Appeal to Support EN World!

[Mouseferatu]

How does WotC handle it? Or are they able to simply factor in that people will do that?

Well, I certainly have no inside knowledge of that end of the business, but my guess would be it's a combination of

A) Them being big enough to factor in the "come-and-go" part of the market, and

B) Them providing certain services (like the Compendium) that can't reasonably be used without ongoing access.

 

[RangerWickett]

I dunno, maybe set up tiered subscriptions like WotC.

1 month - $10.

3 months - $18 at $6 a month.

1 year - $36 at $3 a month.

Once you sign up for a subscription, you agree to the full length of time, though you're only charged on a monthly basis. Is that doable?

 

[dogoftheunderworld]

... Someone signing up, downloading and then cancelling is a net loss (it costs me money to provide the downloads); so I need to work out how to prevent that.

Some people have suggested a limit to the number of downloads one can make per month so that they'll have to continue subscribing if they plan to download *everything*. That seems a bit draconian to me (and is hard to implement).

The "you're welcome to cancel, but you'll lose the $3 price" is a softer approach and might help with people who are planning to sign up and cancel periodically to get as much as they can for as little as possible (and who can blame them?), but it would have to be pretty high to actually be a discouragement to someone who wants to pay $3 every six months or whatever.

How does WotC handle it? Or are they able to simply factor in that people will do that?

Personally, I would cycle the free subscriber downloads so that only the most current 3-4 downloads (or 1-2 months worth)are available at any given time. I know there is a lot of goodwill involved in keeping indefinite archives, but those who want to support the site will do so (and get the content each month). Those who only want the current freebie (or as much as they can get), well... they will still get more than $3 worth of excellent materials, but not break the bank. You have to keep up payments to enjoy continued benefits... that's why it is called a "subscription."

I believe WotC gives complete access during the time you are paying, but they undoubtedly have the volume to better manage "one-month grabs".

Also, offering on-going premium content should keep people coming back. I believe that if you continue to offer your content, some of those lost subs will come back to get more. (This would apply to WotC's model as well.)

 

[keterys]

Make it so every month you get X picks of free stuff, where X still makes you money.

 

[jaerdaph]

Maybe some of the free PDF products could be available for a limited time only.

 

[Morrus]

I dunno, maybe set up tiered subscriptions like WotC.

1 month - $10.

3 months - $18 at $6 a month.

1 year - $36 at $3 a month.

Once you sign up for a subscription, you agree to the full length of time, though you're only charged on a monthly basis. Is that doable?

I've no way to enforce it, unfortunately.

 

[Morrus]

Just a note - we've only been doing this for a few weeks, so it's not really possible to get definite patterns out of the figures yet. It may turn out that in the long-term, the issue simply doesn't matter.

I think we'll be able to guage things better after 6 months or so.

 

[D.M.T.]

First thing that popped into my head by way of a solution...

Make the first month more expensive, say $10-$15 and then $3.00 per month after. If you cancel, you have to start with the $10-$15 start up month again.

Another idea... I don't know exactly how you could implement it...

You get access to one download item from those available each month. On your second month, you can now access two items, third month gets you access to three items, etc...

You could also make it clear to people that if they subscribe, they are expected to maintain it for a certain number of months (6 months, 12 months?) If they cannot commit to that, they can make a flat donation or not subscribe. If someone then cancels, post the user name, and email address in a "Cancelation" thread. ???

 

[CapnZapp]

Well, it wasn't unexpected. If the system enables you to do something, then a certain percentage will do it.

Thank you for acknowledging this.

There really is only one solution - make all possible ways to subscribe into profitable encouraged positive way to subscribe.

if you can do it, people will do it, and you should expect them to do it. If you don't want them to do it - then don't make it easy (or legit) to do it. If you don't turn a profit from someone paying $3 to download everything that's on offer then don't offer that possibility.

Seems WotC's structure works well and is reasonable too: pay $10 for one month's access, pay $15 for three months access, and pay $18 for six months access.

All upfront.

Please don't seek solutions that force people to continue paying, that can be abused and turn out really nasty. That kind of forced subscriptions really is a kind of business I associate with murky scammers only TBH. Auto-renewals really isn't very friendly either. It's best to offer a no-strings-attached deal, where you pay once, get something, and then nothing more unless the customer approaches you again.

If anything, you should consider giving a rebate to a former customer who considers resubscribing! Never apply a penalty. Penalties are always bad PR.

Best Regards,
CapnZapp

 

[Morrus]

Thank you for acknowledging this.

You're most welcome?