Cost for DaniWeb Premium

[Dani]

DaniWeb Premium is currently $5 per month. You can find details about everything it gives you here

Do you think this is too high a price point? At what price point would you be willing to pay? What if it were $1.99? What if it were $3?

[Dani]

No responses at all, eh :(

[rproffitt]

In regards to no responses mostly:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warnock%27s_dilemma for reference. Folk would have to actively seek out your posting as far as I can tell. I read from https://www.daniweb.com/articles/latest/articles so I'll notice new content as the front page doesn't have highlights for me of important topics. I think item #3 "No one read the post, for whatever reason." is mostly why so little response. As I would be the outlier (a person or thing differing from all other members of a particular group or set) I thought it best to not reply in public so you would get pristine feedback.
   To tackle item 3 of Warnock's Dilemma maybe this should be in your monthly email rather than a discussion and the front page.

2. "Everything is a subscription now" or https://www.google.com/search?&q=everything+is+a+subscription+now to see how this is being perceived and written about.
   I'm getting the feeling that many are starting to feel irked at the number of subscriptions in their lives. Recently when reviewing bids on our solar system, one installer was kicked out instantly when they had a yearly subscription charge. Yes I did look at their offering and it came up woefully short on value and felt like "rent seeking." This is not all that you are challenged with here getting folk to pay for the extras but it's got to be one of them.

3. To address getting more subscriptions might be two pronged. Maybe you'll have to work the front page to include "subscribe and get these benefits" as well as exposing those benefits on the home page. Ask for what you want on that home page is my thought here. When they are a member then that is hidden or changes to "invite a friend."

4. Dazah. I thought it was a valiant effort. Maybe Dazah could exist as it's own hemisphere as we have two brains. Nod to https://www.healthline.com/health/left-brain-vs-right-brain I saw the direction you were going (I think I did) but there were anchors to the past that distracted the advances to those goals. Maybe, just maybe a rebrand, relaunch? Just thinking out loud here. Let Daniweb be what it is?

Part of my delay was because I wanted to see what others had to say along with I didn't want to set the tone. I will be supportive and will do what I can. Thanks for reading all this.

[Dani]

I'm so sorry it's taken me a week to respond to this. I haven't really been feeling well over the past week and have been very groggy and headachy, so I apologize for the delay. But I'll respond now :)

Soooo ... basically what I'm hearing is that the subscription model is putting you off. Perhaps we could do something such as promoting one-time payments for one-time benefits when asking a question. Or encouraging one-time donations. I hear you when you say that everyone has soooo many subscriptions nowadays.

On one hand, there are a billion subscriptions nowadays because the advertising industry has pivoted to encourage subscription models over ad-based models. The New York Times can no longer operate being ad supported, for example. Reddit relies on Reddit Premium, etc. We're right along with that! The world has a trillion more subscription-based businesses nowadays because, in many cases, that's one of the only viable business models. On the other hand, if you do have a subscription business model, you need to compete for those dollars against all the other subscriptions the end-user already is paying for.

The benefits of a DaniWeb subscription need to consistently, month over month, bring the end-user more enjoyment hours per dollar than their CBS subscription, or New York Times subscription, or Discovery+ subscription, etc.

This is both a give and take. Keeping up with the times, so as to not go out of business, requires moving away from ad-based revenue models. On the other hand, it also means consistently trying to one up the amount of enjoyment you bring to your end-users. While end-users might not like that the industry has overall shifted from ad-based to subscription-model, in the long run, it breeds better products and innovation over time. With ads no longer paying the bills, companies need to constantly innovate to make their products and services worth it for their end-users to open their wallets.

Maybe you'll have to work the front page to include "subscribe and get these benefits" as well as exposing those benefits on the home page.

We have a DaniWeb Premium page, as well as a menu item to upgrade your account when you click your avatar in the top navigation menu, when you contribute a post, a button on all forum topics, a modal window when browsing users to meet, a button within member profiles to start a one-on-one chat, and another dedicated page within your control panel. I think we're pretty tapped out on promoting our freemium model ;)

Dazah. I thought it was a valiant effort. Maybe Dazah could exist as it's own hemisphere as we have two brains. ... Maybe, just maybe a rebrand, relaunch? Just thinking out loud here. Let Daniweb be what it is?

So that's exactly what happened to Dazah. It was rebranded as DaniWeb Connect and migrated to https://www.daniweb.com/connect ... The links to Meet in the top navigation menu, all the links to group chat from within the forums, that's all Dazah exactly as before, with nearly no code changes, but simply rebranded under the DaniWeb brand. The DaniWeb Connect API still lives at https://www.daniweb.com/connect/developers

[rproffitt]

I opened a new private web browser page and went to the home page. I don't see a mention there of the premium offering. It's in some other page but the top page is missing out on the opportunity or "ask."

Back to a normal login and back to the home page. No sign or ask for premium. Yes, you see it if you make a new discussion but the ask's are no where in the home pages.

You don't have to go as far as YouTube does for their ask but asking is a good thing.

[Dani]

I opened a new private web browser page and went to the home page. I don't see a mention there of the premium offering. It's in some other page but the top page is missing out on the opportunity or "ask."

That's because subscriptions are part of our freemium model. The call-to-action on the homepage, for users not logged in, is to sign up. That's the single most important thing we want users to do from our homepage. We don't want to scare them off that we aren't a free service, etc. Once we have captured your email address, and introduced you to what DaniWeb is, then we can begin telling you about the benefits of paying.

As mentioned to you previously via our private chat, our subscriptions are 100% targeted towards seasoned DaniWeb members like you, and not towards our first-time or newbie visitors.

I have 0 expectations that a first-time visitor will check out DaniWeb and be interested in our subscription model. That's not who I'm targeting nor do I want to muddy up their introduduction to DaniWeb with asking for them to open their wallets. My goal is 100% to convince people like you to donate $5 a month towards our web hosting.

[rproffitt]

Again thanks for the replies. Still no one else has replied so my thought is again about Warnock's dilemma. Just like the Menorah?

Make seven lamps for the menorah, and mount them so as to give light to the space in front of it.

Or something about putting a light under a bushel. ?

[Dani]

I think no one is responding because DaniWeb Premium targets seasoned members, and nearly all of our seasoned members over the years have bailed. I think.

[rproffitt]

I'm going to write this now. A new target demographic is required. ?

[Dani]

Well, when you look at things like Reddit Premium, it’s the seasoned members who are the target demographic, and Reddit Premium, to the best of my knowledge, does quite well.

What this tells me is I need to change the feature set of DaniWeb Premium to make it more attractive.

Either that, or change the target demographic, but, in that case, reconsider what primary call to action I have for newer members. Do I want them to ask interesting questions, or do I want them to open their wallets?

[rproffitt]

You're right. I thought about the feature set. For me it's a mismatch. I want to write about that and be helpful so take the following as intended (trying to help.) Also, maybe I'm a bit too seasoned. I wish the old forum prior to the sale was live so you could see my count of discussions there. It was a very big number with topics all over the map for decades. Let me go over those premium items now.

1. Your topics.
   When I have an issue I used to ask long ago but found little help because when I have an issue it's usually far outside the usual knowledge set. I've learned that it's better to break down the problem as well as do more research since what challenges me is again, outside the usual knowledge you find on forums.
2. The matching system.
   That's back to item 1. I can't expect folk to work the problems I've dealt with over the years. But given how I've worked in electronics before microprocessors were common, been on a microprocessor design team and all the way to nearly today with fleet GPS tracking and more, I'm going to be the one to chat with folk about such topics rather than be the one who posts new or old questions.
3. Promote anyone's question.
   That would be nice but not at this price. The member who asks should pay for that.
4. Double strength etc.
   For me, low value.
5. 1 on 1 connections.
   I've been here for years. Just a few new connections.
6. Ad free browsing experience.
   Didn't find them overly intrusive. And maybe, just maybe something I've looked at over time. Maybe Tabnine was there? I can't remember.

Why am I here? To see what others are stumped about, learn from their discussion and if I have an idea, to share.
Hopefully this will shed some light why I'm not in the target demographic.

[JamesCherrill]

I guess I would count as a "seasoned member". So what would I get that would be worth $60 in a year? I can't see the value proposition.

[Dani]

So what would I get that would be worth $60 in a year?

As mentioned at https://www.daniweb.com/donate/index, I guess the biggest thing we have to offer you is the feeling that you'd be contributing to our web hosting costs, which are currently about $5K a month and being paid for out of pocket each month, since the ads aren't paying the bills.

I can't see the value proposition.

So I see. Apparently my value proposition of increased reputation power and no ads isn't tempting enough. Is there anything that you can think of that we could possibly offer that would be potentially a little tempting?

[JamesCherrill]

I'm sorry, but I don;t have anything positive for yoi here.
Back in the day I contributed literally thousands of hours to helping others and thus creating value for DaniWeb. I certainly didn't expect to pay to do that.
With the current traffic there's little I can contribute, and litte that interests me (although we did get a couple of Java questions recently).
Increased rep power? To whatever extent that matters I think I have enough.
No ads? I don't have a problem with the ads.

Maybe that's all just me, or maybe it's not untypical of the "seasoned" members? If so you need to re-think the target market and look towards newer members who are looking to gain something from DaniWeb and could be willing to pay a bit to get it?

[Dani]

Historically, especially during DaniWeb's peak, it has always been the seasoned members who have donated. For a freemium service, I think you're not going to be able to get people to open their wallets until the free version has successfully proven itself useful / beneficial / enjoyable. That's just my opinion, anyways. In the past, I think seasoned members opened their wallets as their way of financially supporting something that became a non-negligible part of their every day / every week.

[rproffitt]

Just a swing by to share something I saw on the web site catbox.moe where it writes: "Patrons helped cover 79% of the server bills this month!"

Additionally, this and litterbox appear to be filling a niche or need.

[rproffitt]

Seems everyone is getting on the subsciption bus. "Taco Bell Subscription"

Back to your. Maybe add something like access to Wapo or SF chronicle? "Bundle and save!"

[Dani]

As it says on our donation page, https://www.daniweb.com/donate/index, contributing helps us focus on making a better product because it transforms our end-users from being our product (being sold to advertisers) into being our customers. I think we are simply victim of the freemium concept where the free version needs to be outstanding enough to make people choose to contribute for little additional benefit other than knowing the free version only exists due to people like them.