We want to revamp the Subscriber Perks and we want your input!

By b10h4z4rd
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Grand Master

remixedcat

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Really painful, a bit like unwanted buttsex I'd imagine.

at least that's how Timan portrays it

LOL ok... I just hope hampsters werent involved.

  • f0rk_b0mb and Steven P.
  • Like 2
Grand Master

+InsaneNutter MVC

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  • MVC
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Idea 1 - Licence for a Stardock product

As Stardock own a stake in Neowin could you not include Start 8, or a choice of a licence for a Stardock product of the subscribers choosing?

For me personally i think that would be a great incentive to subscribe, I would feel i was helping a good website out and getting something nice in return.

Idea 2 - Simply make the price cheaper, or offer a lifetime sub.

My opinion is at the moment with a tier 2 sub the only perk to me would be seeing no adverts, however that's honestly not worth almost ?18ish a year to me... especially in these harder times where money is often tight, i would sooner pay my way by viewing adverts.

At the moment Neowin has 118 members and 1722 guests online, from my own experience of running a forum i would imagine the majority of the ad revenue is coming from guests, not members who actively use the forum. Even if you chose not to show adverts to anyone who was logged in to Neowin i honestly dont think the revenue loss would be that significant, compared to howmuch the site makes from guests.

I think a lifetime subscription to see no adverts on the site would an attractive idea, rather than a very expensive yearly subscription.

Given i've read Neowin since 2001 and been a member of the forums since 2003 i wouldn't mind paying a bit more as a one off to support a website i have really enjoyed over the years.

Something like $50 or ?25 to ?30 for a lifetime ad free membership would be a pretty good reason to give some money to Neowin i think.

Grand Master

Steven P. Administrators

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snip

The Lifetime sub is a really good idea, $50 is a bit low though considering it's less than two years worth of Tier 2, $75 might do it.. and I sort of agree about the ratio of members to guests, members already see fewer ads than guests and the incentive needs to be there to sell some subs :p

We average around 120 odd subs a year, and that hasn't changed over the years (except when we gave a bunch away and had a lot more subscribers). What about the "monthly" idea so people can test the waters for only a couple of quid?

Edit: I'll talk with Brad W about the Start8 idea, it should be doable, but the logistics of it will need to work smoothly, obviously.

Grand Master

Japlabot

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PLEASE DONT do lifetime subs. Lifetime Subs rarely work out in the long term and if you are having financial difficulty in the future, your only option would be to screw you most loyal fanbase by no longer providing the lifetime sub. Also, you will have problems if you have to ban members and they have paid a large sum for a lifetime sub. Finally, if you price it at say 3x the price of a yearly sub, then everyone would jump over to lifetime, and the income stream with dry up in year 2, and at the end of year 3 you would not be making any more money off subs from the people who tool lifetime.

Grand Master

Detection

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Maybe make a small game similar to how o2 rewards work, once you buy your sub, you are taken to a small "Hook-a-duck" game, the subscriber gets to hook 1 duck from the pond, some ducks contain great prizes and some just contain fun prizes, its up to the member to guess and choose the right duck

Member buys the sub, hooks a duck, and the prize could range from a funny avatar > up to an extra 1 / 3 / 6 months free on their sub > upto a free stardock product > their sub is only half price - etc etc

Something like that might attract more people into buying a sub knowing they could land lucky playing the hook-a-duck game

If creating the game would be too difficult, just clicking on boxes / picking a number from a hat might work just as well

  • Ryster and remixedcat
  • Like 2
Grand Master

LittleNeutrino Veteran

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  • Veteran
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I have been a subscriber for several years now, To be honest I cannot think of anything I would like added. I have never subscribed for the features. I do it to support the site. If i could think of anything that would be nice to add for subscribers would be a web based IRC client, (so i can view IRC at work :p)

Grand Master

Rappy Veteran

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This is a pretty good reason why, http://d.pr/i/1nvO its not used and its a pain in the butt to maintain, specially when upgrading forums/skins. Hopefully this thread though comes up with some good ideas to take its place in terms of perks.

I remember when they were popular, sad really but its a bane then get rid of them!

Grand Master

Draconian Guppy

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Monthly subscription sounds like a nice idea.

+1 on what simon- Lifetime, no, There's no way you could keep up if everyone just jumps to lifetime, unless you charge a very high amount.

The magazine idea seems pretty cool, perhaps a Monthly compendium .pdf of the most popular posts/editorials and a random irc shot at the last page!

Grand Master

TCA

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Could always have agree and disagree buttons next to "Like This" if there are too many dislikes on a post it gets hidden but can still be viewed if "show post" button is clicked..not a sub but eh' would be pretty useful

Grand Master

Steven P. Administrators

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K we won't do lifetime subs, I am leaning towards creating a monthly though.. hopefully it won't turn our secret area into a bad place though!

Also, I think IPB 3.4 no longer has reputation (positive/negative) votes.. It's just Like and that's it.. although they have added a "Solved" option for threads, we'll know more once it is nearer release.

Bring back the monthly forum stats for subscribers (what happened to them anyway, they just suddenly stoppped a while back?)

I stopped doing them because a) why give other sites a marker on our performance? and b) any lower stat month on month isn't a good ad for the forums.

I could revive this just for subscribers though, will have to think about it.

Grand Master

+Anarkii Subscriber²

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I like the idea of the solved option, especially when asking for help on tech issues :)

Any feedback on the magazine ads idea anyway? Even if Neowin isn't losing numbers it would be a pretty awesome way to get new ones :)

Grand Master

Steven P. Administrators

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I like the idea of the solved option, especially when asking for help on tech issues :)

Any feedback on the magazine ads idea anyway? Even if Neowin isn't losing numbers it would be a pretty awesome way to get new ones :)

Magazine ads? I missed that :p

Veteran

Twiddle

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Run an AGM where subscribers can vote on performance of staff members and have an input of the handling of the site (without taking away any actual control from the owners who obviously have complete veto power).

This. There are some staff members that need a performance review to give them a clunk on the head sometimes.

  • Xilo, remixedcat and f0rk_b0mb
  • Like 3
Veteran

Twiddle

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I like the T-shirt idea. Maybe offer a 2-year $50 subscription, that comes with a T-shirt of choice.

I liked some of the other ideas pitched around as well. But personally, I never really subscribed for any of the perks (other than unlimited edit time, because I sometimes make boneheaded mistakes/comments and would like to stay out of trouble as much as possible :p). I am completely fine just supporting NeoWin out of good will because I enjoy the site.... And a free T-shirt never hurts! :rofl:

Grand Master

Seahorsepip Veteran

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Thinking if we add Darkside on any future version of the site, to be a subscriber only feature.

How do you want to make a css theme members only? would take a hell of a lot coding to get it not bypass able lol

In most cases the darkside theme would be put by someone on userstyles.org :/

I would like a admin edit tool for subscribers on their own topics, all edits need to approved by a mod or admin ofcourse.

Grand Master

Timan Veteran

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  • Veteran
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How do you want to make a css theme members only? would take a hell of a lot coding to get it not bypass able lol

In most cases the darkside theme would be put by someone on userstyles.org :/

I would like a admin edit tool for subscribers on their own topics, all edits need to approved by a mod or admin ofcourse.

If someone is gonna go through all that trouble, doesn't bother me.

Grand Master

+Anarkii Subscriber²

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Magazine ads? I missed that :p

10% of subscriber funds go towards buying you reading glasses :p

Basically I said if you intend to make monthly competitions, have the first one to design a full page (and maybe a half page) magazine advert outlining what the site is, what it has to offer and just talk it up a bit, and then see how much it costs to place that winning ad in a handful of tech mags every month. More people reading them will see the professional content on the site and bring in new users. Those people will hopefully sign up and become subs as well, which should end up paying for itself in the long run.

Either way, it cant hurt to ring the advertising depts in a handful of mags and see how much they charge for a full page or half page ad and if it's do-able, just up the price of the sub by a couple bucks to get started.

Grand Master

Glassed Silver

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1.Up the price in a combo of tshirt + sub, eg, $35 for a sub free tshirt included or whatever, just at a lower price than just getting tshirt + subs.Though shipping outside of UK and US would be expensive.

a) Only if you still have a normal option. I already havea t-shirt and I don't need a new one + shipping every year haha :laugh:

b) They are of horrible, horrible quality. Change the manufacturer first. I was greatly disappointed.

Glassed Silver:ios

Grand Master

Draconian Guppy

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a) Only if you still have a normal option. I already havea t-shirt and I don't need a new one + shipping every year haha :laugh:

b) They are of horrible, horrible quality. Change the manufacturer first. I was greatly disappointed.

Glassed Silver:ios

The T-shirt would need to be a one off thing ( eg the first time you subscribe.)

Glassed, you should make a review pointing that out !

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