Hey All,<p>I have recently launched, http://www.weddingjojo.com, a site that allows future bride and grooms to set up a wedding announcement site seamlessly. Not only can they present useful information to attending guests, but they can have a blog, registry links, photos and more.<p>My concern right now is that people don't understand why they should upgrade. Furthermore, they can't really see the advantages and benefits of upgrading to a premium account. Granted it makes sense to me, as I know what all the pages represent, I would love to hear any thoughts in this regard.<p>Thanks in advance.
Part of the problem may be that your pricing comparison page makes no sense. Users (rightly) expect that aligned items in a comparison will relate to each other. When I first started looking at the page, I sat there for at least a minute trying to figure out how "Wedding Jojo Domain" was related to "Unlimited Bandwidth." Line up the things that are related, and explain how they differ. A premium account gives unlimited bandwidth... how much does a regular account give? A regular site has "no privacy options" (let's skip the issue of "no privacy" being close to the worst possible combination of words you could put on your website), what does a premium site have? What are these privacy options? I've read the entire page and I don't think I could tell you a single meaningful difference between the two types of accounts.<p>On a pricing note, it doesn't make any sense to me to pay for something like this monthly. You aren't going to get married on a monthly basis. Weddings happen once. Payment for the anouncement should happen once. Consider something like a one time $100 payment to unlock all the features.<p>On explaining features, show, don't tell. There's not a single screenshot (of anything but themes), screencast or introductory video on the site. How can I know if I want a feature if I have no clue what it does? Show me. Make me want it.<p><i>UPDATE</i><p>Actually, I think I need to go back to the issue of words you should never put together anywhere on your site, because it happens more than once here:<p>"no privacy" - Enough said. Context doesn't matter. I can't think of any combination of words I would be less likely to put on a website.<p>"no support" - You can at least offer a knowledge base type of support<p>"password protection" as a feature - Does this mean anyone can screw with my page if I don't have it?
I agree the monthly fee is not where you want to upsell. I would break it down by feature. A bare bones site is $15/flat. If you want a premium theme, another $15 if you want to tweak colors, $5 customized emails $5/1000. More of a virtual goods approach rather than the hosted solution route.<p>Also might be some interesting alternate monetization routes. You could set up an Amazon affiliate link so YOU get the bonus for anyone who buys. Have people pay a fee to turn off Adwords on their page (ala Ning) Set up an invitation designer tool and actually help people get their cards printed. That takes time to set up but could be very lucrative.