I hope that both paysite owners and affiliates will chime in with their views on this one…
All my paysites have the option for the surfer to only do a one time charge and i was wondering if it might be a good idea to remove this option and only offer price points that rebills… I do charge $5-10 more for the non recurring option but think its normal for it to be more expensive…
paysite owners, what is your experience regarding something like this ?
affiliate, do you preferre sites that offer non recurring options or do you preferre sites that only has recurring options or doesnt it matter ?
As an affiliate I prefer a paysite to have both options. The more choices a surfer has, the sooner he will sign up. Of course, I do hope they choose the recurring one (and so do you), but if you didn’t had a non-recurring option the surfer might not have joined at all.
We tested both options for 6 months a couple of years ago: only singles then only recurring. Now we are mixing both options I think it’s what works best for us. And we are also offer one-time option about 5$ more than the recurring options which seems to be working great as well. But I have to say that I really like seeing those recurring memberships still recurring 2-3 years after the original signups every month.
Now on to what might be opening myself up to a bunch of “hate mail”…
I see a lot of affiliates wishing they had signed up for RevShare rather than PPS because they are losing money IF the enduser signs up for another month or longer.
Okay… <insert potential hate mail idea>
For sponsor programs, and allow me to say that I understand Sponsors/Producers are in the business to make money, and so are Affiliates… but!
Instead of having the options of “RevShare” and “PPS”… (oh gawd, here it comes)
Have 1 Plan - The enduser signs up, regardless of Trial, 1 Month or Monthly Recurring.
The Affiliate gets paid the initial 50/60% or $35 (whatever the payout is) AND… IF the enduser renews, just give the Affiliate a reduced amount “automatically” for each month renewal thereafter.
We too tested this a while back, a few years ago actually.
Removing the lower priced/one-month single billing option and changing it to a longer duration (90-days) with a higher price point increased our recurring member base while also increasing revenue per member substantially.
I actually need to clarify my response. I would never have a one month non recur option on a tour.
Here is how I look at it. You want to set a target GPM (Gross Per Member). The lowest non recur option that I would have would have to meet my target GPM. It’s not unrealistic for a quality site to have a target GPM of $50-$80. Why let members in below what your target goal is?
CPA < GPM. The higher your GPM the more aggressive you can get on your CPA.
Thank you everyone for throwing your .02 in the ring and i must admit that what abostonboy and seth said makes sense… think perhaps its time i try and play around with the price point option to see what works best…