In a previous article I explained the importance of recurring memberships to both affiliate webmasters and paysite operators. I extolled on the virtues of the repeat customer. They equal dependable income for your paysite and continuous income for your webmaster affiliates. Recurring members have already proven that they will buy what you’re selling. Treat them right and they will reward you with a regular cash flow.

I also gave you my unofficial estimate of the average lifetime of a paysite membership: Three months. If you’re having trouble retaining members for at least three months, then it’s time to rethink your strategy. If you’ve got a preponderance of members canceling after the first month, you’ve got a real problem. Word gets around. People talk, even porn surfers. How long before surfers figure out your paysite is crap? How long before the new signups dry up? Recurring memberships aren’t just some form of affiliate payout program. If you run the paysite, recurring members are your bread and butter.

"The best way to retain members is by retaining your integrity. Follow Through on the promises you made in your tour."

So how do you retain members? Sadly, there’s no magic, easy solution. You have to work at it like you would for anything worth having. You have to get your hands dirty. You have to get involved with your paysite and your members. You have to nurture the people that gave you money so you can get through the summer slump and the off periods without starving.

Follow Through

What did you promise in your tour? Take a long look at your tour because that’s what convinced your members to submit their credit card info. Did you promise streaming video that would work on any computer? Have you tested that promise on a lesser machine than your fancy office PC? And speaking of office work, did you promise 24/7 tech support. Exactly how full is your help@yoursuperpaysite.com inbox? And what about those daily updates? Has daily turned into monthly or not at all? Did you tell your surfers that you would give them boundless images of gorgeous, scrumptious, blonde babes? Then how come your site is filled with homely, haggard, semi-hotties with brown hair? The best way to retain members is by retaining your integrity. Follow Through on the promises you made in your tour.

Make Contact

Open up the lines of communication. Look, customer service is not fun. In fact, it can be downright hell. People love to bitch and moan when they’re paying for something. It’s true you’re going to encounter scammers and whiners and simple idiots when you dare to make direct contact with your paysite members. Too bad. Suck it up. You’re in business now. You provide a service through a still somewhat complicated medium. You’re bound to get plenty of members wanting tech support. You’re also likely to have glitches with online payments or times when a member just wants to send a fan letter to one of the models on your paysite.

Actually go further. Initiate Contact. Add a poll to your main page where members can choose a favorite site area or feature. Supply a suggestion box-type form on your site for members to submit ideas and critiques. Go even further. Examine the traffic patterns of your members. Your affiliate webmasters study their traffic stats, why don’t you do the same with your customers? Look for the pages they visit most. Get an overview of the nationalities of your members. What browsers are they using? What Operating Systems? Do you have enough Spanish-speaking members to justify translating your site into Spanish? Your members are a captive audience just waiting to be entertained and treated well.

Bonus Benefits

Your member is coming up on three months. Congratulations, you did good. Want to do better? How about you promise to give that member a free t-shirt and a nasty porn DVD if they agree to three more months? What if, at the end of a shaky first month, you have a member ready to quit when out of the blue; he gets a filthy personalized email sent by your sexiest model? Maybe she also promises him access to a live show in your secret new chat feed that is being Beta-tested by only the most valued members.

Wait, that’s not all! No matter how much porn you serve, after a point, your members are going to want some stroking from you. Offer some perks. Give your customers the occasional pat on the back for feeding your family.

Of course there are the obvious avenues to member retention but frankly, there aren’t that many unique and red-hot trends going on. Dazzling them with brilliance and a lot of help from affiliate webmasters is the easy part. Retaining members is the real genius!