Customer Retention: How to incorporate these POD items?.....

[Its Trish]

Hi everyone, I run "business training" membership sites.

Running on custom CGI. The plan is to migrate

my membership sites over to WHMCS.

 

fyi my setup: One physical server, co-located at a data center,

running CPanel WHM; and one Reseller Server (virtual server)

(which btw is 14 months old and I have not yet used it!)

hosted at JaguarPC, running a scaled-down version of CPanel WHM.

 

A few intro items and then onto my questions......

 

 

Hold Time / Churn

 

As all you IM'ers (Internet Marketers) running membership sites

well know, dealing with churn rate is a huge concern.

Even with top-notch content there will always be cancels.

Whether your average "hold time" for your members is 2 months,

6 months, 12 months, or whatever, there will always be member cancels.

 

 

Pain of Disconnect

 

One of the key ways to reduce cancels is to incorporate POD

("pain of disconnect") into your membership site design.

The idea is to make it undesirable for members to cancel,

because if they do, they'll lose something. For example,

I'm a member of AudioGenerator. They host my audio testimonials.

Several times I considered canceling my $29/month AudioGenerator

account (and host the audios on my own server) however once I

do cancel, I'll lose all the audio testimonials hosted on their system.

(about 200 of them) So I continue to pay the $29/month.

 

 

Incorporating POD Strategies with WHMCS

 

My desire is to migrate my membership sites over to WHMCS

and incorporate one or more pain-of-disconnect strategies.

My members are webmasters. Here's what I had in mind:

 

 

1. Domain Registration
    
   My members get a free domain name as long as they remain
   a member of my business training website.
   When they cancel, they lose their domain name.
    
   (btw nothing sneaky here....upon sign-up we'll be upfront
   in letting the member know that they must remain an active member
   to continue using their domain and other services)
    
   My question:
   Can I use WHMCS to cancel a domain registration account
   when my member cancels his membership?
   --or--
   Will WHMCS allow me to be the owner of the domain,
   and then when when my member cancels his membership
   the domain (regsitered in my name) gets disabled?
    
   I noticed that WHMCS integrates with various registrars
   however in checking some of them out, I noticed
   that a few offer several different types of integration,
   for example a more basic integration and a full API solution;
   however I don't know whether WHMCS has decided to
   integrate with their API, or in the more basic manner.
   Anyone who can give me a quickie in a nutshell
   that would really be appreciated!
    
    
    
   
2. Hosting
    
   My members get a free hosting account for as long as
   they remain an active member of my business training website.
   When they cancel, they lose their hosting account
   (and website stats + stats history)
    
   My question:
   Can I use WHMCS to cancel a hosting account
   when my member cancels his membership?
    
    
    
   
3. Ebook DRM
    
   Our members receive most downloadable ebooks
   free to use forever, however there are some ebooks
   that I'd like to offer access to for as long as
   they remain an active member of my business training website.
    
   I'm looking at some DRM (digital rights management)
   solutions, including third-partyhosted systems (e.g. ebookpro.com)
   and scripts that I'd host on my own box. (e.g. locklizard.com)
    
   Ebook DRM systems work like this:
   Each time the customer opens his ebook,
   the ebook communicates with the DRM host to verify
   that the customer's ebook license is active.
   (inactive licenses could be due to customers who
   have refunded/charged-back, or customers who
   have illegally shared their ebook with their friends)
    
   My question:
   Does WHMCS provide any software hooks, where upon cancelation
   of one of my members, WHMCS will silently post to
   one or more URLs? (i.e. silently post to my DRM system)
    
    
    
   
4. Other POD items?
    
   Can you suggest any other services that I can
   offer my members, which can be part of my POD strategy?
   

 

 

Of course the most basic requirement for reducing churn is good old fashioned

top-notch content. Which btw is something we continually strive for,

...but like I said at the top of this post, there will always be member cancels.

Perhaps at month 2, month 6, month 24 or whatever... cancels are expected.

They're part of the biz. So it's desirable to use POD strategies to help reduce

cancels and increase a membership site's average member hold time.

Hey I really appreciate your comments and replies to my post!!

 

trish : - )

[Its Trish]

okay maybe big 4 questions is a little overwhelming

(or maybe the WHMCS guru's don't hang out in this forum section)

so here are the 2 questions I'm very interested in knowing

the answers to right away:

My question:

Can I use WHMCS to cancel a hosting account

when my member cancels his membership?

My question:

Can I use WHMCS to cancel a domain registration account

when my member cancels his membership?

--or--

Will WHMCS allow me to be the owner of the domain,

and then when when my member cancels his membership

the domain (regsitered in my name) gets disabled?

trish : - )

[pacwebhosting]

My question:

Can I use WHMCS to cancel a domain registration account

when my member cancels his membership?

--or--

Will WHMCS allow me to be the owner of the domain,

and then when when my member cancels his membership

the domain (regsitered in my name) gets disabled?

 

Hi Trish,

 

Your customers could use the cancel option in their client area and you would have WHMCS set to process cancel requests when due so WHMCS cancels the account automatically depending on what they select ie right away or when current billing period expires.

 

Hope this helps

[clbryan26]

Trish, what you could do is create an account for yourself as if you were a customer and use the Merge Accounts function in order to 'assume' control of the accounts in question?

 

As far as being able to cancel a domain registration you can't really cancel the registration after ordering. Depending on your registrar you may be able to place your companies name in the contacts information for the domain (billing, technical, administrative) and that would essentially prevent any requests for transfer being sent for that domain.

 

A word of advice though; before doing this I would make sure your terms are specific when registration as people get attached to their domain names after a while.

 

What we do at my hosting company is we give a free domain, and offer to continue giving them a free domain for as long as they are a customer. We also state that in our terms of use that the domain registration fee will be taken away from any refund if the customer cancels within 3 months.

[Shaun]

Trish.

There are Action Hooks in the system that allow you to do things when somethings happens.

You will find the available hooks in "/includes/actionhooks.php"

[Its Trish]

pacwebhosting:

 

thanks for your help : - )

 

 

There are Action Hooks in the system that allow you to do things when somethings happens.

You will find the available hooks in "/includes/actionhooks.php"

 

Shaun:

 

thanks - will check out those Action Hooks once i get WHMCS purchased and installed!

 

trish : - )

[Its Trish]

What we do at my hosting company is we give a free domain, and offer to continue giving them a free domain for as long as they are a customer. We also state that in our terms of use that the domain registration fee will be taken away from any refund if the customer cancels within 3 months.

 

Corey,

 

Awesome...that's exactly what I'd like to do! : - )

Can you tell me how you set that up

and which registrar allows you that flexibility?

 

trish : - )

[redrat]

Trish, I would recommend that you download and install the trial version of WHMCS and explore the admin functionality first hand. WHMCS can cope with all of your requirements from its' existing features and much can be achieved by way of customisation.

 

The only thing you will not ever be able to do is cancel anyone's domain if it is registered in their name. You can only 'own' a domain that you have personally registered but be warned about the flak you'll get if you seize someone's domain name idea in this way. I would be furious. In fact, if you were 'up front' about the risk of that happening, no one in their right mind would ever sign up in the first place. It is just not a viable marketing concept right from the outset.

 

Best wishes.

Edited December 19, 2008 by redrat

[pacwebhosting]

The only thing you will not ever be able to do is cancel anyone's domain if it is registered in their name. You can only 'own' a domain that you have personally registered but be warned about the flak you'll get if you seize someone's domain name idea in this way. I would be furious. In fact, if you were 'up front' about the risk of that happening, no one in their right mind would ever sign up in the first place. It is just not a viable marketing concept right from the outset.

 

Best wishes.

 

Hello probably best to absorb the cost in the initial signup and let them have the domain as a "free"

 

Thanks

[Its Trish]

Trish, I would recommend that you download and install the trial version of WHMCS and explore the admin functionality first hand. WHMCS can cope with all of your requirements from its' existing features and much can be achieved by way of customisation.

redhat:

 

would

Edited December 20, 2008 by Its Trish

[Its Trish]

What we do at my hosting company is we give a free domain, and offer to continue giving them a free domain for as long as they are a customer. We also state that in our terms of use that the domain registration fee will be taken away from any refund if the customer cancels within 3 months.

 

Corey,

 

Awesome...that's exactly what I'd like to do! : - )

Can you tell me how you set that up

and which registrar allows you that flexibility?

 

trish : - )

 

hi Corey,

 

In addition to the above post, I also PM'ed you.

As a professional courtesy would you mind giving me a reply

even if it's to tell me that you'd rather not share

this info with me.

 

trish : - )

[Its Trish]

redhat:

 

thank for your candid reply.

in response, i'm pretty sure

the method in which i'll be offering

the free domains won't deter new signups.

 

pacwebhosting:

 

great suggestion.

 

trish : - )

[clbryan26]

Trish,

 

Sorry it took me a few days to get back with you. I was very busy during the holiday season as you can imagine. To speak with me in a more time sensitive manner please feel free to e-mail me corey.martin@mycommon.net or via MSN at the same address.

 

To answer your question:

 

What we do at my hosting company is we give a free domain, and offer to continue giving them a free domain for as long as they are a customer. We also state that in our terms of use that the domain registration fee will be taken away from any refund if the customer cancels within 3 months.

 

WHMCS allows you to give a free domain with the order. The new version of WHMCS (if I am not mistaken) allows you to continue the free domain with renewal under the product settings > other tab:

 

Offer a free domain registration/transfer only (renew as normal)

Offer a free domain registration/transfer and free renewal (if product is renewed) <----

 

If the client cancels within three months and has a refund or balance due to them (b/c they prepaid or for what-ever reason) we will deduct the cost of the domain prior to issuing their refund. Likewise if a client uses our product and requests a cancellation or money back guarantee we will deduct the cost of the domain from their refund amount.

 

In the event that the client purchases a domain and chooses not to continue hosting with us after they have a free domain we turn the issue over to a collection agency even though its a small amount.

 

We also allow our clients to transfer the domain by paying us the price of the domain (in which we give them access to our Domain Registration's Client Interface). If the client does not wish to pay us for the domain or they do not wish to have it transferred to them we put up a "Would you like to buy this domain" type page and turn it over to a collection agency.

[redrat]

Who's this redhat geezer? lol

 

Hope you have been able to arrive at a practical solution.

 

Regards,

 

redrat

[striddy]

Who's this redhat geezer? lol

 

I hear his surname is Linux.

[redrat]

ha ha. You nut nut Striddy!

[Its Trish]

.. > > > Its Trish wrote:

.. > > > redhat,

.. > > > thank for your candid reply.

.. > >

.. > > redrat wrote:

.. > > Who's this redhat geezer? lol

.. >

.. > striddy wrote:

.. > I hear his surname is Linux.

 

hi redrat!

 

oops i called you "redhat" earlier, two times. sorry!

 

trish : - )