if it takes more than a day to fill up. I still would prefer this over option A.
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        • Profile picture of the author Brandon Lam
          Originally Posted by RonnyRaygun View Post

          I don't know that niche to be receptive to major launches, so I'm not confident in option A.

          The tiered membership limit in option B stands a chance at backfiring on you if it takes more than a day to fill up. I still would prefer this over option A.
          I completely agree with you. I'll have to really bump up traffic before the launch phase or it could backfire. It's a tough call because I can't even put a real guess as to how quickly each tier would fill up. Thanks though for the advice!
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        • Profile picture of the author AnilK
          Originally Posted by RonnyRaygun View Post

          I don't know that niche to be receptive to major launches, so I'm not confident in option A.

          The tiered membership limit in option B stands a chance at backfiring on you if it takes more than a day to fill up. I still would prefer this over option A.
          The niche may not be in one of the major 3 niches (health, wealth, relationships), but I can assure you that the audience is most definitely receptive
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  • Profile picture of the author ContentsCreators
    I think both options are great because you are playing on people's sense of time causing them to act accordingly. However, if i were to put myself in the sense of the consumer I would go with option b. With option a you could potentially be losing out on a lot of money because you don't know how many people would sign up for free within that 48-72 hours. With option B there is a set limit. Really either option to me would be pretty good, and if you provide quality value, and market it right i am pretty sure people would be happy with both options. Or you could do this: Provide first 200 members to sign up with lifetime membership of regular price of $8.99 then after that life time membership goes up to a price like say $100, and then the regular monthly membership would be $8.99. That is just a suggestion, but it might work.
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    • Profile picture of the author Brandon Lam
      ContentsCreators:

      Thanks for the input. I feel the same way regarding the time frame technique because I'll have no real clue as to how many users will actually sign up when I offer the free memberships. My magic number to have in terms of DJs to sign up would be 200 before actually charging users.

      E. Brian Rose:

      The site will rely on a social element but that's just one part of it. The site is divided into 2 user groups, the DJs and the Fans. The DJs are the users that are paid members, and the fans sign up for free. The fans have full access to the social part of the site but have limited option towards other features. I think I have enough value to start charging right away just because of comparable sites on the Internet so far which are charging even more than mine (with less features). But I get what you mean by not wanting to pay for a site where there's no activity which is why I'm trying to incorporate a time period or amount of members to join for free. Once they join for free, I have an invite system which they can then email all of there friends etc. It's incentive for them to invite others because the DJs use the site as a tool for exposure.
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  • Profile picture of the author E. Brian Rose
    Originally Posted by Brandon Lam View Post

    Because of our huge social element to the site...
    If the site relies on a social element to justify the cost, then you will probably want to achieve critical mass before charging a fee. There's nothing worse than paying for a social site only to find that you will be socializing with yourself.
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    Founder of JVZoo. All around good guy :)

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  • Profile picture of the author oda
    I looked at many many options for my membership site and then I remembered a little saying:
    K.I.S.S

    $1 for a 7-14 day trial then $8.99 a month.
    Simple, direct and if your confident the site will keep members then why not?

    You can run it indefinitely or switch the offer on and off as you please.

    With all the systems your thinking about it sounds complicated, think of the member trying to work some sliding/scaling model out!

    $1 for a trial if you like it stay at $8.99 month, even I understand that.

    IMHO

    Oda
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    • Profile picture of the author Brandon Lam
      Originally Posted by oda View Post

      I looked at many many options for my membership site and then I remembered a little saying:
      K.I.S.S

      $1 for a 7-14 day trial then $8.99 a month.
      Simple, direct and if your confident the site will keep members then why not?

      You can run it indefinitely or switch the offer on and off as you please.

      With all the systems your thinking about it sounds complicated, think of the member trying to work some sliding/scaling model out!

      $1 for a trial if you like it stay at $8.99 month, even I understand that.

      IMHO

      Oda
      Thanks for the input man. I use a $1 trial system on another website and it does seem to work well. Will for sure put into consideration.
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