{"id":274,"date":"2019-09-23T16:26:02","date_gmt":"2019-09-23T16:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/recurringbiz.com\/?p=274"},"modified":"2019-09-23T16:35:04","modified_gmt":"2019-09-23T16:35:04","slug":"membership-pricing-delivery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesshatch.com\/membermachine\/membership-pricing-delivery\/","title":{"rendered":"Membership Pricing & Delivery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Membership Pricing Models and Delivery Methods<\/span><\/h1>\n

Pricing is crucial, but it\u2019s a highly misunderstood business decision. Creating the right pricing for a membership site, especially one that\u2019s just launching is daunting, even successful online entrepreneurs struggle with this.<\/span><\/p>\n

While there are many ways to adjust your pricing plans, once your site is up and running, starting with the right foundation will make it easier to improve. If you don\u2019t have a lot of experience, study how your customers react to certain tactics. <\/span><\/p>\n

Setting a pricing strategy can be a challenging task. There\u2019s no easy answer on how to create the right pricing strategy, but here are 8 pricing models worth exploring.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fixed-Term Pricing Model<\/span><\/h2>\n

For a fixed-term pricing model, the membership levels have a set term with expiration. And members must renew to maintain their membership. This pricing model is commonly used for a set term of the calendar year (January 1 to December 31).<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a popular pricing model for traditional organizations and benefactor groups that report membership annually and require members to \u201crenew\u201d their term every year.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can be creative and innovative with this pricing model by offering discounts for the early renewals, giving discounts for the purchase of multi-year memberships in advance or you can prorate membership for those who sign up mid-term.<\/span><\/p>\n

This pricing model is great if you don\u2019t want to produce, edit and update content regularly. But if you\u2019re continually creating and adding new content on your site, you may give too much for too little with this model. <\/span><\/p>\n

Because members who have paid a flat fee to access your content will be receiving value from you every time you add new content\u2014and you\u2019re not profiting from it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recurring Subscriptions with Fixed Price per Period<\/span><\/h2>\n

This is a common pricing model, where you can charge a specific price \u201cper month\u201d or \u201cper year\u201d for the life of the membership. Some payment gateways also allow pricing per week or custom periods like every 3 months.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recurring subscriptions work well for newsletter-based membership sites, sites where experts or coaches create the content and listing sites and online social communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, to use this pricing model, you must deliver value each term continually. Because if your members are paying you weekly or monthly, you must deliver \u201cnew valuable material\u201d each week or month.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to set up this model with the Paid Membership Pro<\/a> plugin. You can do this by setting an initial payment and a recurring subscription of the term of your membership.<\/span><\/p>\n

Free or Reduced-Rate Trial Periods<\/span><\/h2>\n

I\u2019m not a fan of this model, but it\u2019s common. If your goal is to get more people to use your service or product, you can use the free trial model. And when you\u2019re ready to earn money, switch to a model that charges based on the value of your service or product upfront.<\/span><\/p>\n

The free trial model charges a lower rate initially, hoping to hook the members into maintaining their membership after the trial period ends. This pricing model is commonly used by online software and tools, and other digital communication or financial tools.<\/span><\/p>\n

When using this model, it\u2019s essential to remember you must prove you\u2019re the worth the full-price membership during the trial period. Don\u2019t price yourself so high that people can\u2019t maintain membership at the full rate. <\/span><\/p>\n

Also, don\u2019t deliver all the value of your membership during the trial period because there\u2019ll be no reason for members to stay.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you want to use this model, offer a reduced rate trial instead of a free trial. This\u2019ll force your members to be committed to your product and it\u2019ll protect you from the workload created by tons of free trial members that don\u2019t intend to stick around.<\/span><\/p>\n

Front-Loaded Pricing Model<\/span><\/h2>\n

This is where you can charge a higher amount at sign up and then charge a lower rate at each term. For example, you can charge a single upfront higher cost or an installment such as $150 per month for the first 3 months and then $15 per month.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a great option if you deliver the most value in the first few months. And it\u2019s a common pricing option among health and fitness websites that focus on weight loss.<\/span><\/p>\n

Installment Plans<\/span><\/h2>\n

Installment plans are like the front-loaded membership, but they don\u2019t have the ongoing, recurring payment. This model is perfect if you want to charge a high price but you know that your audience can\u2019t afford the large expense in one payment.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can set up this option by setting an initial payment and a recurring payment of the term of your membership, with a \u201cpayment limit.\u201d Also, you can opt to set an expiration date on memberships.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, for a membership level that you want to charge $600 for 4 months and maintain the member\u2019s membership for 1 year, you can set:<\/span><\/p>\n