So can someone please explain the 3 day trial thing to me...

[TropixxxStudios]

OK, I have seen a lot of sites offer something like a three day trial for only $9.99 or something similar.

I understand how you can do that if you are DRM protected, but I have seem a lot of non-DRM protected sites do that as well. Don't people just join for the trial, download everything, then quit?

Just curious how you deal with this...or if this is even a good idea.

[Lee]

Don't people just join for the trial, download everything, then quit?

Pretty much yep.

You'll find most sites offering 3 day trials are PPS based and have bucket loads of upsells and/or feeds in the members areas and not much else.

Regards,

Lee

[CorbinFisher_BD]

Pretty much yep.

You'll find most sites offering 3 day trials are PPS based and have bucket loads of upsells and/or feeds in the members areas and not much else.

Regards,

Lee

What he said.

[Lee]

What he said.

What she said, i said

Regards,

Lee

[Xstr8guy]

What they said.

[TropixxxStudios]

Ok then, I guess that explains it. Thanks. I was wondering how that business model worked.

[IntenseCash.com]

We actually have 3 day trials on our sites. We don't that have that many upsells in our members areas and we also give free access to other sites when members join. The free sites are not crappy sites but very nice sites.
So when a member joins HSBoys they also get access to Broke Straight Boys, Straight Boys Jerk Off etc. Those sites has no upsells at all. We can offer 3 day trials with great members areas and we have really good retention. Sure we lose those customers that just go in and download videos and then cancel but the majority stay as members because they really like the sites. We might even lose those customers but some of them even come back again and again.

I think the other way to offer 3 day trials is have a crappy members section with tons of upsells where they don't care about retention. This method doesn't make sense to me but I have seen it done alot.

Mark

[maxpower]

We actually have 3 day trials on our sites. We don't that have that many upsells in our members areas and we also give free access to other sites when members join. The free sites are not crappy sites but very nice sites.
So when a member joins HSBoys they also get access to Broke Straight Boys, Straight Boys Jerk Off etc. Those sites has no upsells at all. We can offer 3 day trials with great members areas and we have really good retention. Sure we lose those customers that just go in and download videos and then cancel but the majority stay as members because they really like the sites. We might even lose those customers but some of them even come back again and again.


I think the other way to offer 3 day trials is have a crappy members section with tons of upsells where they don't care about retention. This method doesn't make sense to me but I have seen it done alot.

Mark

I think what your talking about has more to do with money though, you have to have some good backing and a HUGE amount of content to gamble on this PPS and 3 day Trials or even Free Trials at the end of 3 months paying off. You are going to get many more content suckers, and create a environment that will more than invite people to almost immediately cannel their Memberships. But...

You will theatrically have a larger number of Joins, and attract even more affiliates with the convertibility and the PPS, and at the end of the day you can deal with the numbers. But in real the real world this is not as easy as it looks, and this could be a really good way to commit E-suicide :angel:

[basschick]

trials work in some situations. for example, if you update your site frequently and your content makes people want to see more or if you offer a limited trial so that trial members cannot see all of your content.

ultimately most companies that offer trials either use a limited trial - there are a LOT of these companines in str8 - or make most of their money not from memberships but from consoles, upsells, etc.

of course, part of the point of a trial to me is offering a low enough price to tempt a significant number of people to join. smaller gay sites always seem to offer the highest priced trials but if you're putting up a trial to get more people to sign up, lower prices work bestter. $1.95 and $2.95 were the prices that sold well for me, my friends and companies like naughty america. at $4.95 we saw a noticeable drop that made it not worth offering triials for us.

[wnc]

Yes Basschick, I know of two gay paysites that offer a crippled short term trial. The surfers that just want to get their rocks off immediately are happy and no chargebacks and no headaches. Others that like the entertainment value during the short days trial period, have an urge to see what was saved behind the mystery curtain, in the premium monthly area.

[FriskyMatt]

Do longer trials work better, say 7 or 14 days?

[basschick]

trials work best if you don't use them at all

consider this: unless your site adds 2 new full scenes per week or has tons of content, the longer trials will give potential recurring members a chance to realize that your site doesn't have as much content as they had though at first impression or that the updates aren't that much content. 3 days is short enough to keep them from really realizing that the site they joined isn't going to keep them as busy as they hoped.

of course, if you have a really rare niche or super great content, what i said above doesn't apply, but if you do have super content or a great niche, what is the point of offering a trial at all?

Do longer trials work better, say 7 or 14 days?

[maxpower]

trials work best if you don't use them at all

consider this: unless your site adds 2 new full scenes per week or has tons of content, the longer trials will give potential recurring members a chance to realize that your site doesn't have as much content as they had though at first impression or that the updates aren't that much content. 3 days is short enough to keep them from really realizing that the site they joined isn't going to keep them as busy as they hoped.

of course, if you have a really rare niche or super great content, what i said above doesn't apply, but if you do have super content or a great niche, what is the point of offering a trial at all?

This is starting to make me rethink this trial thing, maybe after some fine-tuning I should try 1.99 trials or even free. My retention even now is pretty good, I think this might be worth a try.

[basschick]

if your hits to sales ratio is already good, i wouldn't try a trial. the first thing i do with every client who uses a trial is have them remove it and see how they do. not one has ever put the trial back because they make so much more money without the trials.

This is starting to make me rethink this trial thing, maybe after some fine-tuning I should try 1.99 trials or even free. My retention even now is pretty good, I think this might be worth a try.

[maxpower]

if your hits to sales ratio is already good, i wouldn't try a trial. the first thing i do with every client who uses a trial is have them remove it and see how they do. not one has ever put the trial back because they make so much more money without the trials.

Ya I know what your saying I will lose some money and it did help out when I dropped my week long trial, but my site has grown a bit. Will I not get many more people that join for 3 days and quit then come back in a month or 2? Will this not help build trust or at least a relationship with many more potential members. At some point I believe I will have to go PPS anyway, and I do try hard now to keep members.

I am doing to redesign of my tour this week-end I was going to change a few price points anyway so might think about this a bit. I have been thinking about changing from a 3 page tour to a 2 page one with more action just to see the numbers, but right now is a good time for me to experiment a bit with this stuff. :shitpoke:

If I could get this PPS at 35$ a 1.99 join stuff to fly, with out having to fill my sites with upsells then that would be ideal would it not?