On paying for internet services, and the human condition
NZ Flatmates has been a hit, with 10,311 profiles created since a January 6 relaunch.
The listings site was created by a team that includes Dylan Bland (best known among the Twitterati for his day job at e-tailer Mighty Ape, and as the founder of Zillion, which he sold to Sella, now part of APN).
Mr Bland built the original version of the site back in 2001.
In an experiment for the relaunch, he and his team abandoned a formal fee structure in favour of donations.
Sounds like a good plan. The internet community is solid, and if you give people the opportunity, most people will do the right thing.
Right?
Wrong.
Of the 10,311 people who registered profiles, a grand total of six made a voluntary payment, Mr Bland wrote today on his blog.
"We're effectively still a charity," he told later told NBR.
NZ Flatmates is now considering a range of fee options, including charging people to create a profile, to contact someone, or for a priority listing.
In the meantime, ad revenue is "almost enough to cover costs."
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Comments and questions4
I'm not surprised. Successful "Pay-what-you-want schemes" have to offer some value - and intangible benefits - in exchange.
'Honesty' is a fine motivator but I don't think it's been leveraged well in this case. Where's the opportunity for the customer to show-off that they are honest? Even a gamification-style badge would help there. How about some feedback about your honesty - are you paying above or below the average donation (a subtle guilt or peer pressure motivator)? What difference will your individual donation make?
Better yet - does it appear on your nzflatmates profile, thereby telling potential flatmates that you are honest or not a cheapskate? This would be well aligned with the community's goal of finding like-minded flatmates.
Human nature isn't necessarily to be cheap, but it is to expect something (however small and subtle) in return.
Excellent advice for Mr Bland and his colleagues from Mr Knightly, especially if they really were thinking about charging for creating a profile. Sure, charge for results and value add services if you're not going to stick with an improved donation structure, but do people really want to pay with their time and cash for becoming your customer?
Showing a badge on people's profile if they've made a contribution is a good idea, however keep in mind that nzflatmates is a "use it once, then leave" kind of web site. Once people find a flat or flatmate, there is no incentive to hang round, unlike say a forum or dating site or trading site or review site where members can enjoy their enhanced status for a longer period of time.
Currently we ask people for their contribution at the END of the process, when they deactivate their profile. The idea here was to be asking them at the point where they know how much value the site gave them (or didn't give them).
For the badge system to work, it would need to be moved to the beginning of the process...when people create their profile. That way, their badge will actually be visible to other members.
I'm willing to try this. It could be cool. Will be interesting to see what difference it makes.
Thanks for the comments :)
hahaha check out the news & who is in it??