From: Peter Sprague
Subject: Membership
Question: Good morning...have a strong, large and engaged enthusiast network. Have an embryonic membership program which has been under conceived, undermanaged, and under marketed. Need an expert with relevant experience to evaluate our opportunities, if any, in this means of diversifying revenues and increasing the communal vibe.
Thank you, Peter Sprague, Co-Owner
AAMP Expert Response:
My name is Meg Clark, Account Manager with Four Strings Media. I'm also on the AAMP Board.
Thank you again for contacting AAMP - I can say right out of the gate that guitars are near and dear to us at our company.
A membership model sounds interesting for your magazine/brand. There is a lot you can offer “members” as opposed to subscribers in terms of other products, services, and content.
We took the liberty of checking out your web site and were a bit confused by the three offers you have.
1) 1-year app subscription for $12.95
2) 5 print & 5-month app for $4.95 billed every 5 issues
3) 12 print issues/1-year app for $24.95
5 issues + app for $4.95 every 5 months offer, if I understand it, would work out to $11.88 for 12 months/issues, including print and the app (the image portrays both). The app-only option is slightly more expensive at $12.99, and the full-year print/app is $24.95. Normally the pricing for the shorter-term commitment is higher on an annualized basis than if you pay for the full year all at once, to incentive people to pay for the full year. So for 5 months, maybe $11.99. But really, I don’t understand 5-month term. The most common options we see in with our client base would be:
Option 1: digital only
Annual price and monthly price
Option 2: print only
Annual price and monthly price
Option 3: Print + digital
Annual price and monthly price
The monthly price x 12 is usually about 20% more than the annual price.
In terms of membership, the first step would be figuring out a package of benefits or possibly a few tiers of benefits that could be marketed to your audience. Then test marketing those offerings at various price points to your audience in print, by email, on the website, and on social media. May also make sense to test postal/direct mail offer to your print magazine audience or even as a buck slip in mailed renewal efforts.
We would be happy to jump on a zoom/call to discuss further if you like.
Meg Clark
Four String Media