Do you feel you can get loyal customers over to SL2 with free stuff when they get there?

[Poenald Palen]

 am not doig a survey, and I mean...I can count and stuff, but I am not survaying seriously in anyway. But, just out of interest of another post I figured customers would be more loyal if creators gave them the same items in SL2 when they get there, to make up for what is sort of happening with SL1 being replaced over the next few years.

Then I thought, maybe customers are not really loyal enough and basically would just not buy much from you and basically spend thier stipend or regular allowance on other creators stuff!! lol.

What do you think, be sure to find humor in this because it is a funny sort of world we live in and customer loyalty cards are almost like bribes, which isn't really true loyalty for the love of the product and the word loyalty sounds funny.

I figure no one cares because most of your 1+ year ago customers may not be around and may be like "Who's that company?" BUT, that is sort of just me though lol.

[Sassy Romano]

I'm not so much concerned about loyalty but what incentives and methods LL will offer in order to ensure a decent user base,eeither by capitalising on the existing customer base or by attracting a new one.

 

They are at risk of complacency by assuming an instant user base, which may not happen if at the time there is something more attractive.

[Poenald Palen]

Yes, you have a point because the SL is doing things that are not impossible with todays tech, but they are also diversifying and preparing for a new future with new wind in thier sales and a new customer base that trusts thier brand (blockworld et al are a new generation of LL brand aware people!) so I see nothing but a rise in SL2's potential. This is beyond the scope of this thread though. Here are the highlights of my thinking:

 

1. SL has made it through changes that threatened the population, they gain new people and some leave. Some come back after a break.

2. People buy new stuff, change to new things and compare and contrast new and old. In fact, new stuff seems to be the lifeblood of some merchants business and they always say to make new things, announce them in group and get them seen on the blogs! So, switching old content is only partially an issue, no one is stopping them from logging in with the very same freinds over at the old SL so they can check out thier old stuff, visit old hangouts etc.!

3. SL's new streaming App service that allow mobile devices means people have more chances to use SL and may be less disuaded from logging in as it is more convenient. Mobile devices are cheaper and this removes the hardware costs that Brain Balm's study found was a major SL usage stopper.

4. Ironically, SL2 is not in a worse position right now but in a better one because it will attract the creators that like to get on the new tech and SL will filter new customers there. Thousands a day, thousands with LESS resistance to adoption because of less system requirments IF they are using this streaming service. Not saying it will be HUGE, but the one competiting thing is the next one.

5. IF they can't use SL2, they will maybe check out SL1! This means that SL1 might keep alive as it looses some users to SL2. This means that as some like it and see neato pics of SL2, they might upgrade thier hardware or make sure to check out those newer PC's for christmas/birthday! SL's built in population, promise of ads pointing to the new SL2 and streaming Apps all point to a increase in SL population as a whole. No competition so far has pulled the whole world into the ground.

I don't know and am still reading and thinking about it, but the above sort of show my thinking so far.

You raised an interesting point, who says it will take off. That is for another thread and maybe the better question is, how much demand or popuation would it take to get merchants to switch? Where else would they go to? But, then it is like a survey and all that and I was just wondering about brand loyalty in SL with no intentions of a serious study and interview. Just chit chatty sort of question lol.

There are a few other points I think, but I can't remember them and this is getting to be a larger than expected post and tl;dr kicks in. I have to go as well, I should be doing 10 other things this morning.

 

[Medhue Simoni]

Well, i reject the premise that the NEW World could ever be SL2. So, I will based everything I say on that assumption, as I think it is the only rational assumption that can be made about the New World.

 

What I'll try to do, is make good products. The rest takes care of itself.

[Medhue Simoni]

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Poenald Palen wrote:

3. SL's new streaming App service that allow mobile devices means people have more chances to use SL and may be less disuaded from logging in as it is more convenient. Mobile devices are cheaper and this removes the hardware costs that Brain Balm's study found was a major SL usage stopper.

4. Ironically, SL2 is not in a worse position right now but in a better one because it will attract the creators that like to get on the new tech and SL will filter new customers there. Thousands a day, thousands with LESS resistance to adoption because of less system requirments IF they are using this streaming service. Not saying it will be HUGE, but the one competiting thing is the next one.

 

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Whatever they do, they should include the mobile app streaming feature in with your Premium subscription. Just think if LL made a deal with Onlive for existing premium SL members. I've been a premium member since 2008 and it basically gives me nothing. If the premium membership included Onlive, then I'd actually think the premium membership was worth it. To expect someone to pay for both a Premium membership, and then pay another $10/month for Onlive, is a bit of a stretch. I would probably pay more for the Premium membership, if it included Onlive tho.

[Poenald Palen]

I meant that, if practical, I am thinking of free like/converted products. I know it sounds crazy, but conversion for some things is not a big deal.

Having thought about it though, if you are coding that much and are doing stuff liek making server back ends(not sure if you do, but you reminded me of those more complex objects like breadables) then maybe that is a great example of something you couldn't really give a free like product with. Good point!

I know that for cars, I would end up getting a script and it would cost me and the only reason I am thinking about giving free like products (if I even keep on going with it, I am sort of here because I have a few months where I can maybe redo my stuff and finish off things laying around in memory devices) is because people who see that they can get the same when the next version of SL comes out will feel less bruned and are likely to buy with no worries. Likewise, those who are intending to upgrade in the christmas, black friday or back to school sales will buy the day the want the item and not wait and save. In that way it is trust in the future savings that may lead to checking out the brand or word of mouth.

What about loyalty to the point the creator is understood to have to take some time, so they choose to purchase as it is like a donation?

What about kickstarter to bring the store over, each purchase ends up with a product of some type that is your major product?

I agree with the premium getting OnLive app, I wonder if the next one will be like that? And, yeah SL in name though and if they keep the same people then regardless of tech you can argue it is the same community and maybe the people make it SL and the culture transfers. To a customer, one who is strictly a customer, maybe they feel it is about the people and not the tech and to them they will be SL2.

[Medhue Simoni]

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Poenald Palen wrote:

What about kickstarter to bring the store over, each purchase ends up with a product of some type that is your major product?

I agree with the premium getting OnLive app, I wonder if the next one will be like that? And, yeah SL in name though and if they keep the same people then regardless of tech you can argue it is the same community and maybe the people make it SL and the culture transfers. To a customer, one who is strictly a customer, maybe they feel it is about the people and not the tech and to them they will be SL2.

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That's not a bad idea really, the kickstarter thing. I mean, if I think I need $5000 to comfortably spend a few months converting things over and to be able to give a good enough supply of products, it would be nice to just sit and create, knowing that you can pay for everything that is needed. You'd have to be pretty big and notable to even attempt this tho.

The problem I have with calling it SL2, is that it most likely is never, ever going to be SL2. We aren't talking about recreating Minecraft using the Unity engine, which is generally a simple task. SL has so many more aspects and uses. The new tech alone will change things significantly. Things that fit the new technology will be the things that take off in the New World, not the things that fit well in the Real SL. How things are done will be quite different too, which will change the incentives to do things, which will be different than the REAL SL. In our current SL, there were/are specific things, and businesses specific to the platform. The incentives are what drives the creations. Even in Real SL, changes in incentives have changed how SL has evolve, for good or bad. You can't expec the New World to have all those same incentives and markets.

The tech tho, will change everything. I think it is crazy for any knowledgable creator to think, or want to just convert products over. In some cases, it might be worth it. In most cases, there will be better ways of doing things, that are either more efficient or just better that will force creators to change things. If you just spend the time to convert them over, and your competiton takes the extra time to use the features of the platform to make their product better, than you just wasted your time and won't make much money. Plus, things just won't work the same, so outside of a mesh statue that does nothing but sit there, creators will have to change their products, sometime in extensive ways to make them work in this New World. Even for me, mostly selling animations, I'd have to convert all the animation over onto a new rig, which is no small task. I'll likely have to add things too, like finger animations. There is no way I could do all that work and then just give those products away, even if they did buy a similar product in SL. I do give free updates for my SL creation, but that is a whole other matter than designing something for a brand new platform.

[Pamela Galli]

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Parrish Ashbourne wrote:

Some of my top selling items took 6 month to a year and a half to make, none of them are mesh and are heavily scripted, it could take me years to set up shop in the next generation platform (NGP).  Trying to find ways to get my customers over to the NGP isn't even on my list. 

When you say free stuff when they get there, do you mean a welcome gift, or replacements of items they have bought in SL?

 

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As I am sure you are well aware, but others may not be:  You can easily export legacy prim builds (or any mixture of prim types) as a mesh.