Subscription levels dropping

[Markn]

Morrus,

I know you are looking for cancellation reasons. But this reason has kept me from both subscribing and it would cause me to cancel.

Stability - ENWorld seems to go through fundamental shifts every 6 months or so. In terms of account benefits, plans, options, what you can do on the site/what you can't do on the site and so on. The simple fact is, I don't have faith that what I sign up for - whether its a month or a year - is what I will get at the end of my subscription. Too many features change for my personal tastes. Additionally, the fact that I keep hearing the site is going in the red also makes me leery too. I understand that you want to improve the site, to make it more profitable but the methods feel haphazard at best.

To be honest, my main reason is financial constraints at this point, but once those are resolved, the stability issue mentioned above is what keeps me from signing on board.

One last note: I also think Monthly is a terrible option. I think users find it a pain to have to re-up each month or track the ongoing debits from their accounts. I think it would be far more successful as a yearly subscription - but that is just my opinion.

I truly do hope you find the magic formula!

Edit: Kzach sums up what I was trying to say about the monthly subscription quite well. Basically, its easy to get someone signed up but its even easier to have their account get cancelled.

 

[Morrus]

Additionally, the fact that I keep hearing the site is going in the red also makes me leery too.

You do? We haven't had serious financial problems for years, and we don't now (unless the same rate of cancellations over the last month or two continues for an entire year - but we'll have plenty of warning for that, and this thread serves to help catch something before it becomes a trend).

I don't have faith that what I sign up for - whether its a month or a year - is what I will get at the end of my subscription.

But that would be dishonest, surely?

 

[Scribble]

Make the subscription cost 2 dollars... Then you can chase us around yelling: "I want my two dollaaaarrrrrrsssss...."

 

[DragonLancer]

Perhaps the question to ask is "what would convince you to or continue to subscribe to the site"?

 

[Morrus]

Perhaps the question to ask is "what would convince you to subscribe to the site"?

Perhaps, if sign-up levels were dropping. Sure, it would always be great to get more, but people are subscribing at a good rate.

Sign-ups are fine. It's the recent rash of cancellations I'm investigating. I'm trying to establish if it's the start of a trend or an aberration. If the former, I can try to address it; if the latter we can absorb it just fine.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

But that would be dishonest, surely?

"Dishonesty" in promising, but not providing, something is not the only possibility. Nobody would call you "dishonest," for instance, if there were a personal tragedy in your life and you subsequently shut down EN World. That's an extreme possibility, just to illustrate.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

For some reason I'd ended up with two subscriptions. One just had to go.

I had to cancel two out of three.

The Auld Grump

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Just to clarify again, folks - with apologies. But I am looking for a specific piece of information here - it's why people have been cancelling in the last three months in particular.

I realise that "why I haven't subscribed" is in the same subject area (and that may well be a thread at some other point - takeup levels are perfectly fine, so it's not as pressing a concern as the recent spate of cancellations), but what I really need to pin down here is what's prompting these cancellations.

If we would stay on topic, that would really help. Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly interested in your stories of why you didn't subscribe, what you thought the moderation here 3 years ago was like, and so on, but it's far more important right now that I get that specific bit of information.

Thanks - I hope that didn't come across too abrupt. It's just that I need to pin down that particular thing right now.

Morrus - it is quite likely that the reasons people don't subscribe are the same reasons people don't stay subscribed. If they do not feel that the material they are paying for is worth the $3 a month then they pull their subscription. Heck, some may register for a month, grab what they want, then unsubscribe.

If they find PayPal annoying then it will keep annoying them every month. (A feeling that kept me from subscribing for years - PayPal had a bill that kept appearing on my account, every freakin' month, and neither the people who were getting the money or I was able to stop it. I'd contact PayPal, they'd refund the money, it would reappear the next month. Rinse & Repeat. Eventually PayPal just ended up deleting the transaction and swallowing the cost themselves.)

If folks aren't enjoying the forums as much as they used to, they are going to opt out. It does feel more factionalized than when I first started posting, 4e, the liking or disliking of, still remains a polarizing factor. I skip a lot of threads because they are about 4e, or start reading, then lose interest when it turns out to be 4e. (I wish folks would label 4e threads accordingly. Most do, but the exceptions linger in the mind.)

Offer both subscription models, monthly and annual. I actually prefer monthly, as long as I don't get multi-billed.

How many of those cancellations were being billed multiple times a month? I was, and I have seen posts by a few others. Putting in some sort of check for that might be a good idea. I had paid for a year's worth of subscription time in four months before I even noticed it. Some folks may cancel their subscription and mutter 'well, I'm never doing business with them ever again'.

The Auld Grump

 

[Holy Bovine]

Well after seeing this thread I went to the subscribe section - and low and behold there is a 4 month option for the copper level sub! Perfect! $10 for 4 months is awesome - great change there Morrus. Now to hammer your servers as I download everything on the site

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Heh, I think there a lot of people who would game the system once they realized they could pay $3 for one month, download the whole WotBS and then cancel.

Or look at it, lose interest, and unsubscribe if you go with the current model. WotBS just didn't interest me that much. So it is factored out of my calculations.

I think keeping a three month chunk might work for those who are interested, maybe skipping months. so one month might have 1, 3, 5. The next 2, 4, 6. Then 3, 5, 7 and so on,* so there is always something coming up, but you don't feel bitter and hard used because the current issue is one you can't play.

The Auld Grump

* 1, 4, 7 - 2, 5, 8 etc. might work too.