WC Poll: What Would Make You Want to Subscribe to WinCustomize?
We're trying to make the site better for subscribers
Monday, April 30, 2007 by Zoomba | Discussion: WinCustomize News
| Summary of last week's poll is going to be short since this week's has a long explanation. I asked what sort of news you most enjoy seeing on the WinCustomize every day. The goal was to find what everyone enjoys the most and try to deliver more of that, making the site a more worthwhile destination during your daily travels. | What sort of news would you like to see on WinCustomize | |
| General Tech News | 49.47% | |
| Internet News | 12.63% | |
| Company-Specific News | 7.37% | |
| Weird News | 24.21% | |
| Other | 6.32% | |
On to this week's poll....
WinCustomize is a big site that is, in large part, supported by user subscriptions. Now, to a lot of people the entire idea of paying a website for some sort of exclusive content or improved service is a bit of a foreign idea, but it's what allows us to provide the services we do without bombarding users with a ton of ads, pop-ups, pop-unders and other extremely annoying methods of advertising. Many of you here have supported us for years, through times both good and bad, and to you, we are extremely grateful. But at the same time, we have millions of visitors every year, many of whom come back over and over, who for one reason or another, don't want to subscribe.
So this week's poll is an attempt to find out what it is that would make a $19.95 annual subscription to the site a no-brainer value to users. WinCustomize 2008 is undergoing a very significant visual redesign, and as we work through the early stages, we are looking at pages and wondering how we can make the subscriber experience better, cooler, and more inviting to users who spend a lot of time on the site. However, we want to be sure we're putting our resources towards something that will be worthwhile to our users, and hopefully encourage more people to subscribe.
So, assuming you're not already a subscriber, what features would make that $20 purchase easier? And if you're already a subscriber, what would keep you renewing if we added it? Or maybe what could we add that would make you suggest subscribing to friends who might visit the site? We want to keep making the user experience better (which we have made great strides towards with the new site and better performance)
Poll options are:
- Exclusive Website Features (i.e. RSS feeds, enhanced personal pages, customizable page layouts etc.)
- Exclusive Website Content (i.e. subscriber-first tutorials, product previews, articles etc.)
- More Subscriber Skins (such as WC Select, RIP, Kryptonite and XP Augustus)
- Other (Please specify in comments)
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Reply #2 Monday, April 30, 2007 1:20 PM
Also an app that is now included in the Object Desktop or a *NEW one to be only available for subscribers. I think that would be a way to encourage people & add an incentive that is not commonly found around the net.
I would love to have the Exclusive Website Features (i.e. RSS feeds, enhanced personal pages, customizable page layouts etc.)
I do love it here & even if I couldn't afford to keep my programs renewed I would find the money to subscribe here. The staff, moderators & subscribers are kind, helpful & supportive.
It's My Secret
Reply #3 Monday, April 30, 2007 1:20 PM
Reply #4 Monday, April 30, 2007 1:32 PM
Lets say subscriber-only skins ends up being a run-away success with 95% of the vote, and the other three get little pieces of what's left over. That tells us a lot about how to direct our time and effort. An "all of the above" response would lose us that very important piece of data.
This poll is for what we can do on the website end of things to make that subscription more valuable.
Reply #5 Monday, April 30, 2007 2:34 PM
Reply #6 Monday, April 30, 2007 2:50 PM
Subscriber should be allow to customize site (layout,Design,colors and fonts) like you see in MSNSpaces. Or atleast user's personal site. Then he can say to freinds and family to look i have created my own Wincustomize.
Reply #7 Monday, April 30, 2007 2:58 PM
The majority of those who don't only come for the downloads anyway. I think you've made a lot of improvements since the 2005 site debacle and the site seems to be faster, smoother with fewer errors nowadays. I'd hate to see the site roll out another new layout only to have a repeat of January 2005
Just a thought.......how about scheduled community events. Something like "Grill the Frog" on IRC or even on the forum, where at some scheduled time Brad makes himself "available" to the community in real time or the same kind of idea for some of the Master Skinners you got in company now like Treetog and Mike giving real time skinning tips, answers or inspiration.
I remember Brad started a thread a year or so ago about getting a scheduled event going on IRC to discuss just the kind of thing this thread is about. The item sort of died without any date or time ever being set even though it got quite a few bumps.
Reply #8 Monday, April 30, 2007 3:04 PM
I've talked with several people about the idea of holding community events on IRC, and while we all agree it's a good idea, we're not sure how to best manage them. I'd love to hear suggestions on how we might be able to pull them off, and what topics we could cover. With the slow summer months approaching, I'm looking for new and interesting content to put on the site to keep people alive and interested.
I know I could find the time to make myself available for questioning (interrogation?) but I doubt people have much interest in grilling me about what I do 
Reply #9 Monday, April 30, 2007 3:08 PM
I have subscribed because I want Stardock to know that I believe in them and what they are doing. I subscribed so I had the right (assumed) to bitch and moan about things. I have subscribed because I wanted to be a part of this place.
Reply #10 Monday, April 30, 2007 3:15 PM
Other thing i forgot. I suggest good skins (Suites) for subscribers. Atleast 2 to 4 good skins in a year should be present for WC subscribers. Good Skins always encourage users to buy subscription.
Skins like Kryptonite and XP Augustus are outdated. Need upto date skins to meet todays requirments.
Reply #11 Monday, April 30, 2007 4:12 PM
I agree with Themerboy......just set a time, date and topic and see what comes of it. I can forsee things like Community Suites & collaborations, skin testing groups, code sharing groups, bitch and moan groups (for Zubaz) etc.
....include politics & religion and your sure to get a lively response
Reply #12 Monday, April 30, 2007 4:55 PM
Skins like Kryptonite and XP Augustus are outdated. Need upto date skins to meet todays requirments.
I agree. I signed up to try and do my part to keep Wincustomize alive, but a few new skins a year would be great. Agustus hasn't been updated since late 2003! I think that 2-4 new skins, that showcase the latest technology, would be a great incentive.
Reply #13 Monday, April 30, 2007 6:26 PM
Reply #14 Monday, April 30, 2007 6:31 PM
I don't want to sound like I'm flaming you Bill Allen, but you haven't uploaded anything so I'd say you don't have any idea on what it takes to make some of these skins. Especially a WindowBlind. And your comment solidifies that.
Reply #15 Monday, April 30, 2007 7:21 PM
That would be tricky since master skin sales are a profit split between the site and the artist. If they were given away for "free" to subscribers, there would be difficult questions of how to assess payment to the artist etc.
You already have a 20% discount on all master skin purchases.
Reply #16 Monday, April 30, 2007 7:29 PM
Reply #17 Monday, April 30, 2007 7:39 PM
I would like to add one tiny observation - we have to log in to vote. I'm not sure if this poll will target the group of people you are interested in. Unless it's registered users who haven't subscribed? Anyway, as I said I like skins.Reply #18 Monday, April 30, 2007 9:33 PM
At least porn sites give you streaming video and high res pics. WinCustomize does have the high res pics but not streaming video! ...add video
Seriously, why $20 and not $10? Try that new retail software in the news last week to determine the right price. Maybe you are asking too much?
Reply #19 Monday, April 30, 2007 9:40 PM
It is $20 for first year of sub. renewals are $20 for 2 years.
Reply #20 Monday, April 30, 2007 9:45 PM
There is a thin line where if you charge too little people thing that it has even less value. If $10, and $10 is so little, why not free you greedy, capitalist pigs?
I think the price point is fine and the services are fine. I will always be willing to kick in a few bucks to make sure the site knows I care and kick in for a super-tiny percentage of bandwidth and dev time.
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Reply #1 Monday, April 30, 2007 12:32 PM