I am a firm believer in keeping it simple. I know many site operators love to use tiered memberships as a way to keep there members in a perpetual upgrade cycle which means nothing more than a way to extract more money from there members. It obviously works but it’s just not the way I like to treat members. I don’t think you should subject your paying members to this type of practice. Maybe I am a soft business man, but I a believer in respect and if you respect your customers they will stay a customer, they may leave for whatever reason but I think you stand a much better chance of regaining them as a future customer because you didn’t yank them around and try to pick pocket them for every last penny they have.
Your members are NOT stupid, don’t fall in to the mindset that you are so much smarter than your members and you can herd them around inside your membership site like cattle. They will refute these efforts and they will leave you in a split second. The only way I can see this working is if you offer something NOONE else on the internet offers and if we are being honest with our self, the chances of you being the only one to offer what ever you offer on the internet is slim to none, correct? So treat your members with some respect, don’t try to sell them every single time they login to your site, don’t be a dick.
Me personally, I only build paid membership sites, all my sites are either recurring monthly, like 9.95, 19.95 or a one time fee. When they become a member of my site, I offer them complete access to my entire membership site. I do not offer any tiered memberships, I am an all or nothing site owner. I will admit the power of the word FREE, is overwhelming I get it, I really do but “usually” FREE offers very little in terms of quality. We all KNOW deep down inside FREE is usually junk or simply bait to lure you in and eventually you will be hit with the sales presentation, this is almost always inevitable.
If you ask your members to continually jump through hoops to get to the meat, they will alot of times leave for the path of least resistance. Think about the path of least resistance for a second. Doesn’t matter if it’s electricity or water, you should be the one offering the path of least resistance and making potential members circumvent through a maze is not a good way to start your relationship with them. You may disagree and that’s the beauty of choice, just make sure to make the best choices for you and your members since they are the ones paying your bills ultimately.
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