SOM Online update: growth initiatives, ATG, Mystery Card...

[bernieh]

Hey everyone!

[i:ee3a5e8620]Edit, Mon. 5/23: More complete update[/i:ee3a5e8620]

Last week during our latest meeting with Strat-O-Matic, I got the official sign-off to fill you in on our plans for (at least most of) the rest of the year. We haven't been just twiddling our fingers over the last few months; in addition to formulating a detailed plan with a specific focus, we've also been through some contract negotiations that needed to be cleared up. I've also been hard at work executing some of our new initiatives, which, as I said, I haven't been ready to share with you until now.

In general, we will be focusing on new customer acquisition much more heavily than ever before, which I know we can all agree is a priority. At the same time, we know it's you, our loyal, existing community that has kept us going strong, so we'll be working as always to make your experience better as well.

I made it a point to raise the topic of our game's pricing model, and it was examined very seriously and carefully. One of the main considerations in any business, of course, is the price of its service, so the issue was given [i:ee3a5e8620]very[/i:ee3a5e8620] heavy thought by some people much smarter than I. Basically, the discussion is ongoing, but the takeaway is we're not going to change [i:ee3a5e8620]everyday[/i:ee3a5e8620] pricing at this time, but we [i:ee3a5e8620]are[/i:ee3a5e8620] going to lower the price significantly for new customers as an aggressive first step.

For those that have said, "Just lower prices"... even I know it's never as simple as that. While I'm sure a lower everyday price point would spur at least a little more sales volume, it's unlikely that it would succeed by itself. As an easy example, if we cut the price in half, would everyone suddenly buy [i:ee3a5e8620]double[/i:ee3a5e8620] the teams? Maybe some or a lot of you would, but it's highly doubtful it'd be enough - and that's just to break even.

The answer, of course, is that we have to approach any price point changes with an eye on [i:ee3a5e8620]growth[/i:ee3a5e8620], and that's what we'll be doing. So our immediate step will be lowering the entry price to make it easier for new customers to come get their feet wet and hopefully get addicted, and make it easier for you to convince your buddies to join the community. It's an aggressive, but responsible first step for us to take, and I hope those of you who have been telling us you've been trying to hook your friends in will continue the crusade with us.

[b:ee3a5e8620]New Customer Acquisition[/b:ee3a5e8620]

We have a slew of initiatives that we hope will bring in new fans of SOM Online. You'll be seeing these officially launched and announced over the next month.

- Free Trial for new visitors
Visitors new to SOM Online will be able to try the game for free for 7 days - they'll draft a team, join a special Free Trial league, and play 21 games at the usual 3 games/day. We tried this a long time ago, but back then it was too much trouble to keep setting up for new games. It's a crying shame that we haven't re-implemented this for our central site.

- New customer discount
New customers trying SOM Online for the first time will be able to buy their first TWO teams for $15. We want to not only make it easier for them to jump in, but also give them a second shot at the game, in case you veterans kick the snot out of them the first time, or they want to try a different player set.

- Referral incentives to help you introduce SOM to your friends
If you refer a friend who becomes a paying customer, you'll get a discount towards your next team(s)! This is something else we tried a long time ago, but this time around, we'll not only be making your incentives greater, but we'll also be taking advantage of more modern ways to help you share your referral code.

- Better integration of the game with Facebook, Twitter, etc.
I mean, what year are we in, anyway?

[b:ee3a5e8620]Gamecast[/b:ee3a5e8620]
Popularly requested by existing users, this will be a feature that will allow you to "watch" any of your completed games unfold play-by-play (or inning-by-inning), instead of/before you see all your scores in one fell swoop. SOM has now asked that we make this a reality. We're going to start with a simple version, though, so we don't take up a whole 6 months on this. Just a little something to make your daily visits more exciting.

[b:ee3a5e8620]All-Time Greats VI[/b:ee3a5e8620]
I think you'll agree with me that it's too soon and/or unnecessary to have an entirely new ATG VII, and that what's best is to keep ATG VI fresh, new and groovy! Or whatever you kids are calling it these days.

- New cards every month!
I've heard this idea suggested by a whole bunch of you over the years. We'll be introducing a batch of brand new cards on a more regular basis, to keep you on your toes. I'm thinking once a month is a good interval, though this is subject to change. This will probably start this summer. We'll be going off the list of community card requests we collected last year, which I'll invite you to add on to very soon.

- New "official" themed subsets!
This is a new idea which I'll hope you like (feel free to tell me that you do or if you don't!)... we'll be designing new subsets of ATG VI occasionally, and inviting you all to duke it out with each other in these new arenas. This is to give you guys a new, focused challenge on a regular basis, and also to please those of you who think the default ATG VI set is too large.

[b:ee3a5e8620]'70s and/or '80s[/b:ee3a5e8620]
At long last, we'll be refreshing one or both of the '70s and '80s Mystery Card games, bringing it/them into the central SOM Online site. Based on our resource constraints, we may end up having to choose just one.

[b:ee3a5e8620]Other stuff[/b:ee3a5e8620]
, that I'll be squeezing in here and there, like I often tend to do.

[Salty]

Thanks, this all sounds good to me- always nice to hear bout new stuff.
Hope you requested some money for me to write the Strat theme song... :shock:





PS- Im just absolutely sure I can please [b:7a0883c9e3]everyone[/b:7a0883c9e3] with whatever I come up with :wink:

[Simon31]

:| :arrow: :) :arrow: :D :arrow: :mrgreen:

[rvalente01]

great news! As far as new players are concerned I seem to have sucess with disgruntled fantasy players. I tell them the games are simulated but the fun is real.

[visick]

BUMP

[FRANKMANSUETO]

Its Monday....where is update?

[nevdully's]

He didn't specify [i:a7d53ea4f1]this Monday[/i:a7d53ea4f1].

[Badjam]

Good ideas! I hope to persuade some of my friends that used to play in the 70's and 80's to try this out.

[macnole]

Cool start. The 21 game trial is in fact how I started in '03.

[voovits]

Its good to hear the plans on moving the mystery card game(s) to the main site, but the question I would have would be if there's only availability for one game to be moved, will that completely rule out the possibility of the other being moved at some point further down the road?