{"id":4509,"date":"2018-08-23T14:09:10","date_gmt":"2018-08-23T21:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/membermouse.com\/?p=4509"},"modified":"2021-03-08T12:04:05","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T20:04:05","slug":"les-secrets-dun-site-daffiliation-rentable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/membermouse.com\/fr\/marketing\/les-secrets-dun-site-daffiliation-rentable\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Secrets of Profitable Membership Sites"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Quick Story...<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nOne day, a man goes to a car dealership and tells the salesman that he wants to buy a car. The salesman asks, \u201cWhat are you looking for?\u201d and the man says, \u201cI need something that turns on, goes forward and runs on gas.\u201d The salesman looks at the man puzzled and being careful not to insult him responds, \u201cWe have a lot of cars that do that. Is there anything else?\u201d The man replies, \u201cYes, I only have $800 to spend.\u201d Now knowing that there\u2019s only one car that fits this description, the salesman smiles and says, \u201cHere\u2019s what you\u2019re looking for. This is a classic VW Beetle. It turns on, goes forward, runs on gas and it\u2019s only $750.\u201d The man says, \u201cPerfect! I\u2019ll take it.\u201d<\/em>\r\n\r\nLater that day the man arrives home, runs into the house and very excitedly asks his wife to come outside to see their new car. Upon seeing the Beetle, a confused look comes over his wife\u2019s face and she asks, \u201cwhere are we going to put our 3 children?\u201d The man furrows his brow, scratches his head and says, \u201cHmm\u2026 I didn\u2019t think about that.\u201d<\/em>\r\n \r\n\"start\r\n\r\n

Secret 1: Plan for Success<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nIt seems obvious, but I can\u2019t overemphasize the importance of this point. One of the biggest mistakes I see people make when they are starting out is to not actually plan for success. When selecting a membership solution, too much attention is placed on the price and not enough on asking themselves if this solution will really help them build the business they\u2019ve envisioned and achieve their goals.\r\n\r\nAll membership solutions are not created equal and this is especially true when you\u2019re dealing with a lot of customers. As your site becomes more and more successful there are two costs that will increasingly be of concern: support costs<\/strong> and opportunity costs<\/strong>.\r\n

Support Costs<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nAssuming that you aren\u2019t working with a custom solution \u2013 which is a whole different kettle of fish \u2013 in general, your largest support costs will come from customers who have just signed up and need help getting started and from customers who want to modify their account in some way (i.e. change their billing information, upgrade\/downgrade their membership, cancel their account, etc).\r\n\r\nReducing the number of questions about getting started can easily be achieved by putting together an FAQ section, video tutorials and other automated guides.\r\n\r\nReducing the support cost associated with customers who want to modify their account is a little more challenging because here the solution doesn\u2019t lie in reducing the number of enquiries; the solution is to automate the process so that customers don\u2019t have to call or email you every time they need something. Having a strategy in place for customer self-service is imperative to allow your business to scale and preserve profits at high volumes.\r\n\r\nAt the very least, the membership solution you use should have the ability to automate the cancellation process. Giving your customers the ability to cancel their own account not only decreases support costs, it also increases the customer\u2019s trust in you. And for extra credit, on the cancellation page, make them a special offer in an attempt to \u201csave the sale<\/a>\u201d. Most membership solutions don\u2019t support this in an automated way, but you can fake it by making them the offer and having them send your support team an email to confirm.\r\n

Opportunity Costs<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nWhat are opportunity costs, exactly? Opportunity costs are benefits or profits you sacrifice when pursuing one course of action over another. Let\u2019s look at a real-life example. Say that you\u2019re thinking of quitting your job and going back to school. The opportunity cost in this case would be the loss of your salary for the amount of time you\u2019re in school in school vs. the potential for future earnings after you\u2019ve completed your education.\r\n\r\nWhen working with a membership solution, an opportunity cost occurs when you have an idea that you know will be profitable, but you can\u2019t implement it because you\u2019re limited by the technology. When you\u2019re faced with this situation, you have a few choices:\r\n