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SPS Accounts Priced Too High?

Discussion in 'Sorcerous Sundries' started by Taluntain, May 14, 2013.

?

How do you feel about the site supporter account pricing?

  1. The prices are fine, no need to change anything

    3 vote(s)
    25.0%
  2. The prices are fine, but you should run a reduced pricing special from time to time

    4 vote(s)
    33.3%
  3. The prices are slightly too high

    2 vote(s)
    16.7%
  4. The prices are moderately too high

    2 vote(s)
    16.7%
  5. The prices are considerably too high

    1 vote(s)
    8.3%
  6. I would never donate no matter what the pricing was

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    [​IMG] It's been brought to my attention recently that our site supporter (SPS) account prices might be too high, so I've decided to run a poll and see what the community thinks.

    I'm looking for honest and frank opinions here - it doesn't do anyone any good when people say the prices are fine, but in reality they'd much more likely donate if they were lower. To spell it out, I'm not going to hold it against you if you say the prices are too high.

    The pricing hasn't changed since we've introduced the ad-free accounts about a decade ago and there are still 4 options. The longer you subscribe for, the cheaper it gets:

    1. 3 months SPS subscription ($15)
    2. 6 months SPS subscription ($20)
    3. 1 year SPS subscription ($35)
    4. Custom SPS subscription, with a 2-year subscription minimum. Your subscription period will be calculated at only $30/year. E.g., $60 = 2 years, $90 = 3 years, etc.
    In the previous years I've run a special with reduced SPS prices every now and then, but there was always very little response to those specials, so eventually I stopped running them. I guess it might be time to try again...
     
  2. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    Yea, a bit too high. I wouldn't pay those rates I'm afraid mate. If it's not viable to lower the rates permanently, I'd at least run a 'Steamesque' huge discount every now and again. Extra revenue = good! :D
     
  3. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    I've added the poll.

    A bit too high my ass, Barmy. I said I'm looking for honest and frank opinions. Based on what you told me, your poll vote should be "The prices are considerably too high". ;)
     
  4. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    Ok ok, I was being political :D.
    Really should consider though, making it so inviting/cheap that pretty much everyone thinks 'yeah OK, sod it, that's nothing'.
     
  5. Blackthorne TA

    Blackthorne TA Master in his Own Mind Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    How are the prices determined? Pulled out of a hat, perceived value to users (to be able to avoid ads etc.) or calculated based on projected ad revenue loss? Something else?
     
  6. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    They were originally set comparably to a few other similar gaming sites. They're supposed to cover ad revenue loss (which is really impossible to determine with any degree of accuracy), but since there are quite a few other perks that come with the account, there's also an amount of perceived value and/or prestige included.

    Basically, at that time, there were quite a few subscribers and nobody ever complained about the pricing, so I thought it was sensible. But ever since the recession started, the number of subscribers (and donations) has really gone down drastically. Most of it is certainly due to less traffic and the fact that many of the still active members have already donated in the past, whereas we're not seeing many new ones who would post much and even fewer who ever donate.

    Actually, in the beginning, the situation was pretty much reversed. There were a lot of people who were happy to donate just to help out with the costs of keeping the site up & running and didn't expect anything in return. So the SPS accounts were introduced as a way of giving something back to all the donors.

    But these days there are hardly any members left who donate at all and almost none who would do so and not expect something in return. So the situation is quite different.
     
  7. Vorona

    Vorona Shadow-Whisperer

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    I think the pricing is fine (obviously). It got me, a usual $10/year donor to sites I value, to give a little more. That said, one thing I think you should do is advertise the fact that if you donate, even at lower levels than SPS rates, you gain the option of the avatar/?? whatever else I got when I donated $10. It was a nice surprise, since I wasn't expecting anything at that time, and it might be a good incentive to others.
     
  8. Aldeth the Foppish Idiot

    Aldeth the Foppish Idiot Armed with My Mallet O' Thinking Veteran

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    The prices are fine - I've just been a cheap prick lately - I just signed up to return to SPS Status.
     
    Taluntain likes this.
  9. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    It's the most expensive 'premium membership' I've ever seen on an internet forum.
     
  10. Bladezuez

    Bladezuez I'm normal in my mind; everyone else is crazy! Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    just to add my :2c: I feel that the prices are a bit too high. I love having the stuff that comes with the SPS account but with my income it is kinda hard to justify spending that amount. I did the game donation mainly cause it got me the year long membership but I am not sure if the prices don't come down by the time I am out of account time if I am gonna renew it. Thankz for listening to my rant.
     
    Taluntain likes this.
  11. Aldeth the Foppish Idiot

    Aldeth the Foppish Idiot Armed with My Mallet O' Thinking Veteran

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    Tal,

    I think as Bladezuez's comment above reveals, there is no amount that you can realistically find as a sweet spot in pricing for getting SPS memberships. You have a pool of members, a smaller pool of active members, and an even smaller pool of active members who would consider getting an SPS account. Assuming that this smallest pool consists of people who are interested in an SPS account, but do not get one owing to the cost, there's very little you can do here.

    It's all what is available in terms of disposable income within someone's personal discretionary budget. I do not view $35 for a year's membership to be particularly high to begin with - I spend more than that to fill up the tank of my car. It's less than $3 per month - less than 10 cents per day. I don't think someone who is unwilling to spend $35 on a year's membership will suddenly run to purchase one if you lowered the price to say, $25. You're not going to see a surge in sales.

    And that's likely because the benefits given are rather small. I imagine most people - myself included - view their SPS memberships as a donation to the site more than anything. OK - you can turn off the ads. The page will load 0.2 seconds faster. A nice feature, but not one you're going to pay for if you weren't already willing to donate to the site in the first place. I guess what I'm saying is most SPS members would make the donation even if there were no benefits at all.

    Viewed from this perspective, you will be unable to find a sweet spot, simply because one doesn't exist. People who can afford to donate will, and people who cannot afford to do so won't. It is true that taken to an extreme you would see membership changes. For example, if you jacked up the price to $300 for a year's membership, I wouldn't pay that. But I would think someone who doesn't have $35 is going to see value in the membership if it cost $20 instead.
     
  12. Splunge

    Splunge Bhaal’s financial advisor Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    What about creating an "SPS Lite" option for those who can't afford the full price? Maybe half price gets you an avatar and SPS Account Holder designation, but you don't get access to some of the other things "regular" SPS account holders get. That way you can support SP and at least get something in return.

    Edit: Although I guess an avatar isn't that much of an incentive since there are ways to have one without having an SPS account (I forget what those ways are, though).
     
  13. Gaear

    Gaear ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful

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    Same here, pretty much. I don't really see the perks as a major selling point.
     
  14. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    That's been my line of thinking all these years too, pretty much. It would also account for sales having very little effect - hardly any more people donated when the prices were lower. As for the benefits being small, I don't know... I've thrown pretty much everything that I could think of in there. Do you have any ideas what else could be added?

    IMO it's more a case of people not even realizing/reading what all the benefits are or taking advantage of most of them.

    The problem is that in situations like this one we mostly only hear from the active site supporters who say everything's fine and dandy... but we really should be hearing from the 90% of the other members who have never donated, or maybe only once. Because price really always is the issue - it's just a question of how low a price is sensible. If I lowered the prices by half and only got 1/4 more subscriptions due to that, for example, I'd be better off not changing anything.

    You get an avatar/portrait + title for donating any sum, buying anything via our affiliate links or submitting anything exclusive to the site as it is... more info here.

    What would you consider to be a major selling point?

    Well, this actually is listed in the board FAQ and on the donations page. There's a lot of info regarding donations that needs to be displayed though, so I guess it's easy to miss. I've thought about reorganizing those pages a few times before...
     
  15. Silvery

    Silvery I won't pretend to be your friend coz I'm just not ★ SPS Account Holder Adored Veteran

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    Why not let people set up a direct debit/pay monthly. People don't want to pay a lump sum
     
    Barmy Army and Bladezuez like this.
  16. Harbourboy

    Harbourboy Take thy form from off my door! Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    As others have said, I only paid for mine out of loyalty for the site. The benefits have near to zero value for me. I don't pay a cent for any other website I go to, as a comparison. So it's pretty hard for me to comment on what might work for other people.
     
  17. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    Great idea.
     
  18. Splunge

    Splunge Bhaal’s financial advisor Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Ditto. I don't even turn off the ads.
     
  19. Gaear

    Gaear ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful

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    The scintillating conversation! ;)

    Seriously though, if you're asking what you could offer that would attract more subscribers ... that's a good question. Don't know off hand.

    It seems like what random outsiders would come here for is info/downloads re: the games they like to play, which they can already get for free. If they like it enough to want to stay and start participating in Alleys talk etc., or join the community as it were, then their motivations to donate are probably going to be "giving back." I don't see the rewards principal really being invoked anywhere along that chain.
     
  20. Taluntain

    Taluntain Resident Alpha and Omega Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) BoM XenForo Migration Contributor [2015] (for helping support the migration to new forum software!)

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    Hmm... I've avoided automatic subscriptions because they're easy to forget about and I think in general people are wary of signing up for anything for an unspecified length of time. There's also the problem of determining what the monthly payment should be when you never know when someone is going to cancel their subscription. The current model rewards donors who donate larger sums by effectively giving them more SPS time for the same buck than donating half the amount twice would.

    I guess one way to treat it would be to assume that everyone will remain subscribed for at least a year and price it accordingly, so about $3/month.

    The only problem with that is that PayPal takes a much larger cut from such microtransactions. The average PayPal fee is around 5% with donations of $15 and more, but with a donation of $3, the PayPal fee is almost 20%.

    Yea, that's the problem...
     
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