Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheYeti1775" data-source="post: 5260372" data-attributes="member: 20914">I believe at the time of switch to a subscriptions service, Morrus said he couldn't depend on the annual model as a source of income.But as far as a customer drop off.You have noticed it in the last 3 months.Have there been major announcements in the last 3 months?How many of them were annual subscirbers whose subscriptions ran out and didn't move on to the new model of subscribing?Could it be pricing? The only online websites I subscribe to our related to my Jeep hobby.  They cost me about 40 bucks a year for two different sites.  EnWorld pricing is what $36/yr (right?).In that $40/yr I get discounts from various vendors.  Some are as simple as a free shipping to as good as 20% off with one vendor.  Those are huge incentives for me when a part could weigh in easily at a few hundred pounds or the 20% could pay my fee for both sites and than some.That and the techinical advice I can get on those sites saves me untold hundreds of mechanic dollars.You have to keep that in mind and with your audience.We are a picky crowd when it comes catering to our wants/needs/desires.  The What Could WotC thread should prove that easily.What do I get for my $36 here?Sig Space? I don't change my sig that often to worry about it.  Heck on most sites unless I have a fairly cool quote in it, it simple has "Yeti".War of the Burning Sky 4e and 3.5e versions.  I could buy it seperately.What else?The ability to search?  Google has handled that fine for me for years.Cool Community Supporter Title/Avatar.  Not really a big deal to me.  I could care less if folks knew I supported or not.Ability to give more Exp? Again not a big deal though I do love giving it when appropriate, more fustrated with the "Can't Give Again Till Ya Spread It Around" portion of that.I'm sure there are other benefits to subscribing, the problem is if I as a long term user of EnWorld doesn't know them off the top of my head, do you expect newer folks to know?Than you have to compare it to your nearest competitor in this realm.  And that is actual WotC itself.Think about it, both of you have grand user bases, both have subscription services.Now yours is a third of the price.But with theirs, you are getting the various Builders + all errata included into it.  Your getting Dragon/Dungeon (how much were they when in print? 36/yr?)And heck if they ever get the VTT up and running, you will be contending with that as well.If I could only pick one, I would most likely go with the DDI WotC has even though I like EnWorld  a heck of a lot more.  Reason being its providing me with tools and stuff I will use regularly.Your business model is good.  It's just you have moved from the very things that brought people like me into the fold in the first place.What first brought me to EnWorld was trying to find other gamers when I moved cities (Atlanta to DC).  Other things I used heavily here were the Marketplace to find older games I was missing or minis I wanted because I didn't like randoms.My last two gaming groups I found at Pen & Paper vice here. My last 4 or 5 purchases of 2nd hand gaming material came from Ebay or Craigslist.An earlier poster mentioned the locked thread still being on page one.  He is right though, just a few years ago that would have been buried about 5 pages back by now.Your activity levels are down when people just glance at the page.  I pop on once or twice a day during the work week and just glance at the main headlines if I'm not seeing a variety or something interesting than I'm moving on to the NEXT WEBSITE.The main problem is without offering something originial and useful EnWorld will continue to see a decline in subscribers till you get to the static number that will always support EnWorld just because it's Enworld.  You will have small surges here and there where new people come into play, but they will fall by the wayside as well.With the economy the way it is nowadays, you will be hard pressed to push forward.  I think you need to look at your past and what made the site great.WotC interactionPaizo interaction3rd Party Vendor/Publisher/Author interactionOne of the best places to find a gameOne of the best places to search (outside of ebay) for 2nd hand gaming materials.Site ActivityBut I do applaud you for asking the quesiton, not every business owner is willing to hear the frank feedback of his clientele.</blockquote>

Verification