Trial Options and Pricing

[Ramster]

I would think many webmasters agree trials are a good option for 90% of the sites out there.

But what trial to offer the surfer? 1 day? 2 day? 3 day?

A trial is a trial so all is good as the surfer can join cheaply to see what's inside without forking out an entire month in this day and age. If he likes what he sees then he'll hopefully stay.

The main idea here is to increase sales overall and also increase member conversions. Conversions is where we all make more money.

So what do you like as an option for a trial? What do your surfers seems to like? What works best for you as far as making sales?

Discuss....

[Cleo]

Personally I like revshare no trial unless the site wants to also give me more then the revshare on the trial.

But if there is a trial then two days seems about right try the site out and get hooked.

[Simon]

Forgetting about the trial length for a minute, one thing to consider is European surfer traffic and how they'll be paying for the trial.

As I understand it there are some limits to *how small* an amount can be paid. And I think it converts to about that $4.95 number. I'll see if I can find some source info for this later on unless someone else can confirm or deny it before I get to it.

[MadCat]

Personally I'd say $1/day as a trial -- and revshare on the trial. Bigger chance to hook someone on a trial if you ask me.

[ArtWilliams]

I picked 1 day. A surfer should be able to decide if they like the site within 24 hours. BTW, I alway pick revshare when given a choice.

[LD]

Yeah, I'll go with a day assuming the content isn't shit. If it's good stuff, surfer should be ready to sign up, and three days there's a greater chance of losing them.

[Useless]

I prefer a $29.95 30 day trial.

[LeRoy]

I'm the one who picked 4.95 for 3 day trial.

I hate seeing a revshare sale of 50 cents or even 1.00. I work too hard to get that sale and the low payout is so depressing. Especially if it doesnt convert to an upgrade or a rebill. When I see the 1.00 sale I think to myself "this sux"


IMO If someone pays 5 bucks they are more likely to upgrade or rebill the 29.95.

[Neon Daniel]

As long as the site has an honest and informative free tour and had quality content with regular updates I would go for revshare no trial. They are the only ones worth promoting IMO.

If you set a 1 day trial it is easy to forget to cancel and then you might feel cheated that it rebilled automatically before you did cancel it. This surfer could be lost forever to adult sites, or certainly to that paysite and maybe the referring site too as he won't trust it any more.

If I had to choose a trial I would take the longest as it seems fairest to the surfer (if it has automatic rebill at trial end).

[Ramster]

Ok so many like having no trials. That's good, I'm with you there as I too hate the $1 sales I make with some revshare sites.

Otherwise it's a toss up between $1 and $4.95 so far...

[anasporn]

I like the $4.9X for 3 days ... especially since that makes the standard $29.9X for 30 days look better (about $1 per day vs $5 for 3 days LOL) and if they stay the 3 days they usually think the monthly ain't a bad deal ... especially when it's broken down as "just under $1 per day" compared to a cup of coffee.

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by Simon

European surfer traffic.....there are some limits to *how small* an amount can be paid. And I think it converts to about that $4.95 number.

I live in Britain which is part of Europe, there is no minimum for credit card payments (but there is a $50 minimum for cheques at most British banks). Some credit cards charge for foreign currency payments, and since this is usually a fixed charge not a percentage it will reduce the benefits of a very low price sale, however it tends to push people into full membership joins instead of trial only, which is a good thing.

However Europe is not a federation, each country is free to set it's own rules and I can only speak for Britain (England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland). But I would guess that most of the sales will be to English Speaking countries as most European countries have liberal porn laws, so will have their own sites in their own language that their countrymen will be joining instead of English Language sites.

But the other big country you have to worry about is Australia, they speak English and they have strict anti-porn laws that mean most Australians will be looking abroad for their porn. So you probably want to find out if Australians have a minimum foreign spend on their cards.

[Simon]

I haven't been able to find a source so far for my comments about there being some minimum amount that can be paid in Europe. And I may have misremembered about exactly how the payments which had some limit were made. It may not have been credit cards, maybe SMS billing or something else more popular in Europe than it is here. But I haven't found a source either way so if anyone else finds something related to minimum payment amounts allowed I'd be very interested to know what the hell I was talking about.

[tickler]

I went with the longer trial mainly because it has the better payouts on PPS.

On the revshare side I generally go with the $29.95 no-trial for solo-girl/single sites.

For places with multi-pass options I generally go with a trial because the volume of site contents tend to convert/recur.

[bDok]

I think you need more days. Because a lot of times if it's just a day trial the person buying will cancel that day. I always hope that the buffer of more than one day they just forget and then they say fuck it and just end up with a full month. That's my logic about it anyway.

[NY Jester]

I personally don't like trials on revshare, but I went with the 2 day trial $2.95 - I think it's inexpensive enough that they are OK with the initial sign up and perhaps long enough for them to recur for the month as well, just to get a bit more of it.

[Maj. Stress]

Originally Posted by anasporn

I like the $4.9X for 3 days ... especially since that makes the standard $29.9X for 30 days look better (about $1 per day vs $5 for 3 days LOL) and if they stay the 3 days they usually think the monthly ain't a bad deal ... especially when it's broken down as "just under $1 per day" compared to a cup of coffee.

That's the way I look at it too. Plus with a higher trial price the odds of them staying longer are better.

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by Simon

I haven't been able to find a source so far for my comments about there being some minimum amount that can be paid in Europe.....

Simon, are you under the impression that Europe is a country? It is not, it is a continent made up of lots of countries. You may be thinking of the European Union (EU), or if you are old enough to remember the old name the European Economic Union (EEC). This is not a country as such, it is just a group of countries who have free trade between them (i.e few border controls between member countries). They also work together to fight protectionism from non member countries (e.g. if America banned the import of European steel the member countries may block the import of some American goods to try and force America to change it's law). Although there are a few laws governing all EU countries, these are only things intended to facilitate trade between member countries (e.g. one country cannot subsidise it's own industries to make their goods cheaper than other member countries in an attempt to flood other member countries with their goods), there are no common agreements about things like banking minimums, that will vary from country to country. You cannot lump "Europe" as one country - that would be like assuming that the USA has the same banking laws as Canada, Mexico, Portugal, Brazil, etc. and that one central American Parliament dictated the rules for the USA and other American countries.

The point I made is valid for the predominantly English speaking countries (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) except the Republic Of Ireland. Each of the other countries will have it's own rules, laws, and banking traditions. However, as I said in my last post, they probably account of almost none (or more likely none) of your sales, as they would mostly use their own county's porn sites.

[Simon]

No, I wasn't then and still am not under the impression that "Europe" is one big country. Even though many in Europe seem to think so, we're not all dumb Americans over here.

I'll post my source for what I mentioned earlier if I ever find it again. In the meantime it's good to know that, for example, a one-dollar trial can indeed be paid for without a problem in much of the world. I still prefer the $4.95 trials or no trial if on revshare, for all the reasons already mentioned, but the $1 trials have their place with some traffic.

[Pagan]

I do a mixture of trials - from free to $4.95 for 3 days, plus about half straight revshare with no trials, depending on the program. Some programs offer a trial, but then will charge the surfer $29.95 or 34.95 a month with no reduction! If that same buyer had opted for no trial, they would be charged $5 less per month.

Be fair to the surfers, be fair to the webmasters. Give us the console, cross sell, and link to a page option and we all be happy.

[ecchi]

Originally Posted by Simon

No, I wasn't then and still am not under the impression that "Europe" is one big country. Even though many in Europe seem to think so, we're not all dumb Americans over here.

I Wasn't inferring that you are "all dumb Americans" (well not all of you anyway ).
Sorry if I cause offence. I posted the reply because you keep referring to whatever it is you heard as being the situation in "Europe" when it will probably be totally different in each country, there is no "Europe wide" law/rule on the matter.

[papagmp]

Originally Posted by Useless Warrior

I prefer a $29.95 30 day trial.

Damn - I agreed with Useless.....................

[Pagan]

Originally Posted by ecchi

I Wasn't inferring that you are "all dumb Americans" (well not all of you anyway ).
Sorry if I cause offence. I posted the reply because you keep referring to whatever it is you heard as being the situation in "Europe" when it will probably be totally different in each country, there is no "Europe wide" law/rule on the matter.

<insert dripping sarcasm>Oh, wow! I feel.. so totally enlightened now. I never knew that Europe was made of unique countries.</end dripping sarcasm - tag inserted for those who need it> There are policies the lump all of the European countries into one basket - EU and non-EU - and some of those same policies go so far as to lump everything outside of the US and Canada together. Fair? Not really. Because of the relative rarity and higher cost of exchanging currencies, US credit card processors may back off of the $1 charge because it costs them more to charge a non-North American bank a US dollar.

IF the country involved uses Euros, it might be easier and therefore more cost effective, but we do know that not all of Europe uses that currency. Your "English-speaking countries" are actually parts of the United Kingdom, which is ONE government and which will have one set of laws. The Republic of Ireland is not included in the UK. (And UK folks, please do correct me if I am wrong!) I do believe the porn laws are not as liberal as in some other areas, like Scandinavia and The Netherlands. How many nude beaches do you guys have in the UK?

[ecchi]

Pagan, I don't think you should have used the "dripping sarcasm tag" because by saying "There are policies the lump all of the European countries into one basket" you are kind of demonstrating that you are still not enlightened!

[papagmp]

Originally Posted by ecchi

Pagan, I don't think you should have used the "dripping sarcasm tag" because by saying "There are policies the lump all of the European countries into one basket" you are kind of demonstrating that you are still not enlightened!

BULLSHIT!

I lived in Europe for almost half my life and there are thousands of treaties, policies and laws that lump Europe into one basket. Just like there are thousands that lump The Americas into one basket. Pull your head out of your ass and smell the flowers dipshit.