GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum

GoFuckYourself.com - Adult Webmaster Forum (https://gfy.com/index.php)
-   GFY Educational Series (https://gfy.com/forumdisplay.php?f=38)
-   -   The Importance of Engaging the Customer/Member (https://gfy.com/showthread.php?t=1137886)

homegrownSpike 04-08-2014 10:23 AM

The Importance of Engaging the Customer/Member
 
Traffic is the place where most companies focus their energy and resources; however, Retention is the lifeblood of an online business. Whether through reordering or re-billing, without customers sticking around, you are just going to be spinning your wheels trying to maintain enough traffic to sustain operations. Many large companies have come and gone by being too focused on traffic and not enough on engaging and retaining customers. Learning to keep your traffic coming back day after day is a difficult process with a steep learning curve. Do not get discouraged because there is no quick way to see results and it is an endless process of refinement.

Communication: Giving your customer base a way of easily communicating with you is essential. On Homegrown Video we use a live chat. Only a small percentage will make use of this feature, but the ones that do are often a bellwether of what's going on in your site then any other stat. Any increase of customer support requests usually coincides with an issue that is causing customer dissatisfaction. Therefore, that one highly vocal customer that chirps in live chat about an issue typically is speaking for that silent majority that doesn?t wish to have to confront anyone or might not have figured how to.

At Homegrown we have an ongoing dialog with the members. It has two benefits. Most importantly, we get real time feedback, whether it is about the type of updates we are doing or the speed of the site, members speak up. Next, we use is it as a way to poll opinions and garnish feedback. Oftentimes, responses range from helpful advice to trolling rants, but any response is a good response as far as we are concerned since all the members can see firsthand that we are actively involved and sincere. Remember, no matter how negative the feedback, the customer is always right! Never take it personally. Usually a polite and professional response will turn an unhappy customer into a lifelong fan, feeling a sense of contribution and worthiness of opinion.

Consistency: Once you have an idea what it is that has your member base retaining and happy you need to keep delivering and honing in on what members like most. For Homegrown, our members expect daily updates. However, too many similar scenes in row and we will catch backlash. The fans that love solos don?t want a week of milf couples so we have to juggle so everyone gets what he or she likes on a regular basis. The upcoming scene that satisfies a certain niche is great for retention.

However, we also let members vote for updates as a way to get a certain level of consensus for upcoming scenes.Each update is created mindful of the members and what drove them to log into the site in the first place. This does make the consistency of the updates a balancing act, because we don?t want one group of fans tastes come to dominate other groups, but the added level of interaction and feeling of ?getting what they want? works. In terms of consistency, we are consistently democratic in our interaction with the audience. We look for the widest level of consensus. Engaging the fans in this way keeps them on Homegrown. Affiliates tell us we have the best retention they have ever seen.

Creativity: Never be afraid to try something new. It may not work out but this industry is constantly evolving. Although you won't get it right all the time the effort is part of what keeps members engaged. Some of the ways to do that are to try new types of content and or run contests. Everyone wants to feel special and likes to win something. If you create an environment where that can happen you are in turn creating a place where people will come to visit daily.

I was also given a good piece of advice when i started in the business. Build a pay site members section so confusing and large that it will take people a long time to figure it all out. Its counter intuitive since we like to look at sites as being clean organized easy to surf places, but in order to get customers to stick around they will need something more than your latest update to do it. A member?s area that has a bit of a labyrinth quality keeps new members curious and allows every customer to develop their own usage habits accordingly.

In conclusion never be afraid to take a few chances. Do not buy into the popular misconception that porn fans do not want any sort of interaction and just want to be left alone to jerk off in some shady room. Even the customers that will never speak up or reach out will appreciate the efforts and interactions of those that do. Many of the things that have helped Homegrown over the years had more to do with trying to figure out a new way to interact or improve the customer experience.


Spike Goldberg, CEO
Homegrown Video CEO and self-professed ?porn nerd? Spike Goldberg was interested in creating an amateur porn series to sell online; Goldberg?s brother introduced him to Farrell Timlake, who hired Goldberg as he demonstrated keen awareness of the fledgling online market. Goldberg was made a partner in Homegrown?s parent entity, New Destiny Internet Group, where Goldberg lent his knowledge of technology and analytics to the company. By 1998 Goldberg revamped Homegrown?s web department, and by 2000, Homegrown became the Internet?s go-to source for quality amateur videos. Being part of the technology and business side of porn put Goldberg in the spotlight in 2004, when he led the industry trade group to fight technology patent lawsuits filed by Acacia Research.
In March 2013, with over a decade of hands-on experience, trusted business relationships, and a strong ethic guiding him, Goldberg was promoted to CEO of Homegrown Video.

Harmon 04-08-2014 11:21 AM

Great article! :thumbsup So many people are in for the quick buck when in fact it's about residuals. Keep on keeping on. Customers are key... without them, we might as well all turn off the lights and go home. :2 cents:

Roald 04-08-2014 11:25 AM

Nice read up Spike, agreeing with all of it

MrTrollkien 04-08-2014 11:57 AM

Some really wise tips. Hopefully, we will read more from you.
One must live long to learn.

KickAssJesse 04-08-2014 02:54 PM

Nice read, Spike; some great tips and tricks to keep your members

Syrenka 04-08-2014 03:53 PM

Thanks! Great read fantastic advice.

dillonaire 04-08-2014 04:24 PM

excellent read!

:thumbsup

Relentless 04-08-2014 05:57 PM

Nice writeup spike. The labyrinth idea is interesting, and not something I've done.

Any specific examples on what you would include or exclude to create that kind of interface?

Thanks for your time

Spunky 04-08-2014 08:52 PM

Interesting read,great tips

The Porn Nerd 04-08-2014 09:48 PM

Fantastic article - and I love the bit about the confusing Members Area. LOL I do that - inside mine I have 32+ paysites as Bonus sites for Members and a lot of daily-updated feeds but they're all spread out so it takes Mems awhile to figure out where everything is. People actually LIKE to search for things (once they're a Member).

Anyway great stuff! (And Homegrown rocks.)

is magic 04-09-2014 03:47 AM

Also from me congrats to this nice article

mopek1 04-09-2014 04:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Porn Nerd (Post 20042936)
I love the bit about the confusing Members Area. LOL


That struck me as well ... :)

xanadu 04-09-2014 04:48 AM

thank you Spike, very nice read!

S P A N N O W 04-09-2014 01:44 PM


A very good read, well done my friend :thumbsup

DamianJ 04-09-2014 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Porn Nerd (Post 20042936)
People actually LIKE to search for things

What do you base that on?

Luscious Media 04-09-2014 06:13 PM

whatfuckinever

C H R I S 04-10-2014 01:59 AM

Respect.

Spike you are even more knowledgeable than in person.

Kat 04-11-2014 08:31 AM

Great Friday Afternoon reading!

myjah 04-11-2014 02:31 PM

Thanks so much for kicking things back off Spike! Great article that every site owner can benefit from :thumbsup

biris 04-13-2014 11:51 PM

really nice article indeed, thanks

Far-L 04-14-2014 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DamianJ (Post 20044023)
What do you base that on?

There is a company called "Google"... you may have heard of it... :winkwink:

Actually, we tested inside our member area, where we are continually garnering feedback from our members, and always trying to improve search functionality through crowd sourcing, etc.

Sinistress 04-16-2014 05:10 AM

nice
 
Thank you for your post

Erorina 11-27-2014 03:36 PM

appreciate your time invested into this article

roxanneraid 12-10-2014 04:31 PM

Nice and useful article. Thanks

hotbarbie 12-10-2014 05:41 PM

Another great tutorial!

thecatwrites 12-11-2014 05:25 AM

Really helpful info! Thanks a lot

valerynoir 12-12-2014 01:01 AM

Wow, this is fucking fantastic:D

zelca4ever 12-12-2014 01:01 AM

Interesting read, thankyou:)

mihaitza 12-12-2014 01:01 AM

Bumping this up as I read it.

horikh 12-12-2014 01:01 AM

This is HUGE man, thanks!

silviustr 12-12-2014 02:03 AM

Excellent post, thanks a lot !!

miss.ralu 12-12-2014 02:21 AM

Nice insight, thanks for sharing!

parleal 12-12-2014 02:21 AM

This is so true. Learned it the hard way.

VladisMarines 12-13-2014 05:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DamianJ (Post 20044023)
What do you base that on?

On the fact that people like to care enough to search it:thumbsup

newjack509 12-16-2014 02:40 PM

very good article! interesting!

fappingJack 12-17-2014 05:44 PM

Nice sharing!

leila_mia 12-20-2014 05:54 PM

Thank you for posting this, it's awesome!

REDhorse 02-11-2015 03:29 AM

nice tips :)

crist3l 03-27-2015 03:56 AM

Thank you !! Nice read!

rudimentalcom 10-16-2015 02:07 PM

Excellent read. Good points throughout! :)

j3rkules 01-05-2016 11:57 AM

Thank you for writing it!

xxxclusive 01-23-2016 01:31 AM

Good read. thx

Tomxxx 02-03-2016 12:18 PM

Excellent read! tnx

pornmovies.xxx 12-02-2016 02:46 AM

It's always important to engage with a customer.
Those pages that have "live chats" and that are actually persons from the other site tend to have better sale rates as far as I realized.

rayadp05 09-06-2017 07:02 PM

I agree 100%

SonyaGlam 11-23-2017 01:38 AM

Very useful advice. Thank you!!!

Slavic Porn 12-01-2017 06:43 PM

A good read.

sexyandjagundo 08-30-2021 04:17 AM

CS is so important.
Even when the customer can drag onnnn about certain things.
No need to tolerate rudeness but you should definitely tolerate LOTS of questions, inquiries, etc.
Sometimes people just...well, wanna interact a lot.

MAF 09-04-2021 11:15 PM

Thanks for the tips, Spike.


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 02:14 AM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
©2000-, AI Media Network Inc