Possible membership fee increase - Page 4

erimess · 30 Mar 2002, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Edwin
There is also the pricing table on the signup page at http://www.fastmail.fm/mail/signup/ and that is where the sign-up fee is mentioned.

Of course, it wouldn't have occured to me to look at the sign-up page after I'd already signed up.

I did find it on the upgrade page, which looks the same as the above. I saw the 9.60 sign-up fee, crossed out while it is waived.

It probably needs to be prominently displayed on all pricing pages. I've got if figured out now though.

dmokeler · 30 Mar 2002, 10:59 AM

Hi all,

Just been reading the messages on this topic and figure i would throw my 2 cents in. As being one of these yahoo member, who did by the way sign up as a Enhanced user (and so far glad) i just wanted to point out to you one thing. All the things that you are talking about, ads, price changes, removing free membership ect, is exactly what yahoo has been doing.

Do we really want fastmail to become another yahoo? Just my 2 cents worth thats all.

Dave

***Edwin*** · 30 Mar 2002, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by dmokeler
Just been reading the messages on this topic and figure i would throw my 2 cents in. As being one of these yahoo member, who did by the way sign up as a Enhanced user (and so far glad) i just wanted to point out to you one thing. All the things that you are talking about, ads, price changes, removing free membership ect, is exactly what yahoo has been doing.

Dave, there's one HUGE difference! Fastmail.fm has made its policy clear from the very beginning i.e. the fee service, the different membership levels, ads etc. have been announced months or even years ago.

In my view, the problem is that most of these announcements tend to be somewhat drowned out by the sheer volume of information presented on the Fastmail.fm site, but Jeremy and Rob are working hard to simplify and streamline the presentation.

The problem is also that new users who have just found Fastmail.fm are unaware that these features, restrictions, fees etc. have been announced and in the pipeline since the start, and therefore get the feeling that Fastmail.fm is somehow changing its service offering - not true!

**psalzer** · 30 Mar 2002, 11:16 AM

Fastmail won't ever become another Yahoo. It's really a totally different thing. We're here at the beginning of its commercial service, and events in the e-mail world have been changing at an even faster pace than anyone anticipated, I think. They're making sure that the new users are a plus for the service and not a drain on it. What's happening is they're not making the same mistakes that companies like Yahoo made to begin with.

ikxu · 30 Mar 2002, 11:37 AM

My two cents here.
I believe keeping the free accounts is a very good idea.
Give people a choice. It is the fair thing to do.
People may come aboard using the free account and see how they like the service and then sign up for an upgrade.

**psalzer** · 30 Mar 2002, 11:41 AM

I don't think that there's been any suggestion that they're not keeping the free accounts. They do have to make sure that the free ones don't cost them so much that the business isn't viable, though.

nic76 · 30 Mar 2002, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ikxu
My two cents here.
I believe keeping the free accounts is a very good idea.
Give people a choice. It is the fair thing to do.
People may come aboard using the free account and see how they like the service and then sign up for an upgrade.

i doubt i would ever pay for something i can't test out before paying, i had the luck to find fastmail.fm before the commercial launch so i could test it all

**Shelded** · 1 Apr 2002, 12:31 AM

Jeremy & Rob, this thread is a gold mine of feedback and I agree with so much of it I hope you will print it out and mine it with your other advisors. I gladly pay for this service and expect much good to come of it.

My only inputs:

We don't want to subsidize the worst of Yahoo's users, please avoid that. We know Hotmail will eventually eject users and we can't just raise the Member level to $40 to keep them out.

Many of these Yahoo users will convert to paid status when they adapt but moving to $15 barred many others and shook confidence in your ability to project correctly. That kind of adjustment has a dollar cost for you, not only a revenue increase.

obwan · 1 Apr 2002, 01:40 AM

As an "Enhanced" member of fastmail I paid because it is simply the best email service I've ever found! I would hate for the service to become deluted by the migration of "Guest" users. This is not a slam, I was once one myself, but I believe you get what you pay for. There have been so many "Free" email services that have gone under that this ought to tell us that business model DOES NOT work!

I'd love to see fastmail have millions of paid users, hopefully this would make Jeremy and Rob a lot of money and keep the great service they have intact!

Heartz · 1 Apr 2002, 02:11 AM

I think the Guest Account trial period that runbox has would be a good solution to achieving the balance between letting people preview , getting them to upgrade and not making the paying members pay for them.

Just my 3 cent

**circuit** · 1 Apr 2002, 07:36 AM

Maybe it would have been better (in hindsight, of course) to restrict the Guest account as soon as the pricing table was introduced. That would have prevented any surprised users emailing angrily when the changes take effect. Jeremy and Rob can say "We told you this would happen" - and this is perfectly reasonable - but at the same time, this will not stop their inbox from being flooded in mid-April. Email users don't read the information they're given, and the fact that the details are spread over several pages (and probably too advanced for the average Yahoo or Hotmail user to totally ingest) can only add to this problem.

Jeremy and Rob were never going to be able to predict the influx of users from other ex-free services. There have been so many services announcing changes to their pricing structure in the past couple of months, right in the middle of the FastMail transistion period.

30 Mar 2002, 10:59 AM	#47
dmokeler Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 9	Hi all, Just been reading the messages on this topic and figure i would throw my 2 cents in. As being one of these yahoo member, who did by the way sign up as a Enhanced user (and so far glad) i just wanted to point out to you one thing. All the things that you are talking about, ads, price changes, removing free membership ect, is exactly what yahoo has been doing. Do we really want fastmail to become another yahoo? Just my 2 cents worth thats all. Dave

30 Mar 2002, 11:16 AM	#49
psalzer Moderator Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 2,654	Fastmail won't ever become another Yahoo. It's really a totally different thing. We're here at the beginning of its commercial service, and events in the e-mail world have been changing at an even faster pace than anyone anticipated, I think. They're making sure that the new users are a plus for the service and not a drain on it. What's happening is they're not making the same mistakes that companies like Yahoo made to begin with.

30 Mar 2002, 11:37 AM	#50
ikxu Guest Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 400	My two cents here. I believe keeping the free accounts is a very good idea. Give people a choice. It is the fair thing to do. People may come aboard using the free account and see how they like the service and then sign up for an upgrade.

30 Mar 2002, 11:41 AM	#51
psalzer Moderator Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 2,654	I don't think that there's been any suggestion that they're not keeping the free accounts. They do have to make sure that the free ones don't cost them so much that the business isn't viable, though.

1 Apr 2002, 12:31 AM	#53
Shelded Moderator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: USA Northwest Posts: 3,849	Jeremy & Rob, this thread is a gold mine of feedback and I agree with so much of it I hope you will print it out and mine it with your other advisors. I gladly pay for this service and expect much good to come of it. My only inputs: We don't want to subsidize the worst of Yahoo's users, please avoid that. We know Hotmail will eventually eject users and we can't just raise the Member level to $40 to keep them out. Many of these Yahoo users will convert to paid status when they adapt but moving to $15 barred many others and shook confidence in your ability to project correctly. That kind of adjustment has a dollar cost for you, not only a revenue increase.

1 Apr 2002, 01:40 AM	#54
obwan Essential Contributor Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: tatoon Posts: 226	As an "Enhanced" member of fastmail I paid because it is simply the best email service I've ever found! I would hate for the service to become deluted by the migration of "Guest" users. This is not a slam, I was once one myself, but I believe you get what you pay for. There have been so many "Free" email services that have gone under that this ought to tell us that business model DOES NOT work! I'd love to see fastmail have millions of paid users, hopefully this would make Jeremy and Rob a lot of money and keep the great service they have intact!

1 Apr 2002, 02:11 AM	#55
Heartz Essential Contributor Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Selangor, Malaysia Posts: 460	I think the Guest Account trial period that runbox has would be a good solution to achieving the balance between letting people preview , getting them to upgrade and not making the paying members pay for them. Just my 3 cent

1 Apr 2002, 07:36 AM	#56
circuit Moderator Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: UK Posts: 343	Maybe it would have been better (in hindsight, of course) to restrict the Guest account as soon as the pricing table was introduced. That would have prevented any surprised users emailing angrily when the changes take effect. Jeremy and Rob can say "We told you this would happen" - and this is perfectly reasonable - but at the same time, this will not stop their inbox from being flooded in mid-April. Email users don't read the information they're given, and the fact that the details are spread over several pages (and probably too advanced for the average Yahoo or Hotmail user to totally ingest) can only add to this problem. Jeremy and Rob were never going to be able to predict the influx of users from other ex-free services. There have been so many services announcing changes to their pricing structure in the past couple of months, right in the middle of the FastMail transistion period.