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KILLER High Retention Membership Site Ideas

by Ron Douglas
79 replies
We've all done the math on membership sites and dreamed of starting one where the membership keeps growing each month and all of the members actually stick long term.

You know the math I'm talking about:

- $97 a month membership
- Get just 2.5 people to join per day on average
- After a year you have 912 members
- 912 members x $97 per month = $88,464 a month
- $88,464 a month x 12 months = $1,061,568 a year

That's exciting to think about - but in reality, some types of products and services do well as membership sites and others do not. The ones that don't usually have high drop out rates and pissed off customers wondering what the heck the charge is on their credit statement.

Let's focus on the membership sites that actually do well . I'm going to list a few ideas for high retention membership sites and if others contribute, I'll be back to list a few more.

1) Sell something that people can resell
A foolproof way to ensure a high retention rate is to SELL TO SELLERS. Sell a product or service that people can resell and make money with and they will stick around long term. Some examples:
- PLR membership sites
- Reseller Web Hosting
- ReadyMadeMembersites.com - turn key membership sites you can sell as your own.

2) Sell a service that people will use to make money with directly
Some examples:
- TC2000.com a stock charting service that traders use to plan their trades.
- Aweber.com - autoresponders
- Realtytrac.com - foreclosure listing
- ListingBook.com - a service that helps real estate agents manage their client base and listings
- TrafficSage.com - Website promotion outsourcing service - link building, article writing, video creation, search engine marketing, Web 2.0 traffic generation.

3) Sell a service that makes people's lives easier
Some examples:
- Ewedding.com - push button solution for creating and hosting wedding websites
- Wellnessresources.com/auto_ship.php - gives a discount to customers who buy their supplements and join the convenient "monthly autoship program"

I have a bunch of other examples to share. Please add your ideas and examples.
#high #ideas #killer #membership #retention #site
  • Profile picture of the author dangercart
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  • Profile picture of the author drboydston
    Originally Posted by Ron Douglas View Post

    We've all done the math on membership sites and dreamed of starting one where the membership keeps growing each month and all of the members actually stick long term.

    You know the math I'm talking about:

    - $97 a month membership
    - Get just 2.5 people to join per day on average
    - After a year you have 912 members
    - 912 members x $97 per month = $88,464 a month
    - $88,464 a month x 12 months = $1,061,568 a year

    That's exciting to think about - but in reality, some types of products and services do well as membership sites and others do not. The ones that don't usually have high drop out rates and pissed off customers wondering what the heck the charge is on their credit statement.

    Let's focus on the membership sites that actually do well . I'm going to list a few ideas for high retention membership sites and if others contribute, I'll be back to list a few more.

    1) Sell something that people can resell
    A foolproof way to ensure a high retention rate is to SELL TO SELLERS. Sell a product or service that people can resell and make money with and they will stick around long term. Some examples:
    - PLR membership sites
    - Reseller Web Hosting
    - ReadyMadeMembersites.com - turn key membership sites you can sell as your own.

    2) Sell a service that people will use to make money with directly
    Some examples:
    - TC2000.com a stock charting service that traders use to plan their trades.
    - Aweber.com - autoresponders
    - Realtytrac.com - foreclosure listing
    - ListingBook.com - a service that helps real estate agents manage their client base and listings
    - TrafficSage.com - Website promotion outsourcing service - link building, article writing, video creation, search engine marketing, Web 2.0 traffic generation.

    3) Sell a service that makes people's lives easier
    Some examples:
    - Ewedding.com - push button solution for creating and hosting wedding websites
    - Wellnessresources.com/auto_ship.php - gives a discount to customers who buy their supplements and join the convenient "monthly autoship program"

    I have a bunch of other examples to share. Please add your ideas and examples.
    I would add: Sell a service that makes peoples lives easier and also has a high cost of disconnect. Example: I used to utilize a service that provided call tracking numbers that had some very sophisticated features to track my offline marketing (postcards, reports, etc). I was not using the service to its full potential so I decided it wasn't worth paying for anymore.

    When I wanted to cancel I had to wait several months, reprint many marketing materials I had because they had these call tracking numbers on them, and make sure I didn't turn the service off while these marketing pieces were still in potential patient's hands.

    No doubt I may have lost some potential patients after stopping because it had a call tracking number that was no longer forwarded to my office.

    They definately got at least 3 extra months of service from me while I was transitioning out of their service. Had I utilized it more I probably would have been a lifetime customer.

    Either way if you service integrates into a person's business and is essentially "painful" to stop, it would make a good recipe for a good retention membership type service.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ron Douglas
      Originally Posted by drboydston View Post

      I would add: Sell a service that makes peoples lives easier and also has a high cost of disconnect.

      Either way if you service integrates into a person's business and is essentially "painful" to stop, it would make a good recipe for a good retention membership type service.
      That's a great point. I use a service that offers a voicemail with a local phone number. Being that I've published that phone number on websites, it would be a pain to get rid of it now.

      The same thing with Aweber. I have so many sites with the Aweber form on them, they would have to do something awful to make me switch. I would also lose a lot of data if I switch to another provider because I'd have to upload all my leads and have them re-confirm with the new service. As long as I'm making more money than I'm spending, I'll probably always have Aweber.

      Another built in deterrent I see smart marketers using is price. It goes like this - give customers a discount price for signing up and grandfather them in at that price. Then raise the price dramatically and tell them that they can cancel but they'd have to sign up at the new price if they ever want to use the service again. If you have a valuable service, you'd be surprised at how this will motivate people to stay in.
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      • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
        Ron, I absolutely agree with you.

        But...sometimes it still doesn't work out for reasons that you almost can't
        understand.

        George Sepich and I put together such a site in category 1 that we thought
        was a can't miss. And the monthly cost was actually very low considering
        what members were getting.

        Yet, the dropout rate was staggering.

        To this day, we are still scratching out collective heads trying to figure out
        why.

        The site has been gutted and we're eventually going to try to rethink the
        idea, but honestly, sometimes the best plans just don't work out.
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        • Profile picture of the author Ron Douglas
          Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

          Ron, I absolutely agree with you.

          But...sometimes it still doesn't work out for reasons that you almost can't
          understand.

          George Sepich and I put together such a site in category 1 that we thought
          was a can't miss. And the monthly cost was actually very low considering
          what members were getting.

          Yet, the dropout rate was staggering.

          To this day, we are still scratching out collective heads trying to figure out
          why.

          The site has been gutted and we're eventually going to try to rethink the
          idea, but honestly, sometimes the best plans just don't work out.
          I know what you mean. I'll take a stab in the dark at what I think is the issue. I could be wrong though...

          You can have a great service but if you don't get the right members who will really benefit from the service, it can still flop. When you're selling to sellers, it's works best to sell to sellers who are already selling (say that 5 times fast) LOL. What I mean is, the ideal sell to sellers market is one that is already making money. Newbies don't really fall into that category.

          The number 1 key to a successful membership site is - are the members really using the product and getting value from it. The product could be killer, but if they are not making use of it, the drop out rate will still be high.
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          • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
            Originally Posted by Ron Douglas View Post

            I know what you mean. I'll take a stab in the dark at what I think is the issue. I could be wrong though...

            You can have a great service but if you don't get the right members who will really benefit from the service, it can still flop. When you're selling to seller, it's works best to sell to sellers who are already selling (say that 5 times fast) LOL. What I mean is, the ideal sell to sellers market is one that is already making money. Newbies don't really fall into that category.

            The number 1 key to a successful membership site is - are the members really using the product and getting value from it. The product could be killer, but if they are not making use of it, the drop out rate will still be high.
            Ron, that is probably exactly what the problem was.

            Leave it to you to figure it out in a few seconds.
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            • Profile picture of the author affenpinscher
              Two suggestions:

              1. Active forum.
              For instance, look where we are. I also belong to the paid forum.
              If you're a rabid fan on some topic, you can never hear too much about your
              topic and always want to ask questions or share opinions on it with people on
              the same wave length.

              2. Time saving material.
              In my day job, my employer has numerous paid subscriptions
              on minute topics that save employees time and money. For example, one expensive
              service collects commodity prices on certain metals that my company must have.
              Our buyer saves a lot of time by being able to go to the one website that is always up to date on price and availability. Another example is our law department that has many subscriptions on latest legislation, court cases, and news on specialty law topics.

              Hope this helps.
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              • Profile picture of the author mloveridge17
                Granted, having the above-mentioned services are great. But for most of us, that's like looking in the rear-view mirror at the successful services out there.

                What about those of us who have other types of products to offer?

                I think there are tactics one can take to "string along" a membership regardless of the service or product being offered.

                The average duration of a membership is between 3-4 months. So, one should structure their membership content in such a way that they are encouraging their members to continue beyond that point. One such example of this is to offer a four-month, unadvertised bonus.

                One of the cool new ideas I've seen recently is called "micro-continuity" from Russell Brunson. It basically creates a time-limited continuity program that strings your customers along over the course of 6, 8, or even 12 months and then ends. This creates a "set-it-and-forget-it" mentality with your customers because they don't have to think about cancelling (because it's built in). The only drawback I've seen so far with it is that you still have to actively pursue getting additional customers, but that's no different than existing membership sites.
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                • Profile picture of the author Ron Douglas
                  Originally Posted by mloveridge17 View Post

                  Granted, having the above-mentioned services are great. But for most of us, that's like looking in the rear-view mirror at the successful services out there.

                  What about those of us who have other types of products to offer?

                  I think there are tactics one can take to "string along" a membership regardless of the service or product being offered.

                  The average duration of a membership is between 3-4 months. So, one should structure their membership content in such a way that they are encouraging their members to continue beyond that point. One such example of this is to offer a four-month, unadvertised bonus.
                  I always wonder who makes up these ridiculous averages. It must be that guy named "they" - as in "they say the average is 3-4 months."

                  If you lose members after 3-4 months on average, your idea for a membership site is average at best or you're targeting the wrong people as members. You're better off having a lifetime membership for a one-time fee that's greater than the 3-4 months revenue per member you would normally get.

                  By "looking in the rear-view mirror at the successful services" you can get a better understanding of what really works and thereby have a better chance of coming up with your own profitable ideas.
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                  • Profile picture of the author TheAngelGuy
                    Originally Posted by Ron Douglas View Post

                    I always wonder who makes up these ridiculous averages. It must be that guy named "they" - as in "they say the average is 3-4 months."

                    If you lose members after 3-4 months on average, your idea for a membership site is average at best or you're targeting the wrong people as members...
                    Well, I've got a couple of membership "how-to" products from some well-known gurus and more than one has said something similar.

                    When I thought about how long I stay on a membership site, I couldn't really find one that I'd been a part of for longer than that, just because there was no more value to soak up.

                    As to why didn't I stay, anyway - there's really no social or "cool" value to being part of a membership site, unlike being a member of an elite golf club or something. Membership sites (from the user perspective) are all about content that solves problems. Sometimes that content doesn't keep up as much.

                    Coming at it from a "what do I get as a user" persepective is always the best way to see if you're delivering enough month after month for them to WANT to stay.

                    And I'm not talking about repackaged content in other forms, either - lots of people just notice it as duplicate and already got what they needed from it in another form.

                    Original, new content, month-after-month, is something that can be a challenge. Because of that, I don't see why a 3-4 month average stay is thought of as ridiculous.

                    Obviously, we WANT people to stay longer, but surely nobody thinks people join and stay because they're happy we're making money off them.
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                    • Profile picture of the author Ron Douglas
                      Originally Posted by TheAngelGuy View Post

                      Well, I've got a couple of membership "how-to" products from some well-known gurus and more than one has said something similar.

                      When I thought about how long I stay on a membership site, I couldn't really find one that I'd been a part of for longer than that, just because there was no more value to soak up.

                      As to why didn't I stay, anyway - there's really no social or "cool" value to being part of a membership site, unlike being a member of an elite golf club or something. Membership sites (from the user perspective) are all about content that solves problems. Sometimes that content doesn't keep up as much.

                      Coming at it from a "what do I get as a user" persepective is always the best way to see if you're delivering enough month after month for them to WANT to stay.

                      And I'm not talking about repackaged content in other forms, either - lots of people just notice it as duplicate and already got what they needed from it in another form.

                      Original, new content, month-after-month, is something that can be a challenge. Because of that, I don't see why a 3-4 month average stay is thought of as ridiculous.

                      Obviously, we WANT people to stay longer, but surely nobody thinks people join and stay because they're happy we're making money off them.
                      Yes and on average 95% of all businesses fail in the first few years - but that doesn't mean you should make that your expectation.

                      There are many great ideas shared right in this thread for creating membership sites that have much higher retention rates. Some of the better ideas don't involve delivering any content at all.
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  • Profile picture of the author iw433
    I would add hosting to the mix. Once a person has a site or two on your server they will think twice about moving.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ghost Writer Bates
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      • Profile picture of the author Kyle Tully
        Two cool strategies I haven't seen mentioned:

        Fixed-Term Membership Site

        Turn your site into a course with a definite time-limit. e.g. 6 month course, BIG reward for completion, then a 6 month advanced course, another BIG reward, then a 12 month masters course etc.

        Association

        Turn your site into an association for a particular industry. e.g. Copywriters association. Give them tools, templates and resources licensed ONLY while a member, have regular meetings (online or offline), provide leads, website "approved" symbol etc.

        __________________________________________________ ____

        Can YOU create a membership site overnight?
        Download Overnight Membership Site today and see.
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        • Profile picture of the author embrown
          Originally Posted by Kyle Tully View Post

          Two cool strategies I haven't seen mentioned:

          Fixed-Term Membership Site

          Turn your site into a course with a definite time-limit. e.g. 6 month course, BIG reward for completion, then a 6 month advanced course, another BIG reward, then a 12 month masters course etc.
          .
          I was just about to comment about this. My boyfriend and I were thinking about FTM ecourse as something to do down the road. I'd like to take the course I've heard about, but can't afford it at the moment.

          But, another idea is time sensitive content. Its a twist on something another poster said about having content that's stretched over a certain time period. This content is only available to those who are members for X amount of time. It has to be some good stuff, though.
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  • Profile picture of the author JayXtreme
    Sell something with direct contact to those in the know..

    Support, guidance, mentoring sessions, conference calls.. all this type of guidance and support is really valuable to people.

    Just knowing they have an ear and help when they need it is a massive boost...

    Regardless of the niche.. having connection to an expert or someone in the know is a sure win.

    Peace

    Jay
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    Bare Murkage.........

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  • Profile picture of the author Paul Buckley
    I operate a membership site that hasn't lost a single subscriber yet. No doubt it will start losing members at some point since it is geared toward newbies who must, presumably, outgrow it at some point.

    I attribute my member retention success to three things:

    1) Pricing.
    2) Scheduled updates twice/month (overdelivering)
    3) Establishing a good relationship with my subscribers.
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    "Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something." -Plato

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  • Profile picture of the author SoundsGood
    Originally Posted by Ron Douglas View Post

    1) Sell something that people can resell
    A foolproof way to ensure a high retention rate is to SELL TO SELLERS. Sell a product or service that people can resell and make money with and they will stick around long term.
    Is there anything like this that is "pre-made" that we can implement on a site right now?

    If so, any specific examples you can point us to?

    Thank you!
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    • Profile picture of the author JamesFrancisIM
      Yeah, I agree with Jay about supporting your members.

      Also, I think someone touched on it above, but an active community is an awesome way of getting people to stay 'hooked', as it were.

      This also relates to the pain of disconnect, as people don't want to lose that friendship with your other members, along with the value that the community provides (such as problems, how to overcome them, motivation, etc).

      This can be done in a community forum, a user article submission area, their own blogs, pictures, and more. Think of popular social networking websites and how popular THEY are! You'd be doing the same but providing value to their niche of interest too.

      Hope i've helped

      - James.
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      • Profile picture of the author Ron Douglas
        Originally Posted by JamesFrancisIM View Post

        Also, I think someone touched on it above, but an active community is an awesome way of getting people to stay 'hooked', as it were.

        - James.
        I don't want to rain on your parade, but hopefully I can save you some frustration. I've tried this several times and from experience I can tell you - an active community of paid members is one of the most difficult things to get off the ground and maintain for several reasons:

        1) You're competing with all the free communities online. There has to be a very compelling reason for people to keep paying you each month for something they can get for free.

        2) Only a small percentage of people will actually participate and contribute consistently. Even with free forums like this one, probably less than 1% of the members actually post or even log on. To keep the community active, you need a ridiculously high number of paying members. And as soon as the forum becomes inactive, people will drop out.

        3) People don't pay for a community so that they can help others. The mindset is completely different. Instead of sharing, it's a "what have you done for me lately mentality." You'd better have experts on there adding a lot of value.

        The best way to launch a paid community is to start it out as a free one and then have some type of premium content or privileges worth paying for. And even that doesn't guarantee a decent retention.
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        • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
          Originally Posted by Ron Douglas View Post

          I don't want to rain on your parade, but hopefully I can save you some frustration. I've tried this several times and from experience I can tell you - an active community of paid members is one of the most difficult things to get off the ground and maintain for several reasons:

          1) You're competing with all the free communities online. There has to be a very compelling reason for people to keep paying you each month for something they can get for free.

          2) Only a small percentage of people will actually participate and contribute consistently. Even with free forums like this one, probably less than 1% of the members actually post or even log on. To keep the community active, you need a ridiculously high number of paying members. And as soon as the forum becomes inactive, people will drop out.

          3) People don't pay for a community so that they can help others. The mindset is completely different. Instead of sharing, it's a "what have you done for me lately mentality." You'd better have experts on there adding a lot of value.

          The best way to launch a paid community is to start it out as a free one and then have some type of premium content or privileges worth paying for. And even that doesn't guarantee a decent retention.

          Ron, you're hitting them all out of the ballpark today.

          Another spot on post.
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        • Profile picture of the author JamesFrancisIM
          Originally Posted by Ron Douglas View Post

          The best way to launch a paid community is to start it out as a free one and then have some type of premium content or privileges worth paying for. And even that doesn't guarantee a decent retention.
          Ah yeah, true. I'll be using this model for the second version of my members area, along with a few friends who I know this has worked well for.

          Originally Posted by Ron Douglas View Post

          1) You're competing with all the free communities online. There has to be a very compelling reason for people to keep paying you each month for something they can get for free.
          And as for the above point, the 'compelling reason' will be that you're the expert in your field and they (hopefully) signed up to learn from you. This is the value you're providing as the main focus of your membership area, and the social side of it is used as an additional support to keep them as active as possible (however hard this may be).

          Nice post by the way, too

          - James.
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          • Profile picture of the author Richard Tunnah
            I like skype idea where you get a local virtual number for a small ongoing subscription. It locks you in unless you give up the number.

            Rich
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        • Profile picture of the author Doug
          Ron you have started an excellent thread!

          IMHO - I would add, why not go the route of free and sell on the backside, build alliances and lists plus test product ideas and affiliate schemes.

          The trick would be to "find" the starving crowd and give them a place to be...

          Step back and look at the WF, I realize of course that at one time the model here was paid access, today however the free model is in place. Then notice all the revenue streams developed into this place...

          I realize this model takes time to develop into a money maker, but hit it right...Jim Nabors said it best...Shazam

          I know of one forum, centered around a product line, with over 248,000 members. I wish it were mine...I've done the next best thing though and tapped into it's potential much like many here tap the potential in the WF

          It really is like having a license to print money...

          Doug



          Originally Posted by Ron Douglas View Post

          I don't want to rain on your parade, but hopefully I can save you some frustration. I've tried this several times and from experience I can tell you - an active community of paid members is one of the most difficult things to get off the ground and maintain for several reasons:

          1) You're competing with all the free communities online. There has to be a very compelling reason for people to keep paying you each month for something they can get for free.

          2) Only a small percentage of people will actually participate and contribute consistently. Even with free forums like this one, probably less than 1% of the members actually post or even log on. To keep the community active, you need a ridiculously high number of paying members. And as soon as the forum becomes inactive, people will drop out.

          3) People don't pay for a community so that they can help others. The mindset is completely different. Instead of sharing, it's a "what have you done for me lately mentality." You'd better have experts on there adding a lot of value.

          The best way to launch a paid community is to start it out as a free one and then have some type of premium content or privileges worth paying for. And even that doesn't guarantee a decent retention.
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  • Profile picture of the author garyv
    The only membership sites where I maintain my membership - are sites that continue to offer me value. For instance, there are some sites out there that offer a membership area full of downloads - but they never update the content. I'll join these - get what I need, and leave. So If you're running a membership site that offers downloads, or some sort of product, you'll retain more customers if you're constantly updating your membership area - and not only that, but make it clear to your customers that you constantly update the membership area.

    One of my favorite sites, sends me emails telling me what they're working on for the membership area. An excellent technique for keeping me on the hook. This especially works well if the amount of value you add to your site on a monthly basis is worth more than the monthly fee.
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  • Profile picture of the author Clark
    Sell a commodity.

    Gift of the Month Clubs, Wine of the Month Club, Monthly Beer Membership, Chocolate Clubs, Coffee and more. has a variety of "Of the Month" memberships with scaling membership plans.

    I'm sure their retention rates are excellent given that the customer is receiving a tangible, unique product every month for themselves or as a gift to others.

    Hmmm... I'm a hot sauce fan so I think I'll check that out for myself.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
    Something I see being left out here and if I missed a post please forgive me...

    Building membership sites to offer products and services is great but you are also supposed to be running an effective business. What I mean by effective is a business that does not require this plug-in or that plug-in or this external service or that external service.

    Having your membership site built all in one without the needed external services is the best thing you could do for your business. When you depend on those external services and they break, go down, have a glitch, and etc it could cost your business a great deal.

    External Services - The services I am speaking about are the following

    * Mail List System - Such as Aweber
    * Affiliate System - Such as third part scripts or clickbank
    * Product Protection - Third party scripts or services

    Anyone of these external services have a major issue then it puts a strain on your business and depending upon the issue with the external services it could cost you a great deal of money from lost sales or members.

    Having a Membership System with a built in affiliate system, built in mail list & mail sending system, and built in download/file protection will make your business way more effective. You do not need to rely on someone elses system because your system handles it all in one.

    See many forget when it comes to building membership sites that the functions of that membership site matter a great deal. There are very few good solutions on the market right now for a true power-house membership script.

    So while it is good to have ideas about what a membership can be used for we need to kep in mind the functions of that site aswell and not just admin functions but also membership functions.

    James
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    • Profile picture of the author Robert Puddy
      Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

      Something I see being left out here and if I missed a post please forgive me...

      Building membership sites to offer products and services is great but you are also supposed to be running an effective business. What I mean by effective is a business that does not require this plug-in or that plug-in or this external service or that external service.

      Having your membership site built all in one without the needed external services is the best thing you could do for your business. When you depend on those external services and they break, go down, have a glitch, and etc it could cost your business a great deal.

      External Services - The services I am speaking about are the following

      * Mail List System - Such as Aweber
      * Affiliate System - Such as third part scripts or clickbank
      * Product Protection - Third party scripts or services

      Anyone of these external services have a major issue then it puts a strain on your business and depending upon the issue with the external services it could cost you a great deal of money from lost sales or members.

      Having a Membership System with a built in affiliate system, built in mail list & mail sending system, and built in download/file protection will make your business way more effective. You do not need to rely on someone elses system because your system handles it all in one.

      See many forget when it comes to building membership sites that the functions of that membership site matter a great deal. There are very few good solutions on the market right now for a true power-house membership script.

      So while it is good to have ideas about what a membership can be used for we need to kep in mind the functions of that site aswell and not just admin functions but also membership functions.

      James
      Hmmm... I agree with most of this except this bit

      "built in mail list & mail sending system"

      Thats a service that could bit you in the ass, it takes a lot of work to keep a mailing system clean and whitelisted... A good 3rd party solution is the only way to go with that peice of the puzzle

      I have a service which hosts everything including downloads etc and its signup and retention height is outstanding, even after 3 years it still gets 50 to 80 people a day registering for it, and as we host everything retention rate is high too

      The one piece we wont handle is the autoresponder bit, evn though we do get some folks telling us if it had that they would join...

      I just know though it would kill the site, as i dont have the capacity to keep up with the whitelisting and spam problems it would create.

      Without the autoresponder application, its 99% hands free and auto pilot... With an autoresponder app it would be 99% hands on

      Robert
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      • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
        Robert,
        I have thousands of sites that have their own built in mail list system. Every site I built for clients and every site I run has it's own built in system. Why pay someone for a mail list service when I already have a server I pay for.

        I have being doing it for years with no problems at all...

        With that said I am talking about list 50,000 and under. I am not talking about those guys that have 300,000 list members. Let's face facts not many will ever get to that level either.

        James

        Originally Posted by Robert Puddy View Post

        Hmmm... I agree with most of this except this bit

        "built in mail list & mail sending system"

        Thats a service that could bit you in the ass, it takes a lot of work to keep a mailing system clean and whitelisted... A good 3rd party solution is the only way to go with that peice of the puzzle


        Robert
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        • Profile picture of the author Robert Puddy
          Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

          Robert,
          I have thousands of sites that have their own built in mail list system. Every site I built for clients and every site I run has it's own built in system. Why pay someone for a mail list service when I already have a server I pay for.

          I have being doing it for years with no problems at all...

          With that said I am talking about list 50,000 and under. I am not talking about those guys that have 300,000 list members. Let's face facts not many will ever get to that level either.

          James
          Ok it was just a piece of advice based on my experience

          as an after thought you might like to consider that just 1 complaint in a 1000 can get you blacklisted, which is why i made the statement i did

          Robert
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  • Profile picture of the author Dan Ambrose
    Speaking from personal experience (I consider my membership site very successful with a very low drop out rate), it helps to invest in a system whereby you can reward members with "points" everytime they share with other members.

    For example, with my site - members can earn points for creating a blog and posting on it, writing and submitting articles, uploading videos, posting reviews on each others classifieds and much more (all inside the members area).. they can then exchange points for cash. This way, the more they share, the less their subscription is.

    However you may think this effects my monthly income... but it doesn't because the more that is shared, the more I'm offering through my site for a small monthly fee and therefore more members join and stay (it's a very profitable circle).

    Daniel
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  • Profile picture of the author RecurringRevenue
    Sell a Recurring Need

    Ex. Sales people have weekly meetings. Week in and week out they need a presentation - it's not optional, it's a reality.

    Lock-in on markets with recurring needs and retention issues virtually evaporate.

    Mark Robbins
    Recurring Revenue
    Signature

    I focus on ONE online business model - Recurring Revenue (RR). If I can help you in any way just post a RR question or PM me.

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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Every member site I've ever joined had very little to offer ... some launched it too early without enough materials in there to make people want to stay and some filled it up with a bunch of crap that had little value.

    Others had good material for starters and then that was it ... not enough new material to keep me paying.

    Normally, I steer clear of membership sites unless it has something I want ... then I get what I want and promptly get out of the membership. I much prefer to buy something outright than keep paying and paying and paying.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kezz
    mm365 I really like your approach. When everyone helps each other everybody prospers.

    Do you mind if I ask what kind of system you can use to manage something like this? Does it rely on members coming in and reporting what they've done to help each other, and then running through a verification process?

    Don't mean to nose into your trade secrets too much, but I have been wondering how you can get everyone in a membership site on the same page, and this sounds like s solid method.
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    • Profile picture of the author SoundsGood
      Originally Posted by Kezz View Post

      Do you mind if I ask what kind of system you can use to manage something like this? Does it rely on members coming in and reporting what they've done to help each other, and then running through a verification process?

      Don't mean to nose into your trade secrets too much, but I have been wondering how you can get everyone in a membership site on the same page, and this sounds like s solid method.
      I'd like to know too.

      I wonder if someone here on WF sells a "membership site in a box" type of thing? Anyone know of such a thing??
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    • Profile picture of the author Dan Ambrose
      Originally Posted by Kezz View Post

      mm365 I really like your approach. When everyone helps each other everybody prospers.

      Do you mind if I ask what kind of system you can use to manage something like this? Does it rely on members coming in and reporting what they've done to help each other, and then running through a verification process?

      Don't mean to nose into your trade secrets too much, but I have been wondering how you can get everyone in a membership site on the same page, and this sounds like s solid method.
      Unfortunately there isn't a "plug n play" system you can buy to manage this. I have paid a lot of money to get the whole thing professionally developed. I am happy though because it now has SO much potential to become a household name amongst IMers.

      Here's a recent testimony from a new member:

      "Okay I just signed up and had a look see into the members area. It's interesting, it is kind of like facebook with the status updates and chat. Which is pretty damn cool, its like the IM facebook, seriously... I like the idea that by using the site you earn points and can cash them in and that also a share forum seems to be coming soon, which also sounds good. There are a bunch of videos like "how to set up a OTO or how to set up a download/thankyou page". The videos seem to consist of internet marketing techinical know how's and also video guides of money making systems. This site is so interesting. Its a get paid to post forum+facebook+youtube+blogger+craigslist+PLR+Host ing+soon to be warez all intergrated into one site. I think the best thing about it is people can learn from each other off their blogs and do build bizz relationships. I'm looking forward to the future of this site. "

      Which makes me really happy because all the money I have paid is coming across in the right way. Once my developers have completed the final piece in the puzzle, I shall be re-launching the site.

      Imagine how excited I feel knowing that not long from now, I could have thousands more people paying me $27 per month and having all the members doing half the work

      If you don't have the money to invest in such development, then there are ways you can get around it, like you said - you could have "members coming in and reporting what they've done to help each other, and then running through a verification process" - a harder way to manage it, but do-able.

      Originally Posted by SoundsGood View Post

      I'd like to know too.

      I wonder if someone here on WF sells a "membership site in a box" type of thing? Anyone know of such a thing??
      Well, I kind of offer a "membership site in a box" through my affiliate program (see sig) where all my affiliates get 100% on all frontend sales ($27 per month per person they refer) AND 100% on all backend sales (OTOs) - It takes the workload away from you

      Daniel
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  • Profile picture of the author dmarze
    I know what are you talking about. I didn't make 100k with my membership site yet, but my new low priced membership site make me almost 3k in less that two months almost on autopilot.
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    Get Unique Content Rich Website... I Will Build And Promote It For You (WSO)

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  • Profile picture of the author Alminc
    POINTS SYSTEM
    ----------------

    Reward your members with 1000 points for each month they stay.

    Also set up a separate products vault where they can cash in their accumulated
    points and get those products 'for free'.

    Say they need to cash in 12000 points in order to get a valuable product
    that sells for $197 and above. They need to stay for 12 months in order
    to get it.

    You can use John Delavera's Turbo Download Manager to implement this
    system.

    Almin
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    No links :)
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    • Profile picture of the author russellprisco
      Originally Posted by Alminc View Post

      POINTS SYSTEM
      ----------------

      Reward your members with 1000 points for each month they stay.

      Also set up a separate products vault where they can cash in their accumulated
      points and get those products 'for free'.

      Say they need to cash in 12000 points in order to get a valuable product
      that sells for $197 and above. They need to stay for 12 months in order
      to get it.

      You can use John Delavera's Turbo Download Manager to implement this
      system.

      Almin
      Is there a similar/better alternative to this?

      Thanks,

      ~Russell Prisco =)
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      • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
        Originally Posted by russellprisco View Post

        Is there a similar/better alternative to this?

        Thanks,

        ~Russell Prisco =)
        Russell,
        I can provide one, if that is what you are asking for ...

        James
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  • Profile picture of the author lstoops
    It's funny that you posted this as I have been pondering this lately - memberships based around a service. After running my monthly niche research program for a few months I definitely see the potential. Just thinking about all the tedious internet marketing services one could provide (or outsource) has me wondering what else I can do.

    I think the key is service and to think niche as well as figuring out what someone would need on an ongoing basis.
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    • Profile picture of the author SoundsGood
      Originally Posted by lstoops View Post

      After running my monthly niche research program for a few months I definitely see the potential.
      Lisa, you might wanna remove the extra "http//" in your signature link.
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  • Profile picture of the author tommygadget
    I have a nice community of very loyal members. I attribute this to the fact that I provide new content each and every month that directly adds to their bottom line. Those who stay with me a year from now will be earning a very respectable adsense income. If that isn't an incentive to stay, I don't know what is.

    TomG.

    PS - As someone said above, my membership does NOT depend on all sorts of external factors and/or additional purchases to work.
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  • Profile picture of the author RecurringRevenue
    Tom,

    AWESOME model.

    Simple and specific.

    So many people get way too complicated with their continuity program, but I really like how succinctly you put yours.

    Mark Robbins
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    I focus on ONE online business model - Recurring Revenue (RR). If I can help you in any way just post a RR question or PM me.

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  • Profile picture of the author emmaqin
    Originally Posted by Ron Douglas View Post

    We've all done the math on membership sites and dreamed of starting one where the membership keeps growing each month and all of the members actually stick long term.

    You know the math I'm talking about:

    - $97 a month membership
    - Get just 2.5 people to join per day on average
    - After a year you have 912 members
    - 912 members x $97 per month = $88,464 a month
    - $88,464 a month x 12 months = $1,061,568 a year.
    It's simple and specific.
    But it's not easy to achieve the target.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Wagoner
    I would also add that having a membership site which is hands on for the members is also a high retention factor.

    As an example, follow along videos in a specific craft niche or other how to series.

    Breaking these up into viable sub-tasks which are in themselves independent can keep your members sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for more.

    Suppose you have a site on quilting. Videos which show how to quilt can be broken up into several categories. Designing, material selection, proper cutting, creation of a quilt square, using batting, using squares to create baby quilt, how to properly "quilt" the quilt, machine quilting, hand quilting, squares to full quilt...

    My mother was a quilter, so I could go on and on.

    This principle can be applied to just about anything you want to teach.

    Hope this helps!

    Dennis Wagoner
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  • Profile picture of the author Scott Allan
    Hi all,

    Wow some fantastic ideas here.
    I plan on starting my own membership site soon and I plan on putting these into action.

    Can I ask what people think of an idea along the lines of a member competition where after they have been a member for say 3 months all of those members go into a draw to get their next months membership free.

    So for example if you have 20 members that have been in for 3 months they will go into a draw and then 1 of them will get the following month free.

    As this grows you could do this once per month, and thereby keeping people awake to the fact one lucky member gets their membership refunded for that month.

    A potential small sacrifice to keep alot more members perhaps ?

    Thanks for this thread Ron.

    Ps I just checked out traffic sage and it looks fantastic, I would love to know the member figures and retention rates for a service as comprehensive as that.

    Best Wishes

    Scott Allan
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    Stuff n Junk

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    • Profile picture of the author Andy Fletcher
      Originally Posted by Scott Allan View Post

      Hi all,

      Wow some fantastic ideas here.
      I plan on starting my own membership site soon and I plan on putting these into action.

      Can I ask what people think of an idea along the lines of a member competition where after they have been a member for say 3 months all of those members go into a draw to get their next months membership free.

      So for example if you have 20 members that have been in for 3 months they will go into a draw and then 1 of them will get the following month free.

      As this grows you could do this once per month, and thereby keeping people awake to the fact one lucky member gets their membership refunded for that month.

      A potential small sacrifice to keep alot more members perhaps ?

      Thanks for this thread Ron.

      Ps I just checked out traffic sage and it looks fantastic, I would love to know the member figures and retention rates for a service as comprehensive as that.

      Best Wishes

      Scott Allan
      I'm not convinced people will stay around on the off chance that they'll get next month free. I'd be far more focused on delivering high quality content/services.

      Cheers,

      Andy
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      • Profile picture of the author Scott Allan
        Originally Posted by Andy Fletcher View Post

        I'm not convinced people will stay around on the off chance that they'll get next month free. I'd be far more focused on delivering high quality content/services.

        Cheers,

        Andy
        Hi Andy,

        You are right of course if your content is garbage you will be lucky to retain free members nevermind paid members.

        That would be an absolute given, I was thinking more outside the square to "give back" to members with a monthly competition of some tangible value "on top of" great content.

        Scott
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        Stuff n Junk

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        • Profile picture of the author Andy Fletcher
          Originally Posted by Scott Allan View Post

          Hi Andy,

          You are right of course if your content is garbage you will be lucky to retain free members nevermind paid members.

          That would be an absolute given, I was thinking more outside the square to "give back" to members with a monthly competition of some tangible value "on top of" great content.

          Scott
          In which case I'd probably run competitions to win extras on top of the membership. Eg for a PLR site you could give a special "platinum pack" to just 10 lucky winners. That'd be more valuable to most people than a one month refund.

          Cheers,

          Andy
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    • Profile picture of the author mello
      Hey Scott

      Not a bad idea for member retention. General wisdom though is not to give up revenue but add more value.

      If you want to go that route then give them something tangible like free tix or a dinner out or if you want to be hairy and audacious a plane ride! What is something they would get excited about? A free months membership doesn't usually excite. Maybe even just being awarded the member of the month for winning the comp would be enough?
      Put it in your plan but maybe don;t offer it upfront? It builds an expectation you may not be able to deliver. May be better to announce it a month before you plan the comp to pique interest.

      Random thoughts - I'm sure you can come up with something that will juice up your members.

      But as others have said, keep up the value and you may not need to reduce revenue or increase costs to retain them.

      Cheers
      Mel
      Originally Posted by Scott Allan View Post

      Can I ask what people think of an idea along the lines of a member competition where after they have been a member for say 3 months all of those members go into a draw to get their next months membership free.

      So for example if you have 20 members that have been in for 3 months they will go into a draw and then 1 of them will get the following month free.

      As this grows you could do this once per month, and thereby keeping people awake to the fact one lucky member gets their membership refunded for that month.

      A potential small sacrifice to keep alot more members perhaps ?
      Signature
      Everything is doable ... if you take action
      Internet Marketing
      PLR
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  • Profile picture of the author Marilyn Etzel
    I completely agree with you. I think by offering a resalable item or a service you don't have to work as hard to convince someone about "why" they need what you have to offer.

    I know I stay with PLR memberships longer because while I may not need the PLR being offered this month, I know I might want next months. So it keeps me hanging in longer.

    Marilyn
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    Cofounder of www.WebBizVictory.com

    and the From Passion to Profitable Telesummit

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  • Profile picture of the author Anonymous Affiliate
    In my opinion, a 6-month Fixed Term Membership is the best model. If the so-often cited average membership of 3 or 4 month stick rate is true, I can see many people sticking out for an extra 2 more month to "complete" the course as long as you offer the a free huge bonus upon completion. That way you can push your average stick rate few more months.

    Plus you can always offer another Advanced 6-month course to "graduates".
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  • Profile picture of the author whseo99
    unless you were making money for them people, i cant see many people at 97$ a month, more like 25$ a month, 97$ a month is a bit too much unless your getting something really special
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    • Profile picture of the author Mike Hill
      Originally Posted by whseo99 View Post

      unless you were making money for them people, i cant see many people at 97$ a month, more like 25$ a month, 97$ a month is a bit too much unless your getting something really special
      Well of course it would be high value... You don't just charge whatever without the value... I will be charging $97 a month for my membership site but it's something completely different and the information people will be getting is absolutely like nothing ever done before thatis aimed at IM...

      I'm actually quite surprised no one has ever offered this and the $97 a month it will cost is extremely cheap considering what it can do for you...

      Sorry, I cannot share this idea at this time.

      Mike Hill
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    • Profile picture of the author Sandy Cormack
      Originally Posted by whseo99 View Post

      unless you were making money for them people, i cant see many people at 97$ a month, more like 25$ a month, 97$ a month is a bit too much unless your getting something really special
      The direct marketing membership service I belong to costs about $37/month and gives access to over a hundred hours of audio and video training plus tons of articles and ebooks.

      It is important to understand, I think, that the guy who runs it evolved this business model off of his original consulting business. So he already had tons of resources to include in his membership service.

      So at one time he was doing a lot of individual coaching and group consulting. Now he focuses on making content for his membership site, to add to the huge volume of stuff that's already there.

      At one time he was making money off of e-books and printed books. Now he provides his e-books for free as optin bait.

      Were he to have started the membership site from scratch, he would have had to develop all this up front. As it stands, he was uniquely able to transition from consultancy to web community guru without a lot of upfront effort.
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      Creativity Training, Strategic Planning, Personal Development, Organizational Development, and Lead Guitar
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  • Profile picture of the author Adrian Cooper
    Originally Posted by Ron Douglas View Post

    We've all done the math on membership sites and dreamed of starting one where the membership keeps growing each month and all of the members actually stick long term.

    You know the math I'm talking about:

    - $97 a month membership
    - Get just 2.5 people to join per day on average
    - After a year you have 912 members
    - 912 members x $97 per month = $88,464 a month
    - $88,464 a month x 12 months = $1,061,568 a year

    That's exciting to think about - but in reality, some types of products and services do well as membership sites and others do not. The ones that don't usually have high drop out rates and pissed off customers wondering what the heck the charge is on their credit statement.

    Let's focus on the membership sites that actually do well . I'm going to list a few ideas for high retention membership sites and if others contribute, I'll be back to list a few more.

    1) Sell something that people can resell
    A foolproof way to ensure a high retention rate is to SELL TO SELLERS. Sell a product or service that people can resell and make money with and they will stick around long term. Some examples:
    - PLR membership sites
    - Reseller Web Hosting
    - ReadyMadeMembersites.com - turn key membership sites you can sell as your own.

    2) Sell a service that people will use to make money with directly
    Some examples:
    - TC2000.com a stock charting service that traders use to plan their trades.
    - Aweber.com - autoresponders
    - Realtytrac.com - foreclosure listing
    - ListingBook.com - a service that helps real estate agents manage their client base and listings
    - TrafficSage.com - Website promotion outsourcing service - link building, article writing, video creation, search engine marketing, Web 2.0 traffic generation.

    3) Sell a service that makes people's lives easier
    Some examples:
    - Ewedding.com - push button solution for creating and hosting wedding websites
    - Wellnessresources.com/auto_ship.php - gives a discount to customers who buy their supplements and join the convenient "monthly autoship program"

    I have a bunch of other examples to share. Please add your ideas and examples.
    Interesting numbers - I have seen plenty of business plans that look like that

    A membership site should be geared towards one thing - the members - real people just like you.

    Give them quality, regular content that matches what they subscribed for and they will stay.

    Many membership sites start with a product, but then figure if they make it available through a membership site they can charge for the same product many times over.

    The biggest mistake I see in IM is that people focus on making money instead of providing quality, caring solutions for people.

    If you provide real solutions for real people, they will gladly pay a monthly fee, every month, and above all refer the site to others as well.

    It is all about People.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andy Fletcher
    I have no idea where this "3-4 month" thing came from. I've got tons of subscribers who signed up during my launch and are still members now. I don't use cheap marketing tricks I just provide a great service at a great price.

    I suppose it could be true for typical "sell the dream" IM sites but if your customers get serious value out of your product they'll stay on month after month.
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  • Profile picture of the author Noah Fleming
    The key to a successful membership site has nothing about the products you offer or the stuff you give.

    There are so many issues with current membership site training.

    They promise
    1) limited hours and time investment required
    2) put everything on autopilot
    3) outsource everything
    4) drip feed stuff
    5) the income dream/math etc (like the op mentioned)
    etc etc.

    All wrong.

    Look at what Andy said for some of the right answers.
    My membership sites have been my 9-5 job for the last 5 years. HARD work. Lots of time investment. Lots. Being there for your members. Transparency, Honesty, Customer Service etc..

    The whole idea of "instant membership sites" , "turnkey membership sites" and "drip feed content sites" is more of the same old - dangling the carrot in front of the donkey for the drones.

    No matter how many things you offer - there is more to a membership site than giving them stuff or things they can resell.

    AS for the 3/4 month retention quote. It is true and if you've been around IM for the past 5-8-10 years you've seen how many sites bite the dust within that time. They start out with a focus on stuff (with the numbers dream as the OP pointed out) without the ability to deliver psychologically on any other level.
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    • Profile picture of the author Anonymous Affiliate
      Originally Posted by Noah Fleming View Post

      My membership sites have been my 9-5 job for the last 5 years. HARD work. Lots of time investment. Lots. Being there for your members. Transparency, Honesty, Customer Service etc..

      The whole idea of "instant membership sites" , "turnkey membership sites" and "drip feed content sites" is more of the same old - dangling the carrot in front of the donkey for the drones.
      I so freaking totally agree with you, especially in two points:
      • Membership sites are 10x (or more) as hard work as a single-product site. If you go membership, be ready for hundreds upon hundreds of hours of work over the following months.
      • The whole "instant membership site" thing is laughable. I in fact bought a "course" of one of the instant membership site gurus on and the whole thing was comical: 100% carrot-dangling at its best.

      I dont agree though with you on the drip feed content membership sites. I have one and it's a very valid business model indeed.
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      • Profile picture of the author Noah Fleming
        Originally Posted by Anonymous Affiliate View Post

        I so freaking totally agree with you, especially in two points:
        • Membership sites are 10x (or more) as hard work as a single-product site. If you go membership, be ready for hundreds upon hundreds of hours of work over the following months.
        • The whole "instant membership site" thing is laughable. I in fact bought a "course" of one of the instant membership site gurus on and the whole thing was comical: 100% carrot-dangling at its best.

        I dont agree though with you on the drip feed content membership sites. I have one and it's a very valid business model indeed.
        Sorry. I should add to that. You are right. Thanks for pointing that out.
        Drip Feeding can work. It's the drip-feed "instant" sites I dont agree with.

        The WSO's that promise say a "membership site on dogs" where you do nothing except try and find people to pay.
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  • Profile picture of the author Daniel Molano
    As an affiliate of several of these continuity memberships, I would have to say that unique software has the highest retention rate so far.

    My favourite: Get Targeted Traffic With Ezine Article Submission Software

    Services are also great, I guess I'll have to wait and see on the retention of Traffic Sage, Ron.
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  • Profile picture of the author IMStudentforlife
    I guess the thing to take away is, what to give away free and what to retain for paying members.

    I wonder if it would be best to write it all out then take samples from your report or writings. See which should be retained?
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  • Profile picture of the author MaxReferrals
    Well, it's been alluded to, but it still boils down to ACTUAL valued received by
    the subscriber, versus perceived value, or the expense outlay.

    For example, I heard from a reliable source this site has over 100,000 paid members:
    RestaurantOwner

    Do the math at $13 a month, that's some serious recurring coin.

    Granted, they provide a TON of content, much which I'm sure is recycled
    from their offline mag.

    But the bottom line, is this is an incredible business model within a HUNGRY niche. More like a trapped niche. "Trapped" in regard to commitments and responsibilities in other areas

    They fill a great NEED (advice, worksheets, marketing help, training templates, menu templates, etc for restaurant owners), and I suspect there is high perceived value (restaurant owner says I don't have time for all that crap.)

    BTW, that is a Membergate site.
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    • Profile picture of the author roblawrence
      Does anyone have advice on stopping the "clock watchers"? You know, those people who join a membership site, go in and download everything then cancel right before the renewal date?
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  • Profile picture of the author Nicky Papers
    Ron: Great Thread! Great to see a Long Island guy on here as I am new to this forum.

    I think the follow is important for membership sites:

    1) Offer something of incredible value: If it's information that you are offering make it so that your audience is hanging by a thread to get your next mailing, webinar, blog post etc. The quality of your information needs to blow the competition away and needs to be priced to market. Low enough to command attention, high enough to demonstrate value.

    2) Put everything you have into: People need to realized that there is no way to go half way with these type of offers. This includes tweaking and updating the site, contacting your existing subscribers with free info and updates, buying and leveraging web traffic, and SEO + link building. Digital equity lives on!

    3) Be Creative: Stealing sales copy from other sites is not thinking original. Build a brand behind your offering and you'll get the attention to hold customers for the long haul.

    Best regards,

    Nicky Papers
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  • Profile picture of the author affhelper
    Well I think the best membership sites are those that provide utility type service. You wouldn't turn off your electric would you?

    So for example: Software As Service
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Worner
    I really like this thread but I have 1 simple gripe with free membership sites, I don't own one for the simple fact that every free membership site I have been a member off usually wound up spammed to death, rendering the site useless.


    Chris
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Fladlien
    Originally Posted by Ron Douglas View Post


    You know the math I'm talking about:

    - $97 a month membership
    - Get just 2.5 people to join per day on average
    - After a year you have 912 members
    - 912 members x $97 per month = $88,464 a month
    - $88,464 a month x 12 months = $1,061,568 a year
    Heh - I wish it were that easy. Of the 2.5 who join the .5 credit card will be declined by the end of month 1... 3 people a month will NOT refund... they will do a chargeback instead (you pay $$ on top of returning the fee!)... and your merchant account will take around 3% of that 1,061,568.... and your drop out will run about 30% a month...

    So in reality, to gross that number above you'd need closer to 15 people a day

    The credit card declines alone for most $97 a month membership sites are about 20% from one month to the next now...

    The best stick strategy in the world is service based membership like Aweber, Infusionsoft or hosting company. You can't cancel because they control your stuff...
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    • Profile picture of the author Wide
      Originally Posted by Jason Fladlien View Post

      Heh - I wish it were that easy. Of the 2.5 who join the .5 credit card will be declined by the end of month 1... 3 people a month will NOT refund... they will do a chargeback instead (you pay $$ on top of returning the fee!)... and your merchant account will take around 3% of that 1,061,568.... and your drop out will run about 30% a month...

      So in reality, to gross that number above you'd need closer to 15 people a day
      Got a link? Or just random numbers?
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      • Profile picture of the author Jason Fladlien
        Wilde,

        What do you want me to link to? Export an "Order Reports" from my account and then upload it so you can look at all our numbers? No thanks.

        $97 monthly memberships are a whole other can of worms from your traditional $37 a month membership. The credit card declines each month will drive you crazy. For us, they OUTNUMBER the cancellations (!).

        Plus, $97 membership sites just by nature alone will attract more chargebacks. I get around 2-3 a month in the mail.

        Now people say the best stick strategy is good content. NOT SO with $97 a month membership sites. I can't tell you how many emails we get that say "I love the content, just can't afford it any more..."

        The REAL leverage behind a $97 a month continuity comes from this - it's super easy to attract joint venture partners - especially if you pay them a re-occuring 50% on the membership site, plus 50% on all backend sales generated by the lead.

        When we launched ours we put 10,000+ people on a list from jv's in a week or two with the membership site as the backend to that list.

        That's the real asset in a $97 a month continuity program.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ron Douglas
      Originally Posted by Jason Fladlien View Post

      Heh - I wish it were that easy. Of the 2.5 who join the .5 credit card will be declined by the end of month 1... 3 people a month will NOT refund... they will do a chargeback instead (you pay $$ on top of returning the fee!)... and your merchant account will take around 3% of that 1,061,568.... and your drop out will run about 30% a month...

      So in reality, to gross that number above you'd need closer to 15 people a day

      The credit card declines alone for most $97 a month membership sites are about 20% from one month to the next now...

      The best stick strategy in the world is service based membership like Aweber, Infusionsoft or hosting company. You can't cancel because they control your stuff...
      That's good to know Jason. I'm sure it's close to accurate in the Internet Marketing niche, but lets not make a blanket statement for all $97 a month memberships. I can tell you from experience that it depends on who your customers are. For example, for an investment newsletter with higher net worth customers, those numbers would be much different.
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  • Profile picture of the author butters
    It may of been shared but I haven't read every reply .

    I remember watching a seminar and he discussed how magazines subscriptions work so well because they are just 4.99 a month or 3.99, some small amount of money which isn't worth a lot to most people. Then they went through the audience there asking how long they have been subscribed, some said 3 years, some said 5 but they all had the same reason, its only 4.99, or its only a small amount.

    So maybe, high price isn't the way to go, depends on the market I guess.
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  • Profile picture of the author davemiz
    ron good post, but lets focus on being realistic.... after a year you have 900+ members but we all know the average customer is on from 1-3 months max.

    those numbers aren't anywhere near real.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ron Douglas
      Originally Posted by davemiz View Post

      ron good post, but lets focus on being realistic.... after a year you have 900+ members but we all know the average customer is on from 1-3 months max.

      those numbers aren't anywhere near real.
      Dave, it sounds like you didn't fully read the OP or the discussions in this thread.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jason Fladlien
        Ron,

        Good point re: my previous post. There are some "hard money" and even "soft money" crowds were a $97 membership a mo. is a walk in the park. But in general, based on my numbers, and my clients numbers, what I've said is usually true for most niches.

        And then of course, there are niches where $97 a month isn't even feasible.

        One thing I forgot to mention - the idea of a "3 month retention" cycle is a bit off base as well. When you start out - IN GENERAL - you'll get much lower than that usually (it's closer to 1.5 month).

        However, over time the numbers scale out because there will be some people who NEVER cancel. So in about 15 months you'll have those who are still there from the get-go, thus bringing your overall "average rentention" up...

        That said, membership sites are still the way to go... in general though they aren't nearly as lucrative as they seem at first glance
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        • Profile picture of the author Ron Douglas
          Originally Posted by Jason Fladlien View Post

          Ron,

          Good point re: my previous post. There are some "hard money" and even "soft money" crowds were a $97 membership a mo. is a walk in the park. But in general, based on my numbers, and my clients numbers, what I've said is usually true for most niches.
          Good discussion.

          The purpose of this thread in general was to collaborate on ideas that didn't follow the norm for membership sites. If 3 month retentions and high chargebacks are the average expectation, lets talk about being better than average . I think there were some good ideas shared in this thread that can help in this regard. If you read it closely, there are in fact some outstanding membership site ideas that are far better than the typical "information publishing, inner circle" types of sites.

          However, if we skim through threads with blinders on and are set in our thinking, we can't be open to learning new things. This is my 10th year in Internet Marketing and my ideas have generated millions of dollars - however, I still learn new things all the time. I think it's mainly because I'm open to the fact that I still have lots to learn.
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          • Profile picture of the author butters
            Just had an idea for a membership site, well the payment ... I think that most people leave membership sites after a few months because they don't have that flurry of content going there way anymore. This is what I will do once I get around to doing a membership site in the next year or two. Start out at, lets say, $97. Then as the months go on, decrease it by 10 bucks, so second month is 87, then 77, 67 and so on. The idea behind that is to reward the long term subscribers and eventually making them only pay $17 for it. That was one of my idea I was going to implement into a membership site anyway :p.
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  • Profile picture of the author willyboy104
    Great thread Ron.

    @Butters, that was something I considered however what you may find is that some people would assume your content was not worth $97 to start with and instead of rewarding your customers you're actually ripping them off by making them pay that in the first place.

    Also if someone is prepared to pay $97 for you're content there is no point in rewarding them by decreasing the price. Instead improve the quality (if you can which I hope not) OR add more quality content, if you provide text information, provide mp3, mp4, pictures, graphs, materialistic goods, phsyical goods, jeez even a fridge freezer if that's what they would like =D

    You get my picture, I don't think a price decrease is what they are looking for when they are willing to pay $97.

    Excellent thread.

    edit: Aghhh harlow, my flat mate is from harlow...aghhh Essex =P
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  • Profile picture of the author atajanpro
    im not very experienced in membership sites, but i have enough desire to have one.

    I don't really care what its going to be, but i'm really looking for a good idea. What i've read here so far is providing information, and providing downloads to premium members! Its great but you constantly will have people dropping out even if you constantly update keep good relationship and have a great support system. These days people are lazy, even me, they'll get tired of whatever you gotta provide. but so to say if you look at netflix for example they make you pay 8 bucks and people barely cancel because it just becomes another bill to pay. nobody really cares about 8 bucks. It pretty much became another TV subscription, you cant live without. Idk where im going with this, but really what i'm looking for is an idea to make something work, because i have a huge desire for a Residual Income, I'm willing to partner with someone, buy their idea, whatever it is. Please share some ideas if you got any, who knows you might start the next big thing.

    If you're one of those people who thinks everything thats possible to make is already out there? Don't even bother replying to this, because myspace was already out there before facebook, blockbuster was already out there before netflix, and if we go this far no one could've imagined that internet could be possible and lets not even talk about phones, cars, and planes.
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