Paid Subscriptions/Memberships

[Reverie]

There are many communities that rely on monetization to help support the website, the users, owners. A few I can think of off hand are: Patreon, Youtube, TikTok Live, Twitch, Discord, and many more. I think of memberships such as premium memberships, and I even recall forums with different levels of premium to allow for more/different access.

Firstly - what are fair pricing do you think, is this profitable for you possibly? What would you personally be able to offer for perhaps $3 a month subscription, $5.... $10...$20? Do you think having different levels would also be beneficial?

I know some offer things such as emotes, access to Discord chats/calls, badges, ability to vote on things for the community, behind the scenes content, more exclusive content that is not visible to everyone else.

 

[Joeychgo]

Firstly - what are fair pricing do you think

That depends on the site entirely. Each will have a different type of user base and content value. I do $50 a year on mine.

What would you personally be able to offer

Paid members get

• No Ads
• Vastly expanded PM storage. (non paid get only 15 conversations)
• Expanded time to edit posts

A few other things but those are the biggies.

 

[SDL]

That depends on the site entirely. Each will have a different type of user base and content value. I do $50 a year on mine.


Paid members get

• No Ads
• Vastly expanded PM storage. (non paid get only 15 conversations)
• Expanded time to edit posts

A few other things but those are the biggies.

Just out of curiosity, is there a reason non paid only get 15 conversations or is it to encourage upgrades? I don't have 15 members yet for the need to limit it however was interested in case it's something I need to look into once it grows!

I will be adding a premium membership although I'll mostly be giving it away as a prize in competitions and forum credits once I've purchased & set up the addon. I haven't figured out a pricing point yet though as I'm going to try and include non-forum related rewards as well but I have a bit of negiotiating to do first!

 

[cdub]

Firstly - what are fair pricing do you think, is this profitable for you possibly? What would you personally be able to offer for perhaps $3 a month subscription, $5.... $10...$20? Do you think having different levels would also be beneficial?

I've tried various prices over the 4 years of offering subscriptions.

$5.00 9.99 $6.00 / month
$10 $14.99 $12 / quarter
$20 $29.99 $24 / year
$50 $69.99 lifetime

I've found the current one to be the most profitable. I have no ads and it's the only way the site makes money.

Things you get with payment.

• Exclusive access to proprietary data
• Bonus exclusive articles (second parts to long exclusive interview articles)
• Unlimited edit time
• Private forums

The first two are the main reasons. People don't really care about other things as much.

For it to work you need something proprietary that will entice people to subscribe.

 

[Joeychgo]

Just out of curiosity, is there a reason non paid only get 15 conversations or is it to encourage upgrades? I don't have 15 members yet for the need to limit it however was interested in case it's something I need to look into once it grows!

encouraging upgrades is one reason, but not the only. Just one of my sites has 60,000+ members and over 6 million posts. Lots of storage necessary and I don't want to add to it with conversations users never delete. So, that because a thing. I forgot to mention, photos can only be used in conversations by upgraded members.

 

[SDL]

encouraging upgrades is one reason, but not the only. Just one of my sites has 60,000+ members and over 6 million posts. Lots of storage necessary and I don't want to add to it with conversations users never delete. So, that because a thing. I forgot to mention, photos can only be used in conversations by upgraded members.

That makes sense, thank you! Hopefully I can get to that point in the future, I’ll definitely consider that!

 

[Empire]

I still got to find that right balance, Most want free and pay less as much as they want and hard to give them what they really want that's worth spending $5 a month. Just needs to have members that are very interested in it. More you buy the cheaper each month get's is a good start

 

[Nomad]

I have no paid membership in my communities, however, I am planning to start a new community where I will be charging at least $10 per month.

 

[Uncrowned]

I find forums very hard to pull these off as normally the answer is more towards limiting free accounts than actually providing paid features. I always felt that it is best for forums to have other features that would benefit from a paid membership, but that is entirely niche based.

 

[zoldos]

I've tried running ads and what not. I made $200 one time (after like 2 years), so that wasn't very good to rely on. I also used to offer "Premium" (like $5.00 a month) for no ads, and lots of perks. I also offered "Lifetime Premium" for like $50. Out of 4000+ members, less than 1% signed up for it, so it just wasn't worth it. I removed all ads and memberships.

On my new forum, I simply ask for donations. Like if I want a paid add-on. I'll show members the link, and the price, and ask what they think.

 

[cdub]

Out of 4000+ members, less than 1% signed up for it, so it just wasn't worth it.

You need to offer something valuable beyond no ads for people to sign up. Mines around 18% of registrations that become Supporting Members.

 

[zoldos]

Along with no ads, I offered unlimited upload space, larger video uploads, unlimited photo albums, priority tech support, lots of custom profile stuff, and more (it was a full-featured adult networking site back in 2009).

 

[Empire]

On my new forum, I simply ask for donations. Like if I want a paid add-on. I'll show members the link, and the price, and ask what they think.

Even that is hard to get ;( most people want free free free

Along with no ads, I offered unlimited upload space, larger video uploads, unlimited photo albums, priority tech support, lots of custom profile stuff, and more (it was a full-featured adult networking site back in 2009).

Seems that was not enough for your members LOL

 

[cdub]

At one of my small sites I asked for donations to build a widget and got them. This was 8 years ago although.

 

[cdub]

Even that is hard to get ;( most people want free free free


Seems that was not enough for your members LOL

Yes for paid upgrades to work at scale IMO the user upgrade needs to work as a paywall to exclusive helpful and/or desirable content whether it is exclusive data, articles, features*, or private forums.

*Exclusive features that work are a certain tool or app that's exclusive to your site and valuable. I don't think more storage space is going to cut it these days.

It's certainly hard to do AND very dependant on niche.

A user upgrade where you donate and get a banner under your user name and access to a private forum could possibly work but it's again dependant on niche and starting a private forum is kind of like starting an entire regular forum with getting people to post. It's a slog.

I've had private forums but they're usually ghost towns compared to the rest of the site but that's also because I didn't put a lot of work into them. I don't think they're the main draw for user upgrades on my site anyways but they could be for someone else. Again depending on community and niche.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I've had paid subscription usergroups in the past on a Sonic forum I used to own. I would offer a private section with exclusive content that I never shared anywhere else. I'm a ROM hacker and offered a few guides, but sadly I barely had any members on my forum so no one actually gained access to it. :\ Since then I haven't really felt the need to have a paid subscription on any of my websites.

 

[zoldos]

Even that is hard to get ;( most people want free free free


Seems that was not enough for your members LOL

Actually, now that I think about it, over the years 2015 to 2022, I received probably almost $1000 in donations. An anonymous member even sent like $600 to get my car fixed! 😆 The rest was for server bills, mods, and to take my g/f out to dinner (hey, it was the donator's idea!). hehe

 

[Shortie]

I at the moment have paid user upgrades on my forum and we allow members to use PayPal, Stripe or the Credits that they earn for being active around the forum. We offer things such as more links in the signature, images in the signature depending on the tier you go for, a coloured username, an avatar border so you stand out in the crowd, ad space for the duration of your upgrade and quite a bit more.

They start out at £2.00 for a month and they increase to £10 for a year which I feel is good for a forum such as Chat Addicts.

 

[zoldos]

@Shortie Awesome! Do you make enough to cover server costs?

 

[Empire]

Actually, now that I think about it, over the years 2015 to 2022, I received probably almost $1000 in donations. An anonymous member even sent like $600 to get my car fixed! 😆 The rest was for server bills, mods, and to take my g/f out to dinner (hey, it was the donator's idea!). hehe

LOL Sent 600 for something outside of the forums, you lucky