do review site banners in members area hurt retention?
 

do review site banners in a members area hurt retention?

typically a members area with upsales isn't one that prides themselves on retention.

thx for the input...

anyone else have an opinion?

with the extensive peanut gallery around here im surprised at the lack of replies.

maybe i need to start some DRAMA!??

Make a file called 'fuckupdates.php' which includes DVD feeds entirely unrelated to your members' joined genre.

Hope that helps.

was that a joke?

helps what?

Depends on how shitty your retention is.

Timely topic for me because we just sold a spot to a well known review site today. I will be interested to see how it performs


spaz

:2 cents:

well id be more tasteful and just get a plug of some recent related reviews (txt list or whatnot with links using your code obviously) that are in the genre of your site - then you can refer off relevant members to a site of interest with content thats similar to yours for extra coin.

Upsells can be tricky or fairly easy and I personally do not think they indicate lack of pride.
You just need to know if the upsell will compliment what your members are after, if it will compete with you and possibly cannibalize your members area, or if it is an entirely different segment of the business in the first place. It will also help a great deal if you as the site owner not only check out the site your sending traffic to (and often randomly in the future via your link). I have also found out it helps a great deal to clearly indicate areas that take you off site or banners clearly for what they are. I would never have a off site banner showing up in my members area without it saying it was an advertisement.

thx for your take on this...
whats your idea of something that would cannibalize a members area?
a review site?

Only reason I can imagine putting up a review site link inside a members area would be to get your members to post comments and ratings, which could influence new members to join from the review site. In fact I'm surprised more highly rated sites don't do this.

If you have a good site and the review site allows comments, why not ask your members to post something positive about your site?

Unless it's a paid advertising, I do not see a point in having a huge review site banner in your members area. Some review sites ask for a link back, but that's usually just a link somewhere, not a huge banner on a most prominent place.

And yes, it may hurt your retention if you have a generic site and do not update often, as your members can find a better option at a review site you promote. But if you have a good site with quality unique content that updates often enough, I do not think having such banner will affect your retention in a negative way. You can even get more members if you use one of the marketing tricks, such as asking your members to post a positive comment as was suggested above.

It is good for industry as a whole to have the paying audience cycled between member areas and sites that promote them, but not necessary good for some site in particular.