subject: Is It Advisable To Impose Fees For An Account To Your Enterprise Social Software [print this page] This is one of the most regularly posed queries when someone is thinking about Enterprise Social Software. There are justifications in favor of either side on the question.It'll ultimately get down to a point of individual choice when determining whether or not to charge. When considering which route to go, maintain these two factors in your mind.
How much does your network offer? - This is actually the key you should consider. Consumers are hard pressed to be parted with their money so if you wish to charge you'll need to be offering something worthwile in turn. For instance, in the event you operate an offline retail business and bill customers $5 a month to join your network but provide them an in-store price cut in exchange that would be worth it to them. On the other hand if you're just establishing a broad interest community on a topic like cats or comic books, membership fees will probably drive individuals away.
Who's your audience? This is the second most significant query you'll have to answer. Imagine you are building a job assistance network, one that will offer membership to both those providing and those seeking work, you can charge agencies to create profiles and have access to your resume data base. Keeping the site free to those that are searching for employment will heighten the membership in both sections by providing a resource for the job hunters and something worthwhile in exchange for the membership fee for the employers.
In the end it will always be your choice as to whether or not to charge users to participate in your Enterprise Social Software, but take into account that when only starting out, payment for membership is a much harder way to go.
