most people i talk with consider 25% to be industry standard. it isn't doing well, it's doing okay.
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most people i talk with consider 25% to be industry standard. it isn't doing well, it's doing okay.
sorry. edited my post after you replied hehe.
But I do think that having the industry standard means you're doing well. Especially if you're a relative newcomer with a new site. And then you can work to improve upon that.
There's a wide range of percentages you could be at between average and extremely well that would put you at very good. Know what I mean?
what's a good retention?....anything longer than 1.5 months! :thumbsup:
sincerely ~ jim :francais:
Wow BD, you sure made this complicated with all the extra stuff! A rebill is a rebill, whether it is the first or second transaction. To me, a member that stays for a long time is golden.
The formula that I use is... Month #2 rebills/Month #1 new sales+rebills... for example; In February you had 300 rebills and in January you had 200 new sales and 300 rebills... 300/500=60%
It seem like I am missing something in this formula? I hope I'm not a total dumbass, lol.
wow i didnt mean to start a full on webmaster war. lol All the info has been really useful but i do have to say thanks to BDBionic who put it all into perspective by weighing different factors we have to take into account. (i was beginning to get worried before reading all the 50-75% fuigures)
Like someone said yes MAP is a niche site but we dont advertise just to that niche audience. At the beginning we used to promote only to suit & tie yahoo groups etc and our retention rate was astronomical... low signups though due to the limited size of the niche. But now we promote to a maintstream audience with a lower retention rate but MUCH higher signup numbers. So even with a lower retention rate than a year ago i would say my site is doing 200% better. my conversion rate is great (as Xstr8guy will be able to tell you), and volume of sales is growing every month.. so im definitely happy. id rather be doing 30% on 100 signups, than 70% on 20.
Like you said most people have absolutely no intention of paying a recurring subscription on a website, period. no matter how good the site is. Ive only just introduced a 27.95 non recurring option, alongside the 24.95/22.95 monthly recurring, and im very surprised at the number going for the higher price. it definitely paints a better picture of my traffic profile.
yes but does your formula take into account any of the rebills in february possibly coming from previous months sales? i.e december or earlier. maybe the 300 rebilling in february are the same 300 that rebilled in January.. so infact your retention for january sales is 0. (unlikely i know... but just stating a point) I use CCBill and you enter e.g Jan 1 - 31 and you will see the retention percentages for sales made only within those dates.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xstr8guy
me again.. lol.
i just worked out my retention using your formula and it gives me 55%, but i know using the CCBill stats that my monthly average is 30%.. food for thought
Moneywise, 1 member rebilling for 6 months is the same as 6 members rebilling for 1 month, right?
Ade, did you get my PM on the board?
I'm a total newbie and I haven't launched my site yet, but it seems logical to me to look at conversion in two ways (please let me know if I'm way off here!!! :-) )
(1) Xstr8guy's formula looks good in order to figure out conversion on a month by month basis (to get a general idea of how initial signups are converting)
(2) Then I'd look at the signups in two categories (one for initial signups for each month and one for rebills). Essentially, I'd treat them as two different business goals and try to reach new targets each month in each category. So, using a previous example in this thread:
MONTH 1 --> 1000 initials + 800 rebills
MONTH 2 --> Aim to increase each category by, say, 10%. So:
1100 initials + 880 rebilss
And so on, growing each category progressively each month.
Brian
i look at the overall. a site with trials should have better than 50% retention from full month 1 to month 2. the people who didn't like the site initially - or had trouble with the content, for any reason - quit during the trial. what is left are people who
1. liked the niche of the content
2. liked the site enough to bill for a full month
3. are able to see the content
4. found the content that was there when they joined to be good enough for them to convert to monthly.
so if you have enough updates, enough content to keep your members busy between updates, and the updates are the same quality and theme as the rest of the content, you should be able to have at least 50%.
it's different with no-trial sites, but most i promote do 50% or better from month one to month two. i promote sites with tours that i like, niches that i like, and if i don 't see the member area, i only send a few joins and wait to see how many rebill.
Hey Ade,
I've joined menatplay.net twice and I've sent you comments (you might remember me -- I was the guy frustrated with flash streaming and wished you had Windows Media downloads) LOL!
I really like your concept -- you're onto something really good. I agree with what was said in this thread... Totally stick with the hotties in suits (don't change that formula), keep on showing hot sex vids, and totally consider Windows Media because it's true -- we seriously like to download vids for our hard drives... You've also disabled right-click for your pictures... Unfortunately, I think that would just annoy members because if they really want to save your pics, they totally can still save them despite your efforts. I'm concerend about his too, for my upcoming site, because I don't want to see all my hot guys all over TGPs, but what can one do? People save anyways!!!
Regarding rebills, I've got to say, I just can't rebill (for any site, really). Even if the site's hot. That doesn't mean I don't visit often and keep track of updates. When there have been a lot of updates and then when a really hot new guy shows up, then I get the urge to join. So, I think this is an important factor to consider.... It is hard to measure, though, as these re-joins can't be distinguished from authentic, new joins...
I'm at the stage where I'm considering pricing structures. High prices (extremely high), I believe, are a deterrant. Like straightcollegemen.com. I think it's a damn hot site. But, I can't bring my self to join. I think it's too expensive (even for their trial, which is $31.95 for only 7 days!!!).
Billing and retention is something of an art!
Overall, good job on the site.... Just keep it hot! :cycle:
i see good rebills at $24.95. some sites rebill well for me over $30, but usually they are tight niches (like tranny feet) with masses of content. i think $24.95 or even $29.95 are good monthly prices.
aha so it was you brian!!!!! and you didnt even reply after i politely told you to piss off .lol. I wasnt sure if it was some regular user being cheeky or a genuine fellow webmaster giving constructive advice... or maybe a bit of both. ;)
The flash comment you made was a very fair point actually, were working on improving the flash streaming, and will soon be looking into offering a second format. maybe even DRM.
im so regretting starting this topic now... my 'to do' list is just growing by the minute thanks to you guys. i need to recruit a beautiful and beefy assistant in some tight white pants to help me out.
Haha, Ade... Too funny (assistant thing)... Yeah, it seems like there's always a million things to take care of. And, just when you get those done, a million more pop up. But, at he end of the day, I think it's a good business!!
No worries about the polite piss off :-)
Cheers,
Brian