Question

Topic: Our Forum

Out Of Points, But Not Questions?

Posted by Valerie Witt on 2/23/2004 at 11:47 PM ET 0 Points
** ANNOUNCEMENT **

Hi everyone! I’d like to call your attention to our new Buy Points e-commerce feature. Effective immediately we have 3 packages of Question Points available for sale:

$10 – 250 points
$25 – 1000 points
$50 – 2500 points

Keep in mind, these points do not change your ranking in the community. They are simply for asking more questions. We are offering them for sale as a way to help subsidize the forum. Hopefully you’ll consider them a pretty amazing value. You can get an awful lot of thoughtful responses from our community for just $10!

We figured it was important to begin selling points immediately since we noticed that several of our active Askers have run out of their FREE 250 points they received when they joined.

Of course, every active participant continues to receive 5 FREE points a day (after your first posting). But maybe you don’t want to wait long enough to accumulate the points you need for a big question! If not, look for the link to the Buy Points page in the Participate box (you can only see the box when you are logged in).

Please email me or post here if you have any questions. Thanks!

Best wishes,

Val

P.S. From now on, we will be referring to your current balance points as Question Points, and your cumulative total will be called Expert Points. This is to distinguish between the points you can use to ask questions and those you have won for answering questions. Hopefully that will be clearer than calling both batches “Expert Points” as we have been doing until now.

P.P.S. This is just an announcement ... I won't be awarding points for this.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Blaine Wilkerson on 2/24/2004 at 12:51 AM Member
    Just curious....Doesn't the $50 for 2500 points kinda conflict with your plan of attracting "premium" members for $199?

    I realize the premium package includes seminars, but what if new visitors see they can get the same amout of points for $50 vs. $199, minus the seminars?

    Do you think this will have an impact on Premium Membership enrollment?
  • Posted by Valerie Witt on 2/24/2004 at 6:21 PM Author
    Hiya guys. To answer your questions ...

    Jett: You're right ... there is a difference. It's because we changed our minds about the value of the points. The premium membership program was developed for the articles and seminars mostly, then we added the points when we decided to build this forum. After further research, we decided the willingness to pay for points was at a different price point than we first expected. Either way, folks get an AWFUL LOT of valuable content for $199. Where else could you get 7 seminars + specially developed reports + 2500-points-worth of participation in a forum like ours for $199? That's a lot of career development training and networking for the money, don't you think? We will be changing the premium promo materials to reflect this new value estimation (i.e. $50 for 2500 pts).

    Parkhe: You should be able to post a question for 25 points. Are you not able to? Please let me know, if not ... sounds like a technical problem we need to fix! Also, keep in mind, people are still perfectly allowed to participate for free ... by winning points from others in the forum, and letting their 5 free points a day accrue. There's no need for anyone to buy points to participate. Bottom line: The forum needs to be self-sustaining. So we're looking for a viable model. Hopefully, this is it. If not, we'll look for something else. Either way, thanks for your feedback!

    Best wishes,

    Val

  • Posted by Blaine Wilkerson on 2/24/2004 at 6:29 PM Member
    I'm not suggesting the $199 package does not have value. I am stating that your current banners and ads focus around attracting people to getting 2500 points.

    I think you will find some angy folks if they pay the $199 then login into the forum just to see a link where they could have just paid $50. Again, not everyone is interested in the webinars.

    You are advertising points, but defining the value with seminars.

    I think it is confusing and misleading. I would be shocked if you don't start getting a lot of complaints over this.
  • Posted by Valerie Witt on 2/24/2004 at 6:41 PM Author
    Hiya Jett. Ahhhh ... now I understand. That's temporary. We'll fix that. We just need a new landing page for the banners and other buttons we're about to add. So far most (almost all?) of the premium subscribers have come from the main site and they were looking for the articles and seminars. I haven't heard from anyone who bought a premium membership just for the points.

    To all members: If you did purchase a premium membership just for the points - and you would like cancel your sub and trade it in for 2500 points + a refund of the difference - please let us know. We have a money back guarantee on the premium subs. As always, we'll make it right!

    Best wishes,

    Val
  • Posted by Valerie Witt on 2/25/2004 at 12:57 AM Author
    Hi Jett. Quick P.S. We have a first draft of the new landing page up for the banner ads on the question pages. See if that's less confusing. Hope so. We'll also be adding some more ad buttons and tweaking copy over the next few days.

    And no problem, Parkhe. But I don't think we changed anything. It was always supposed to be 25 pts for everyone. I wonder if there's a one-day delay from when the new 5 points accrue? Or something like that?

    Best wishes,

    Val
  • Posted by ReadCopy on 2/25/2004 at 3:37 AM Member
    No seems like a good and fair idea to me :-)
    Keep up the good work team.
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