Question about membership retention

[Fades]

I am somewhat new to the business. I own and operate 2 paysites and have a question for the masses. Both my paysites convert apx. 40-50% of initial trials ($2.95 for 3 days) to the montly recurring ($29.95/month). I was wondering how this compares to other paysites and if this is below average, average or above average.

Thanks for your input.

[stoney]

It's proven that having no trial and only the one month option will bring more long term members.

I think you can ask Kimmykim from ccbill and she will tell you the same. :)

solution offer the first month plus 5 days free after the one month membership :)

[basschick]

it's a little low - how often are you updating and is some of your content exclusive? if you use the same content everyone else has, you will have low conversion and retention.

we dropped our trial and kept almost the same amount of signups - only now even the ones that cancel paid a full month first. it's better to make $29.95 than $5.95 :)

if you don't do regular updates, you can see a few refunds that way, but we have only had 3 refunds, no chargebacks in 6 months.

[Fades]

Thanks for the reply Basschick.

I do not use exclusive content. I am not in a position to be able to afford that yet. Do you know cost-affective solutions? I do lease content from Igallery, Holio and Dreamzotic.

And yes, my updates are daily.

[richard]

Fades.

One clever trick is to approach a content producer (say Mike @ phoenixcontent.com , DavidLace.com, Matrix.com, and so on) who do custom shoots.

Say they are doing a shot with 300 images, get them to do you 100 images with the model/s wearing clothing with your logos on.

Then, you'll have a photoshoot where the models strip from your clothing to their standard nude poses.

You then buy the 100 images @ exclusive prices, and buy the other images @ regular prices.

Depending on the content you want etc, that can be a good way of having content that looks exclusive to your site.

perhaps www.zipcontent.com (http://www.zipcontent.com) could also help you out.

Rich.

[basschick]

a very cost effective way to deal with the content problem is to buy BRAND NEW content from providers - that way, no surfers have seen them on tgp's.

or buy from very small providers that most people haven't discovered yet.

i haven't tried the tshirt approach, but if you have the $100 to spend on a custom shoot, why not just whip out your digital camera and shoot your own content? i have gotten models for $100 a shoot.

just a thought ;-)

[matte]

I do not agree with 40-50% being a little low, its actually pretty good nowadays.
1-2 years ago 60-70% was good but the surfer keeps getting smarter and 50% in not bad today.
Basschick whats your retention?

[richard]

i'd guess Bass, because shooting your own is extra hastle, cost etc?

Good idea though, and that IS what gives you 100% exclusive content.