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Ask HN: My startup has more annual subscribers than monthly. What to make of it?

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41–50 of 136 posts

Re: Ask HN: My startup has more annual subscribers than monthly. What to make of it?

#41
If it truly represents the people trying to buy your service, it sounds like a great sign. But you should check that there isn't some UX issue causing you to lose customers trying to sign up for the monthly option.

It might also reflect some order flow impediment that affects both paths, but since the annual subscribers are more determined, more of them overcome it.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has more annual subscribers than monthly. What to make of it?

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Many non-US countries have little/no credit card presence Was that statement accidental horrible wording or did you actually mean it ? If the latter, then you must be one of those many Americans that needs to travel more. The rest of the world are not neanderthals who've never heard of credit cards. Go to Kenya (Africa) and the only reason you might struggle to pay by credit card is if the merchant has decided to p…

Dunno, in a lot of europe, though credit cards are readily available , most of my family (I have relatives in Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia) doesn't have or want them. They have forms of payment which are strange to me but basically are some form of bank debit card, accepted everywhere. Or fancy phone / app payment methods we can only dream of here. I didn't read the OP as necessarily implying technical or cult…

When a form on a web-site says CC (Credit Card) I can always pay with my debit card. (Unless you're talking about another sort of debit card that isn't what I call a debit card - "a MasterCard/Visa/etc with no overdraft).

To me it seems like some people use the term "credit card" for any bank card, while some actually mean the "credit" part. While "credit" (non-debit) cards don't seem to be THAT popular in the European part of the world, I think that bank cards are pretty much ubiquitous.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has more annual subscribers than monthly. What to make of it?

#44
I'm happy to pay annually if the product is good and the 2 months off makes it worth it.

Without 2 months off I'd pay monthly because canceling is easier.

With 2 months off the reasoning is I like the product and can save some and don't have to think about the monthly cost. If in a year I don't find myself using it I can then decide on renewal.

Usually it's like $5/month or $50/year or something - I generally dislike tiny monthly subscriptions, it obscures costs and feels like death by a thousand cuts. With annual I can think about the value and decide and the 2 months savings makes it worth it.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has more annual subscribers than monthly. What to make of it?

#46

Maybe change your pricing plans for new customers but tell existing annual customers that they can keep the current deal as long as they stay subscribed. Then you can compare the split for new customers and old customers and see how your price change affects it.

Didn't netflix pull that one once?

Re: Ask HN: My startup has more annual subscribers than monthly. What to make of it?

#47
Because the discount rate of the yearly plan is financially very attractive (17% off), there are really two main reasons people go for the monthly option: 1) they are unsure if they are going to like your product enough to be willing to go for the bigger commitment of the yearly subscription 2) they can’t afford the yearly payment upfront (this is especially valid for very expensive subscriptions)

On the yearly subscription, do you charge for the entire year upfront? If not, you are eliminating reason 2) above to go for monthly

How is the distribution of vintages of your user base? Depending on your growth (and churn) rate, the distribution of old (>1 year old) vs. new (...so that might explain why you have a majority of annual plans. It’s always a good idea to experiment with your prices and segment the market, it’s almost always a good idea to do it without disrupting (too much) your existing user base.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has more annual subscribers than monthly. What to make of it?

#48
post #10

2 months off for paying annual pricing is a very good deal for someone who plans to use you product on the long term. I personally have a few items I pay for annually because I don't see myself stopping from using it AND there is no obvious replacement. I would NOT recommend changing the 2 months off; you'll annoy your most loyal customers.

He can keep that pricing tier/billing plan for existing customers and create a less generous one for new customers. I would keep reducing the discount until sales fall way off.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has more annual subscribers than monthly. What to make of it?

#49
post #10

2 months off for paying annual pricing is a very good deal for someone who plans to use you product on the long term. I personally have a few items I pay for annually because I don't see myself stopping from using it AND there is no obvious replacement. I would NOT recommend changing the 2 months off; you'll annoy your most loyal customers.

you can grandfather existing customers into old plans and still experiment with pricing.

Re: Ask HN: My startup has more annual subscribers than monthly. What to make of it?

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dunno, in a lot of europe, though credit cards are readily available , most of my family (I have relatives in Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia) doesn't have or want them. They have forms of payment which are strange to me but basically are some form of bank debit card, accepted everywhere. Or fancy phone / app payment methods we can only dream of here. I didn't read the OP as necessarily implying technical or cult…

When a form on a web-site says CC (Credit Card) I can always pay with my debit card. (Unless you're talking about another sort of debit card that isn't what I call a debit card - "a MasterCard/Visa/etc with no overdraft). To me it seems like some people use the term "credit card" for any bank card, while some actually mean the "credit" part. While "credit" (non-debit) cards don't seem to be THAT popular in the Europe…

For what it's worth, what you have is a Visa Debit (or Mastercard Debit) card, though the branding on them isn't consistent. Debit cards that can't interop with the Visa/Mastercard networks do exist, I have one .. mostly because I'm lazy and haven't asked for a change.

Dunno how rare they are, I suspect rare, but I can't find any numbers with a quick search.

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