It's not Worth it...

… is one of the most common reasons for customers not wanting to pay. Then what is?

Here are some reflections after a few years in the online community business where we have struggled with the balance of payment locks all along.

I give away my conclusion already here – it must be easy peasy to pay and you must appear generous and not greedy.

It’s stressful, because there is no truth, no yes or no. You never know which model will work the best. You will have to try out and test a balance through recording statistics, running surveys and looking at competitors’ progresses. At Stardoll I was convinced for a long time of that the best trigger would be to let the users try everything and pay for the top extra features, but when playing Panfu I realized how much I wanted fully locked doors. When I ones had made the choice to go there, I wanted in. The locks are nothing but a user/reader experience!

Models I can recall are

1. Play (read) if Pay

2. Play (read) for free, pay to save

3. Play (read) for free, pay to get the extra fun stuff

4. Play (read) for free, pay to get currency to buy stuff for

5. Play (read) for free and earn currency/points, activate the currency when paying

The two latter require some creativity and new thinking for the magazine business but it’s easy to see the them in the same future as an ‘earn points to buy extra special tooth paste for when brushing your teeth with a digital sender to your Internet account’ type of world. (At 21.00)

To know what they will pay for and when you must know your customers. By heart. The details. Either you are one of them yourself, or you love them deeply, or both. You must know whether the blue mini dress is more trendy and attractive than the red purse to know what you should offer, or exactly when your customer will be willing to pay.

All customers will always want everything ‘for free’. You need to know the psychology behind their needs. You must listen to them. Bring them in, ask them and let them talk. Interpret their words with the background of your skills of business development and turn the information into doable ideas. Make them feel that it is for free and that they only have to pay if they really really want to themselves.

Entering the business of online payment it is also time to track the user behavior when looking for and clicking the Pay button. It must be so darn easy to pay that there is no friction at all. But this easy purchase includes so much more… first time visitor special page, introductions, SEO teasers, continous offers for loyalty and frequent returns etc etc. It feels like the news paper online business has only begun their journey.

Any payment thoughts from my community perspective then? Why would I keep my mouth...
Traditional ads is a dead end for online press. Why should anyone click on banners in the short future. There is so much else to choose from and ads are irrelevant. Unless they are integrated as desirable content, but this market is narrow for independent magazines and news papers.

Focused feed ads is another thing though - give followers what they want when they want it. Let the readers choose themselves if they want to be reminded, and remind them with what's interesting to them, and they will be your best ads.

No chance that news papers can continue to be the journalists all themselves though.
Let the readers in, at least if they are going to pay. Online people tend to pay for extra chances of being seen – not the basic right to be seen though, that’s what makes them just stay.

Few things are unique today. Time and friends is what is valuable. People pay for the time they spend on something. Let the readers be the free content, friends are the best glue and inspiration.

Feels as I will have much more on this tomorrow morning.

More on payment locks

Mashable - Newspapers Are Still Dying, But the News Is Not Going Anywhere
Despite newspaper share prices seeing a 380% increase in the last year, don’t be swayed by the perceived recovery. The only way for newspapers to survive is by investing resources into innovation online.

Jardenberg unedited
Det finns en relation mellan hur mycket tid som spenderas i ett medie och hur mycket annonspengar det mediet snurrar runt. För alla traditionella medier pekar utvecklingen neråt, för internet pekar båda kurvorna uppåt. Men det mest intressanta är det finns en samband mellan tid och pengar i alla kanaler, och på nätet är det ett glapp som är värt minst 50 miljarder dollar, i grov jämförelse med övriga medier. Det är potentialen.

MyNewsDesk
Nu lanseras ”betalväggar” på många nättidningar i USA. En trend som troligtvis kommer att fortgå och sprida sig till Europa. Tanken är att generera nya mediaintäkter för mediahusen, samtidigt som marknaden protesterar och slutar länka till intressanta artiklar. Med den här pågående trenden blir spridning i sociala medier och sökoptimerat pressmaterial allt viktigare.

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