kickrunner premium membership ideas

satfix · Jan 20, 2008

hey - Can I get some honest input on the validity of this initial thought? 
A. What 'premium' features would be of interest? - Custom Title for one - higher pm count? what else? 
B. How much would be a 'reasonable' amount for the premium membership? 
C. How many 'realistic' premium members do you think we could garner? 
Any input you can offer - honest and candid preferably. 
Thanks

merigayle · Jan 20, 2008

$2/month or $12/year if paid in full. More PMs, definitely. Custom titles-- good idea. 
As i said before, i go to another site that i pay $12/year for premium membership. They also allow "gift memberships" so one member can buy another one a membership. It is all paid via paypal. Also, under your user name it says "yuku supporter" to identify that you are a premium member. And the best part of being a member? NO ADS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
here is the info from the other website i go to, cut and paste: 
Why should I sign up for Yuku Supporter? 
With Yuku Supporter you get a personal no-ads account. That means you will not see ads on any Yuku message board you visit. By signing up for Yuku Supporter, you also help discussion boards that have enrolled in the Gold Community offering-your visits to these boards will not be counted against the Gold Community's ad impression quota. 
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When and how can I sign up to become a Yuku Supporter? 
You can sign up right now! Click here to become a Yuku Supporter (You may be asked to log in). 
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Can I purchase Yuku Supporter to give to a friend? 
Sure, you can give a Yuku Supporter subscription to a friend. Simply go to your friend's Yuku Profile page and click on the "Buy me Yuku Supporter" link. You will then be prompted through the steps to purchase Yuku Supporter for your friend. 
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How do I pay? 
We make it easy for you to sign up using the PayPal Online Payment service. You can make a one-time payment, or you can make automated recurring payments if you sign you for a PayPal account. 
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Can I pay for a Yuku Supporter account for a year? 
Yes. For $12 you can purchase Yuku Supporter for a full year. Yuku Supporter subscribers receive price breaks when they purchase a package for 12 months. 
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How long does it take for my Yuku Supporter to activate? 
When using a credit card or PayPal, your Yuku Supporter will be activated instantly (except for eChecks through PayPal). 
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How can I check my Yuku Supporter status? 
Log in to Yuku and go to your Account Settings. 
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If I sign up as a Yuku Supporter, can I upgrade my level to a Gold Ad-Free Community? 
Yuku Supporter is a user-level subscription while Gold Community is a community-level subscription. You will need to pay full price for the Gold Community service. Gold Community owners automatically get a Yuku Supporter account. 
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What's the difference between the no-ads benefit I receive from Yuku Supporter and a Gold Ad-Free Community? 
By becoming a Yuku Supporter, you will receive a personal no-ads subscription. This means that you will not see any Yuku advertising on Yuku message boards. However, anyone who is not a Yuku Supporter will still see ads on your community (if you have one). If you have a community and are interested in making it ad-free for all members who access it, you'll need to sign up for a Gold Ad-Free Community subscription.

sierra · Jan 20, 2008

Not sure how much space we have on the server, but maybe some photo hosting? Limited amount of course, but that might be something that might appeal to some folks. (kinda like we used to have?) 
As far as amt, I think that will be totally dependent on the features included. No matter what though, I wouldnt go over $25 a year or so, and that would have to include some great features.

Grizzly · Jan 20, 2008

We've given away some of the stuff that could have been premium, and I wouldn't wan to take it back. 
Kickrunners email accounts? 
Increased limits on PM? 
Blogs? 
Other "hidden" forums?

Tithers · Jan 20, 2008

Do you think you can do a "donate to paypal" thing? 
I've seen people do that on other websites...seemed to work to get funding. 
How much does the server cost per month? 
As for the other thread...I think people would rather see Hal here than Jeff.

millbot · Jan 20, 2008

I like the premium features that have been mentioned: custom title, kickrunners email addy, extra PM space, possibly a subscribers-only forum. Other possible benefits to subscribers:
<ul><li>no ads</li>
<li>recognition as a subscriber/supporter/premium member, such as a star by your name in your posts, or a note in your profile (which could be disabled if desired)</li>
<li>blog or journal space</li>
<li>any other limitations that can be relaxed, e.g. size of buddy list or subscription list?</li>
<li>rss feeds? (lots of possibilities but might require additional software)</li>
<li>chat room?</li>
<li>discount at the KR store and/or at another online store?</li>
</ul>
Regarding the amount, I like this policy from a website I frequent: 
The amounts may be higher than you want, but I think the idea is good. I would suggest ~$20 a year and maybe $50 a year for those who want to pay more, plus a way to make one-time donations in case someone wants to help without buying a subscription. I also like the gift subscription idea.

millbot · Jan 21, 2008

You might not tie this to a KR membership, but what about a partnership with a sports nutrition company like <a href="http://www.hammernutrition.com/" target="_blank">Hammer</a> (my personal favorite <img alt="smile.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/smile.gif">)? I wonder if they would be willing to give you a percentage of the orders that come through your site? This is stuff that a lot of us buy regularly, so it could be a steady source of income, especially if you could swing free shipping or a discount as an additional incentive to order through KR.

satfix · Jan 22, 2008

Some features I'll be able to add : 
Blog - This will cost $50.00 to add the Vbulletin Blog. 
Wiki-Engine: $45.00 - again this software completely integrates into vbulletin to give the site a transparent and seamless feel. 
In April, I'll need to renew our license - that's $30.00 (a year). 
A new version of Vbulletin should also be out by then that really takes it up a notch on 'buddies' and groups within vbulletin - including 'live' chat with buddies.... 
So for about $125.00, we could have some nice added features to then offer in the premium package. 
On the ad free option. I can setup the board to block any ads on the front page by 'permission' - meaning a premium user wouldn't see them - but I can't 'block' the one ad up top by permission. So, there is no real 'ad benefit' in the forum area. If we add advertisement in the running log, that might be able to be set up that way. 
The thing is - many sites that offer 'ad free' options for premium memberships have ads of little value to their members - I'd like to think our ads are of some value and we don't have a lot of them. 
Regarding the PayPal Option. I COULD add that, but then I'd have to invest additional funds and upgrade our paypal account for the increased hits - and I really don't want to put out a 'charity' tin-can. I'd rather create value in our site and have people feel they are getting something for their money. 
Thoughts? 
Rich

Hippo · Jan 22, 2008

I'll not argue against your donation aversion Rich, but I've been struggling with the other side of that argument personally. 
I would love to contribute some funds to KR, but at the moment there is really nothing in the merchandise or sponsorship category that catches my fancy. So if I buy a T-shirt that I may rarely wear, the T-shirt company gets the bulk of my bucks and KR gets a modest cut. So far I've been too much of a cheapskate to see the value proposition there. If I knew the whole price of the shirt would go to KR and I wouldn't get a shirt, I'd do it in a second. 
So for me, some of the spiffy premium features may be fun and things I like, some will probably not be. But I will feel much better about it if I know that the cost KR has to pass through to a 3rd party is a very small percentage. Then I get the full benefit of knowing that most of my money went to run the place, and I got some spiffy features for "free." 
Along the lines of a blog, a super-enhanced profile page might be a good "extra." Sort of an enhanced "go me!" feature that was fully integrated into the site. Not that we have any attention whores around here or anything.... <img alt="smile.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/smile.gif">

hally · Jan 22, 2008

I would pay for a premium subscription just to support the site. There is only one other site I pay a yearly fee for and that's Geocaching.com. The premium features are, to me a necessity to play the game. Here I would just do it cause it is a great site and I realize it costs money to run it. 
I truly don't think you are in it to make money (although I have had someone suggest that is the ultimate goal, I still think not) 
I obviously don't care about a special name designation, had I, I would have asked all the Masters that came over to use me for a referral and you can see by my post count that I am a woman of few words so extra PM space doesn't mean anything to me either. Not really interested in a blog and there are tons of free blog sites out there. Not to say other people might not be, there are plenty of AW's here that love self promotion. 
I don't see the ads anyway using Firefox and adblock plus. So they don't bother me. I have not heard anyone complain about them though. 
I would donate to a PayPal link. I threw some money to Eric at RA for importing everyones (mine included) CR log. I will probably move that here if and when it suits my crosstraining needs but he really was there in a pinch. 
And as of now MOST of my workouts are crosstraining. 
I have not heard anyone complain about there being a link there, nor anywhere else that I've seen one. I understand that you have to pay for that service. I would also love to use a link from here to order something I need.....but then you only get a portion of those as Hippo says. I think most of the people who can afford to would gladly support the site, pay through PayPal, and get some neat features as a bonus again as Hippo says. Those who don't won't really be losing out.

millbot · Jan 22, 2008

Rich, to follow up on hally's post, I think you might be surprised at the number of people who will pay to support the site just because they like it as-is, and understand (or can be helped to understand <img alt="smile.gif" src="http://files.kickrunners.com/smilies/smile.gif">) that it costs time and money. 
The site whose subscription policy I quoted above was on the verge of shutting down a few years ago. The owner did not want to plaster the site with ads, so he had just a few subtle ads on the front page, and one or two others, similar to what you have done. He was reluctant to ask people for money since he wasn't sure what more he could offer and still cover his existing costs. 
Finally he notified people that he was going to shut down the site soon, since it was costing him too much. Most people were (a) shocked at how expensive the site was (in time and money), and (b) quite vocal about their willingness to support the site financially. Those discussions and further experience resulted in the above subscription policy plus the ability for anyone to make one-time donations. 
The owner of the site has since been very open about his income and expenses related to the site, so I know that he has been able to hire some paid help so that he can spend his time developing the content, plus some other activities (i.e., he got his life back). In all of this time, there have only been token benefits to being a subscriber, and everything on the site is still free. People support the site because it is valuable to them. 
This is a long way of saying that I think subscriptions can be very successful. I understand your desire to provide value for people's money, but you're already providing a lot of value for free. People will pay for it. You have created a lot of good will with this site, and people will reciprocate.

Tithers · Jan 24, 2008

I've gotten a lot of questions about my custom title...I bet people would be willing to pay for theirs!

kickrunner premium membership ideas

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