question about the paid membership

[Danielle Lowden]

I am looking into creating a club for our homeschooling community.  A question that has come up is surrounding the paid membership.  If a family has more than one child participating in the DIY club (and subsequently registered on diy.org) does the family pay the $9 a month as a family or do they pay the $9 X the number of kids?  In other words, is it a "per child" fee or a "per family" fee?

[Zach Klein]

HI Danielle,

Yep, it's $9/member/month.

– Zach

[Luci Temple]

Am a relative newcomer to DIY and am really loving it, and have introduced it to neices, nephews and friends of my daughter. However, I do have some feedback about the new membership pricing structure that I hope DIY will consider.

Did DIY do any surveys or research before choosing the new pricing structure? $9 per month per child places the service as a bit unaffordable (or hard to justify within the household budget) even with only 1 child let alone for a family or 4. I understand there is a cost with making physical badges and sending them, but personally I would rather a smaller fee and a purely digital service. For a poweruser $9 per month might be a fair price, but most kids will wax and wane and may be super keen for a month then do nothing for 4 months, then dip back in, etc. Minecraft is a total of $20 per user for life membership. Gamestar Mechanic has a similar price of $20 per user for life for the premium version (free version also available, which you could say is equivilent to DIY's current free version), and educational pricing of $2 per user for premium account. Most social networks for adults do not charge any money, and may gain revenue by invisible means like selling data.

While $20 for a user might not sound like much of an income for DIY, the lower pricing results in a much higher number of people signing up. Didn't Minecraft start out completely free, and recently sold for $2 Billion to Microsoft? And then there are online services such as Khan Academy that are totally free because they've sourced financial support from organisations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation by arguing the case that it will benefit all of society to provide equitable accessibility for children to improve their skills. 

I know that there is still the free version of DIY (thanks!), just hoping that it keeps free or provides a smaller charge on premium membership.

[br...@diy.org]

Hi Luci,

We are early on in our subscription lifecycle and are open to discussion for larger families/classrooms. While I can't give any promises or timelines, know we're taking feedback from everyone for future iterations of our subscription plan. And so you know, we did some research and found some services (Club Penguin, Moshi Monsters) offering similar subscription plans. We feel DIY offers much more in the way of educational value for a comparable price point...not to mention the free patches. 

And a point to note: we never plan to sell our community's data/information to 3rd parties. While others may do this to provide a 'free' service to it's members, our community should never have to worry about that possibility. The same goes with advertisements...we'll never served ads on the site or app. Since our community is comprised of kids we feel these are important stances to take. 

One more thing - we'll always have a free version of DIY. That I can guarantee!

How that helps explain things a little better. 

- Brian

[Michele W.]

Brian, This is very important and what sets diy apart. 

"And a point to note: we never plan to sell our community's data/information to 3rd parties. While others may do this to provide a 'free' service to its members, our community should never have to worry about that possibility. The same goes with advertisements...we'll never served ads on the site or app. Since our community is comprised of kids we feel these are important stances to take."  

We've been a diy family for 2+ years now and love that diy listens to feedback from all ages and implements changes accordingly. 

I wouldn't exactly compare diy.org to Club Penguin or Moshi Monsters though! The closest thing I would compare diy.org to is the customized educational path with SelfDesign Global, which by the way is $195 per month/$75 per hour for a mini-guide mentor. A Netflix subscription is $8 a month and look how many do not hesitate to subscribe to that. 

There does need to be different membership options depending on how each child or family will use diy.org. Based on the recent surveys sent out via email, you all are already working on that. 

- Michele

 

[Luci Temple]

Thanks Brian :) 

I'd maybe highlight on your front page that there will always be a free version of DIY - like how Khan and Duolingo etc do. Just that when you do sign your kids up for something, sometimes hesitant about what future intentions might be - if there will be a hike rise after your kids have become invested, if that will create a problem if you can't afford the price increase, etc. So promising that the free version will remain free helps set parents mind at ease.

[br...@diy.org]

Not a bad idea, Luci. I would hate for people to think we're trying to trap them into requiring a payment later on. I'll pass that note along...thanks!

- Brian