GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum - View Single Post - Member retention: What does your site do?

cherrylula · 04-11-2002, 12:40 PM

Hmmm here's my take on this topic.... Not an answer to the topic question (my site is pretty young), but an opinion regarding recurring memberships.

I don't run a huge site to really speak from as much experience as some of you in regards to member retention, but what I do know is that you must realize that a LOT if people who join porn paysites are really NOT into the montly billing thing. Now I LOVE to see my rebills in my stats, don't get me wrong.... but I think perhaps you can sort of compare a subscription to a site to that of a magazine.

Put it in this perspective: You can buy a hustler mag for ten bucks or whatever it is, but most magazines give a huge discount when you purchase a subscription.

What I do with my memberships is I offer short passes, NOT trials, but say if your monthly is 30 bucks recurring, I'd offer a 20 dollar one week or less pass, NON recurring. And I will be honest in saying that about 50% of memberships usually choose the NON recurring, even if it is a way worse deal.

Doing this is a complete turnaround from the trial memberships, which people mostly use or pick because they don't want to commit to a montly membership. Once a porn surfer realizes he can cancel his $2-3 trial and then have three days left to surf your site.... well that is why you make a three day pass for about 60-75% of your normal monthly membership. That way you still make a little chunk of change, give the surfer his non-recurring membership which puts him at ease, and he only gets access for three days.

For a while my site was still pretty new and I was not able to update more than every two weeks, and what happened is I'd get a whole bunch of 20 dollar memberships every time I announce an update, lol.... so I have pretty much concluded that a lot of porn surfers would rather buy a $20, 3 day pass TWICE a month to see my updates than to buy one $30 recurring pass and commit to a rebilling membership. Then again mine is an amateur girl site, so perhaps its a little different than a huge adult site.

Also, in light of the fact that it seems credit card companies don't like rebills because often subscribers FORGET, and then request a refund, well this is a good solution to that. As much as we all hope and wish that we could get new members and KEEP them for months to come, the reality of it is that probably 50% (that is my approximation, could be wrong) of all porn surfers do NOT want to commit to a rebill type of thing.

And as for trial memberships themselves.... I figure the % of guys who join under a trial, and actually decide to LET it convert is pretty small. I would be willing to bet that the majority (i dont know because i dont have enough experience with this) of trial memberships that DO convert probably do not stay for longer than one month, and probably cancel not long after it converts, because they FORGET. Hmm it would be very interesting to see some charts/graphs regarding trial memberships and what they end up as. My ballpark would be that maybe 25% of all trial memberships convert and continue past one monty recurring. So once again, offering a high priced, non recurring, few day pass is a nice way to solve this dilemma.

If a guy buys porn, he buys porn. Cigarette prices keep going up too, but are sales down? heh i doubt it. People who give away access to their sites for a couple bucks, should consider that you can't even buy a quality porn MAG for less than ten bucks..... why undercut yourself? Then again maybe I am just a newbie.

Then again this week I have gotten more rebills than ever before, and I like it! heh. But I still say that about 40-50% of my sales are the non-recurring passes. I don't feel that I am short changing myself at all either, its nice.

04-11-2002, 12:40 PM
cherrylula lol Industry Role: Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 15,969	Hmmm here's my take on this topic.... Not an answer to the topic question (my site is pretty young), but an opinion regarding recurring memberships. I don't run a huge site to really speak from as much experience as some of you in regards to member retention, but what I do know is that you must realize that a LOT if people who join porn paysites are really NOT into the montly billing thing. Now I LOVE to see my rebills in my stats, don't get me wrong.... but I think perhaps you can sort of compare a subscription to a site to that of a magazine. Put it in this perspective: You can buy a hustler mag for ten bucks or whatever it is, but most magazines give a huge discount when you purchase a subscription. What I do with my memberships is I offer short passes, NOT trials, but say if your monthly is 30 bucks recurring, I'd offer a 20 dollar one week or less pass, NON recurring. And I will be honest in saying that about 50% of memberships usually choose the NON recurring, even if it is a way worse deal. Doing this is a complete turnaround from the trial memberships, which people mostly use or pick because they don't want to commit to a montly membership. Once a porn surfer realizes he can cancel his $2-3 trial and then have three days left to surf your site.... well that is why you make a three day pass for about 60-75% of your normal monthly membership. That way you still make a little chunk of change, give the surfer his non-recurring membership which puts him at ease, and he only gets access for three days. For a while my site was still pretty new and I was not able to update more than every two weeks, and what happened is I'd get a whole bunch of 20 dollar memberships every time I announce an update, lol.... so I have pretty much concluded that a lot of porn surfers would rather buy a $20, 3 day pass TWICE a month to see my updates than to buy one $30 recurring pass and commit to a rebilling membership. Then again mine is an amateur girl site, so perhaps its a little different than a huge adult site. Also, in light of the fact that it seems credit card companies don't like rebills because often subscribers FORGET, and then request a refund, well this is a good solution to that. As much as we all hope and wish that we could get new members and KEEP them for months to come, the reality of it is that probably 50% (that is my approximation, could be wrong) of all porn surfers do NOT want to commit to a rebill type of thing. And as for trial memberships themselves.... I figure the % of guys who join under a trial, and actually decide to LET it convert is pretty small. I would be willing to bet that the majority (i dont know because i dont have enough experience with this) of trial memberships that DO convert probably do not stay for longer than one month, and probably cancel not long after it converts, because they FORGET. Hmm it would be very interesting to see some charts/graphs regarding trial memberships and what they end up as. My ballpark would be that maybe 25% of all trial memberships convert and continue past one monty recurring. So once again, offering a high priced, non recurring, few day pass is a nice way to solve this dilemma. If a guy buys porn, he buys porn. Cigarette prices keep going up too, but are sales down? heh i doubt it. People who give away access to their sites for a couple bucks, should consider that you can't even buy a quality porn MAG for less than ten bucks..... why undercut yourself? Then again maybe I am just a newbie. Then again this week I have gotten more rebills than ever before, and I like it! heh. But I still say that about 40-50% of my sales are the non-recurring passes. I don't feel that I am short changing myself at all either, its nice.