How to get and keep members

[Lover]

AChat seems to have much fluctuation. It’s always better to have patrons then to get new members. And it’s almost impossible to win back lost customers. So this thread is made to collect two different ideas:
– Reasons for fluctuation
– Ideas to keep members, which also means to make free members prem.

I know, we can say it’s not our job. But we all benefit if AChat is successfull. And very often we (the customers) know better than the developer. And probably we get some good ideas for the A-Team. Of course, if I’m wrong with fluctuation the A-Team may correct me 😉

As I wanna collect many ideas, everything is allowed, but not to decline spoken opinions. We don’t ask if an idea is possible – that’s actually not our job. Even if an idea sounds completely crazy, there might be another great idea, based on this crazy one.

[Azrielle]

_{From the Office of the Superintendent of Police
Nymphomania Sex Police Department}

Personally, I like the current membership system… allow me to explain further.

The current system sets up a two-tier system into itself. Those that like the game (of which I very much do!) stay and become regular patrons, while those that dislike the game, often leave for various reasons (which I'm not even going to speculate upon). Since I began my time here within the world of AChat, I have met a lot of people that I consider worthy of being called a friend, and those that are most definately worthy to be placed into the bin with rapid regularity.

To me, The Good… Far outweighs the Bad I have experienceds here within the World of AChat.
IN OTHER WORDS… Maintain the Status Quo.

Mwah!
AZ.

[Brandybee]

There’s probably a high turn over of people as relationships fetter out. The ones who have multiple partners maybe burn out and get bored, some move on from that and have a select few and then as they dwindle down, the incentive to stay is less and less as they lose interest to start from scratch again. Others who get close to a a single partner lose heart if that breaks down.
Like most of you I’ve seen people come and go, all have their own reasons but I know a few guys who are fed up of the high influx of working girls that seem to be on now too.

I don’t , personally, but a lot of prems ignore the free users or deny them the chance to chat to them – these are the potential new customers as a lot check the site out first before spending money to become members. Its a fine balance though to keep current prems happy with the service they are receiving with anonymous pests

Advertising is always a plus – believe it or not , i heard of this site from a TV sex education programme about disabled people. I bet when that was on there was an influx of joins from my country.
Perhaps Achat could ask a question on joining how the member heard of the site – and maybe look at the best way of marketing and advertising of the site from those answers.

Keeping members is simple, yet the hardest of all – keeping them happy and interested. I think achat has helped that now listening to members from the forum threads. Membership of Forum should be encouraged, and i know current Forum members are doing this on their profiles and such like, but perhaps a forum click button next to the shop in Achats charachter editor would help this process. It provides easier access and direction. If members feel more involved and have their say – they will feel they belong to more of a community and care about what goes on more.
Also I think current Achat moderators, members and Achat are doing a great job welcoming new members to Forum and encouraging their posts. I know I was made very welcome. Ty to all.

Obviously new and updated poses, backgrounds, rooms & clothing all help the interest to remain and for the site to remain current. Achat has a lot of talented members out there… the clothing thread is amazing for ideas and all the people who assisted in translating the different languages..
Achat should take full advantage of this array of talent and skills. 🙂

Its also the people who make the site, and I am very happy to be such a member – I’ve met some great people and hope to continue to do so 🙂

[TightFit74]

I think the means that people have to get to now the game, without being stuck to a subsctiption right away. are plentyfull. I would not change a thing about that. AAChat offers one of the most accessible games where as a free member, you can do a lot of things. I remember (mhm, have I been here too long?) that I was amazed with the possibilities as a free member, but really wanted more out of it so became prem within a week.

The threshold is where people have to decide wether they want a subscription or not. It's not the price, AChat is cheap imo. So then it is what you get when you become premium. I would suggest anyone that subscribes, get a choice out of a few poses. Some poses have been here since the beginning and have made a lot of money. I'm guessing that most premium members bought the basic poses. What if you would get 3 poses for free when you subscribe? If you can start the game better 'equiped”, it would make the choice easier.

I also thought about AChat using certain members in game to actively try to help, assist and guide new members through the game. As there are many complaints about the rudeness of (tto) many members, entering the game and being bombarded with rudenss, would be a reason for me to not become a member. But if you get a warm (heated) welcome by someone that knows the game..

Maybe adding some of the quick-guides or translations as an embedded part of the game. A set of instructions so people can find out ahead how some things work. This will make them settle in easier, have some confidence before they start playing..

[hentaiboy69]

mmmmmhh…….mumble mumble…..

it was august when i subscrive like a premium user, so time had passed. It was an easy decision and the first time i spent real money on a “online game” and i don't regret it. i have meet lot of peoples here, most of them are nice and (my good luck) only one i really don't wanna meet anymore.

Achat is grown in 6 months, specially here in the forum, and gonna grown more, but there are some lack: most of them are about poses, all we know what i'm talking at, and even if the introduction of shemale was a big news, it will be frustrating for free users cause they don't have a starter poses kit and there is no shemale robot to test the poses you wanna buy.
dunno if this is changed recently, but i don't think. If the a-team gonna make achat more better, the second step (yes, second cause a first step trying to reduce the gap of pose is started, even if it's a long way) is to work on this, so achat will be more attractive.

I wanna warn A-team, good step were made recently, but more have to come for a better achat experience! online social games born everyday (i had found one recently just tipyng bad Achat name, lol!), different from achat but they offer a good variety of entertainment, something i honestly miss a little. but i know how achat is and i like it anyway!

[Janine Dee]

I would recommend restarting the general chat options, with refinement if necessary.

I think that the AChat community will grow to fit the box it's put in, and if the box is made bigger the community will grow to fill it. With an expanded chat people can form more connections with others without the annoyance that comes with colds and gets easily mixed up with the colds (sometimes deliberately on the colds part) and it's those connections that that seem peoples commonly listed reason for going premium.

The Forum link in the game is also a great idea for much of the same reason, and could even give some suggestions for the structuring of the chat. (Established rooms for orientations like the threads for one.)

While the rooms are magnificent I think they are reaching the point where adding poses and refining graphics can only does so much. I think the next area to be developed should be the community itself.

[CondomGirl]

I also thought about AChat using certain members in game to actively try to help, assist and guide new members through the game. As there are many complaints about the rudeness of (tto) many members, entering the game and being bombarded with rudenss, would be a reason for me to not become a member. But if you get a warm (heated) welcome by someone that knows the game..

This is exactly what I am already doing unofficially in the game… I do not block free users permanently and are gladly willing to assist free and premium members who are new to the game with just simple things like: how to buy and apply things in the editor, how to invite people, how to behave etc. Its just that this happened unplanned as people nicely address me and ask for help or got a hint from some other members that I was friendly and helpful in specific ways regarding the game.

I would gladly fill such a rola as a “mentor” also in an official way. I guess a mentoring system would be very helpful both to keep members as they get to learn about the game in a much better way and to encourage free members to become premium.

In my opinion there should be a team of “mentors” (in their number depending on the genereal number of Achat members) of about 20-25 mentors. The mentoring team could consist of people from different regions and time zones and should also be chosen from different age groups. And of course their should be a balance between males, females (hetero, bisexual and homo) and not to forget shemales. This would ensure that always a suitable contact person as a mentor is available.

The search should also be changed so that it would be possible to search for all or at least the mentors that are online right now. And maybe the mentors would get the possibility to set their status on “playing” if they just want to have fun and actually playing the game or “mentoring” when available for other players requests.

Just my opinions but I actually like this idea very much and would voluntary apply to be a female heterosexual mentor.

Daniela

[hentaiboy69]

Janine, a general chat isn't necessarily a good thing if it don't work in a good (and easy) way and i think we have found a right one thanks to Fate.

To increase the comunity, you have to offer something other platform don't have or give a better version then the others and the toolset for create clothes can be one of this, but it's not enough.
Users like us can (and must) give our help whit interessing suggestion and trying to help newbie, no matter if they are free or premium: look at the forum, for example, free users can't use it, they can't post their question or suggestion, and that's wrong in my opinion. some of them simply can't subcrive for personal or tecnical issue and others cause thei don't wanna spent real money here. Maybe we can have a public side of the forum for all and one reserved for premium.

my 2 cents

[Pafe]

Hiya's…

  I have an idea.  How about offering an incentive for helping “free members/users” become subscribers?  Not to toot my own horn,but I know I have personally assisted 5 free users to become premium members and subscribe to AChat.  I did it by just being nice to them and as CondomGirl says, just helping by discussing how the editor works, and how to get the clothing that is available, using the forum for help, even taking them into a room and showing how the poses work along with the actions, while discussing the benifits of subscribing.  I can also say 2 of these members have quickly developed very close, exclusive relationships with other members.

  So maybe there could be something when a person does become a premium member where they could click on a box and type in a member's screen name, and that person would receive a small commission in the form of $A or something.  I know if this had been available when I joined as a subscriber, I would have used it for the person who took the time to show me around.  It may induce others to help.

Thanks for letting me share,
Pafe

[hentaiboy69]

i don't see why for helping newbie there is the need for a sort of “reward”. i know you are proposing an incentive for prem users, but the best reward for us will be to see achat grown in good stuff and in entertainment, nothing more.

Or are you proposing it cause you wanna buy an engine for your pedal car!?

[MaxCraven]

Concidering the current market for this sort of virtual experience I don't seeing getting new members as a problem, but keeping them is.  I've been here on and off for some time yet still find the same snags, two espically that have been brought up here already. One..the “working girls” that seem to be taking over the community, some of which now have pimps…go figure lol. And second and probably biggest one…the rudeness. It says alot when a simple hello is responded to with insults and assumptions. Don't get me wrong here, I've met a FEW nice people here I can chat and have fun with, so I'm not trying to bash others and how they want to play. I'm just saying this place is made for fun and socializing not unnecessary insults. No sense paying just to be insulted, I for one can get that for free in rl lol.

[hentaiboy69]

my luck i don't have found rude peoples here, but about pimp……well, yes, i know one of them. or better say she wanna me act like her hooker….to long story for here, but they are here outside achat.

Max, you are right, the hard point is to make users stay and here comes our help whit suggestion and reporting abuse if necessary.

[Azrielle]

i don't see why for helping newbie there is the need for a sort of “reward”. i know you are proposing an incentive for prem users, but the best reward for us will be to see achat grown in good stuff and in entertainment, nothing more.

Or are you proposing it cause you wanna buy an engine for your pedal car!?

I agree with Hentai… For me, just helping out is reward enough for me…. heck, lately I've had so many gifts from peeps, that I've just been sharing it with new members I've been helping. A great way to show new members the benefit of becoming premium is them buying a 3 day subscription with gifted A's just to try out new clothes (and several have bought themselves Uniforms too).

Psst… Pafe, there's a new audi pedal car in the garage for you…

Mwah!
Az.

PS: One suggestion I would like to make is to prune the membership listings for the forum (currently 78 pages totalling 2327 members). I have taken the time to look at the membership listing, and a very large number of members to the forum have ZERO (0) Posts. I stopped after the fifth page, after noticing that most new forum members haven’t been back since registering, and another large amount of these Zero (0) post members haven’t been online in more than a year too.

Is it time to clean house?

[Pafe]

Hiya's….

  I don't want a reward, either.  In fact, I believe that no one who is active in the Forum would want any form of reward.  My suggestion is not directed at the Forum users, but the rest of the population in AChat.  Some ask for A$'s to go into a room, perhaps an incentive to assist others would be enough for them.  (Probably not).  I take exception to anyone thinking I proposed this for personal gain.

  (The motor pool will not release any new vehicles to Satoire and I.  Especially not after the incident on Antigua.)

Thanks for letting me share, I think.
Pafe

 

[CondomGirl]

Yes, Azrielle,

I absolutely support your idea of cleaning the house 🙂

Daniela

[Author]

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