Quote:
Originally posted by jayeff
There's an old adage that it is much cheaper to keep a customer than to find a new one. But the majority of operators in this business haven't bought into that yet.
The flaw in the original premise of this thread is it makes the assumption that every site operator cares about member retention or about sales via word of mouth. But many don't. They expect their members to be gone in a month or two and their whole focus is on pushing cross-sells and up-sells. They know their sites will burn out fast. No problem, just roll out some more.
Sales aren't directly about content, because you can outright lie or at least foster the impression that your site has exactly what surfers are looking for. Which is why it is easier to make the argument that traffic is king.
Retention is when content comes into its own. And as some have said, content also counts for getting a good reputation. But it isn't only quality or uniqueness that does the trick: AVS/AEN/network sites (whatever you want to call them) have some of the best retention rates in the business and their success is almost entirely due to content volume.
Sites with few or no affiliates should definitely work at getting their content right. It would be good if big players went the same route, because then we wouldn't be burning so many surfers. But so long as affiliates are happy to sell rubbish, there isn't much incentive for standards to change.
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Very good post. Right on the money in my eyes.