Program Owners: Recurring Vs. One-Time Only Option?
 

IF YOU RUN A PAYSITE PLEASE COMMENT HERE (but affiliates are always welcome, too):

Sponser, do you offer recurring Memberships (rebills) AND "single purchase" Memberships (one-time only)?
If so, why?

If you ONLY offer recurring Memberships, why?

What have you found? My experiences are that Members cancel anyway so giving them a one-time only payment option works well. Of course, rebills are a fraction of what they could be under this model. I find that given the choice between a lower Join option and a recurring option more than 3 times choose the SINGLE Join option! So the lower recurring price is being chosen far less than the higher one-time price.

I'm thinking of doing away the one-time only option and just going with all rebills. What's your thoughts, opinions and experiences?

Thanks everyone! :thumbsup

I don't offer one time memberships. I don't have any hard data to support that, however it is my belief that.

The number of people who intend to cancel but forget > the number of people that will not join because they don't want to forget after they have "used" the product.

My gut tells me this is a penis vs. brain debate and I am putting my money on the penis. :2 cents:

Affiliate here. I like the higher priced multi-month options in addition to the recurring monthly option. Those $100-$200 sales can make a big difference and they do still happen. Just not near as much as they used to. I just had a sale for over $200 a couple days ago with a CCBill paysite. Just a couple of those can make a big difference. :)

For the reasons you point out no recurring and no multi-month options suck for the affiliate because what often happens is the member joins once and then comes back next month or a few months later and this time we don't get anything for it. If you do this you should pay PPS if you want to keep your affiliates happy.

Your post doesn't make much sense.

First you say you are seeing people choosing the one time only option more than recurring (even at a higher price) then you say you are going to do away with it. Why do away with something that is converting at a higher rate for you? The key is to find a way to make it work.

One time was a nice chunk of change for us. It was great and like you said helped convert some people that we may have otherwise never had. When people are willing to pay 20% more for something just to not be rebilled it shows you what their confidence level is with rebilling. I think the key is to find what price points work for one time for you. I remember when we first implemented it we didn't want it to have a negative impact on our $$$ per member so we priced it above what we made per member. So we had a $75 option, $85 and $99. We made $75 on average per member so any one time joins were all a bonus.

why not have both? and let the surfer choose?

We do offer recurring AND multi-month options. See below. :)


When I was writing that last bit your point occured to me: why do away with it? What I meant was I was thinking of keeping the recurring but raising the price. Numbers are easier:

WHAT WE HAVE NOW:
1 month NON-recurring: $34.95
1 month recurring: $29.95 rebills at $24.95
3 month recurring: 59.95 rebills at 49.95

WHAT I WAS THINKING:
1 month NON-recurring: $39.95
1 month recurring: $34.95 rebills at $29.95
3 month recurring: 59.95 rebills at 49.95
6 month recurring: 99.95 rebills at 79.95


The bold are the ones I'm considering. The other options:

1 month recurring: $29.95 rebills at $24.95
3 month recurring: 59.95 rebills at 49.95
6 month recurring: 99.95 rebills at 79.95

1 month recurring: $34.95 rebills at $29.95 or $24.95
3 month recurring: 59.95 rebills at 49.95
6 month recurring: 99.95 rebills at 79.95

See? Lots of variations. LOL

why are your rebills priced lower?

Here is what I have 24.95 rebilling and 34.95 non rebilling for the 30 day option.. so if they only want one month might as well get 10 bucks more out of them

I think what shap was saying is find out what a recurring member is worth on average, factor in the fact you may not of otherwise made the sale if just recurring, and set one time fee accordingly...

In other words, do away with 1 time monthly and offer that as a 3 month, 6 month or 1 year.

We switched in 2007 from a $24.95 monthly recurring offer to a non recurring, $1 per model and we've been doing much more money ever since. Cheaper prices and non recurring boost your sales, providing your customer with content they like will make them come back and spend more.

This is exactly how I feel about it as well.

I see people doing this and I don't agree with it. Just like with non-recurring, I don't think the number of people who don't cancel because the rebill is slightly lower outnumber the amount of people who would keep rebilling regardless of the price.

Choices. Single or Recurring, depending on the surfer. I agree with Shap, the larger tier billing options are very viable, imho...

Interesting - so maybe offer a yearly or six month one-time or recurring?

go all rebills