Discuss: From Guest To Paying Member
 

So I'm going over a few different business models, ofcourse there are thousands things to be discussed, but what interests me most right now is the following:

What we currently have is that a Guest comes to the site. Once he clicks on a video (which nearly everyone does) he is shown an error and that he needs to create a free account.

With that free account he is able to view 4 videos after which he is given a chance to upgrade to a premium (paid) membership.

The reason we did this is because that quick sign up gives us access to their email address so we can stay in touch and try and sell to them at a later stage. Because of this we have almost 15.000 extra email addresses in our file.

I was at this event the other day and spoke to a dozen of people, consumers, who all told me they'd never sign up to a site just to view a video, which I could understand.

What are your thoughts on this? Ofcourse we could TEST cutting out the whole middle thing and just have a Guest and a Paying Membership. Looking to get some thoughts rolling here though, might lead to a discussion beneficial for more people.

:thumbsup

Someone who would never sign up for a site where they had to give their email is probably never going to sign up for a site where they give their email and credit card.

Sounds like what you are doing is excellent for qualifying customer leads.

whats the % you get from free to paid and you have the answer.

I've done this since 2008

Decent, but don't expect an extra 250,000 free account emails to go very far when trying to sell them at a later date to something similar.

To something new and/or tricky, maybe

What people say they'll do and what they'll actually do alone in front of the computer are different.

I can tell you, the only porn site I have a subscription to got me by having me sign up for a free account, then upgrade to view full length of all videos.

That's interesting. I do have the feeling that offering guests 30-60 sec free clips and cutting them off could work better than adding that extra sign up step.

The question is how much email traffic converts with adult, I honestly have no idea. If your videos are available for guests it's only natural more people see it. Lots of people don't bother signing up cause it takes too long.

OTOH, you don't want jerck offs to come to your site and rub one out with free clips every time.

Guess every setup has its ups and downs and is worth trying.

I also have ONE subscription to an adult site, and that was based on them having a softcore site that was free and a hardcore site that was pay per year.

Each softcore gallery would have censored previews from their hardcore galleries. Eventually I wanted more access.

Those are amateur submission sites though. Dunno if that'd work with yours mate.

I really dislike the "error" message that many sites are giving these days, even if you also tell them they have to login. To someone who is new on the net, they may think there is a problem with your site if all they notice is "error." It just seems like a negative thing to throw at someone after a click, and I know if ANYTHING about a site makes me feel uncomfy, they will never get my credit card number.

"For Members Only," "You Must Have An Account To See This Video," or something along those lines would be better.

Agreed. We started out with the error message too but have changed it a month or two ago :thumbsup