Best Practices for Creating a Stellar Sign Up Process
Pay-TV and OTT operators spend a great deal of marketing dollars to promote their latest blockbuster piece of content with the aim of getting you and I to sign up to their service. According to our latest consumer focus group research, conducted by Decipher, this marketing machine is effective. We hear through the social grapevine, our friends tell us about the latest big hit and we see it being talked about everywhere.
So, we've made it successfully onto the website with every intention to find out what all the fuss is about. In reality, it shouldn't take much to tip us over the edge, to part with our money and subscribe. After all the effort to peak our interest and get us to their website, what should pay-TV and OTT operators do to make it as simple and easy as possible to sign-up? At Paywizard, we call this the JOIN Decision Moment - part of the 8 key Decision Moments across the pay-TV subscriber lifecycle
During this JOIN moment, customer conversion from prospect to subscriber acquisition is key. What is the conversion rate for visitors to new signed-up customers? What information should operators show? What about the pricing and different packages? What help can you provide to reduce cart abandonment?
Based upon our experience with over 100 pay-TV projects, there are a number of key things operators can do to turn interest into paying subscribers:
Free trial - It was pretty unanimous in all focus groups, a trial period was perceived as a vital component, as it allows the user to experience the content range first hand. It removes the barriers to entry and without it, many would not join.
Clear Pricing and package options - In our experience prospective subscribers are suspicious of pricing packages that are as from £6.99', and are more trusting of packaging options that contained clarity on pricing impact. People looking for a service expected simple pricing tiers, no lengthy contract lock ins, with a clear account of what each option gives you. Flat rate pricing, with no prospect of hidden charges, was mentioned often in our focus groups.
Simple sign-up - The sign-up process needs to be quick with many joiners expecting registration to take only a couple of minutes'. Sign up pages must be crystal clear with simple instructions. When it comes to the number of fields available and required to enter information into, less is definitely more. Lastly, the design elements shown on the sign up page should also appear minimal.
Marketing Prospects - Operators should aim to offer a 2-tier sign up process, collecting information in stages, creating the opportunity for consumers to at least become marketing prospects if they chose not to fully subscribe.
Payment - Similar to cart abandonment in a retail eCommerce environment, one of the key barriers for sign-up is parting with payment details. In our experience, clear payment options should be made available to consumers with the ability to pay via credit/debit card, bank, voucher, or third party providers like PayPal. One recent joiner commented: It should support PayPal then I don't need to enter my personal details. It's also more secure .
Reassure the subscriber - Like any other online purchase, consumers will do their research and will probably visit the operators website and sign-up pages several times during the initial stages of purchase. In our experience, using human intervention through webchat for example, makes a massive difference in reassuring the prospective customer to take the plunge and become a paying subscriber.
Ultimately, when a customer makes the decision to take action and sign up for your subscription offer, the process has to be:
EASY - Device agnostic process, minimal information collection
INSTANT - Access to the service and content
REASSURING - Human touch through web chat or voice
With attention spans decreasing and the number of options available increasing, more and more consumers are choosing not to sign up for services simply because the sign up process is too daunting and asks far too many questions. Operators who ignore this trend could be leaving quite a bit of money on the table.
It is through the Decision Moment Join' that Paywizard supports your sign-up process. Click here to learn more.
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Best Practices for Creating a Stellar Sign Up Process
