Earlier today Empire Avenue announced the introduction of Premium Services. EAv CEO, Dups, wrote:
With this change, Empire Avenue will have five account levels as detailed in the table below. Should you not move to a Premium level, much of what you do today for free will not change. Adding Premium levels will not mean we stop development on features that will be delivered for all, instead where we feel a feature can be improved in a premium setting then we will add it to a particular level.
The new premium accounts will range from $20/mo to $500/mo and will include a subscription to the Avenue.io portfolio management tool that currently costs $10/mo.
As with every major announcement from EAv, this one has been met with lots of questions, comments, and of course criticisms in the community discussion area. So, let me cut through all the noise with…
5 Insights on EAv’s Premium Accounts
1) It’s a proven, successful model. The concept of premium accounts is a good idea with a proven track record. EAv needs to generate revenue to stay in business, and this is a proven model.
2) It’s all about eaves. All of the “features” currently listed in the table of premium accounts have to do with with eaves in one way or another. Daily eaves received, reduced mission fees, more dessert upgrades, dividends on more stocks in one’s portfolio. For the most active, veteran EAvers who already have hundreds of millions in wealth and are earning millions a day in dividends, more eaves have very little value, therefore these premium accounts will provide very little value to them. However, for someone who is new and needs eaves to build their portfolio and do missions, they may find these accounts of some value.
3) We hate to lose. Dups wrote, “Much of what you do today for free will not change.” That is true, but people will always focus on what is being taken away from them. In this case, it appears that free users will have their maximum mission reward reduced from 50,000 to 10,000 and the max concurrent mission reduced from 10 to 5. In my opinion, it would have been better to leave these where they were for free accounts and increase it for premium accounts.
4) Cart before the horse. This announcement has a real “cart before the horse” feel. The idea of premium accounts is great, but the problem is EAv is still not an effective marketing tool because the user base is still too small and its still to difficult to effectively target missions to a niche audience. It would have been better for EAv to focus on making mission more effective and expanding the user base first, and then introduce premium services.
5) Marketing bomb. EAv really, REALLY needs to add an experience, professional marketing person to the team. Dups, I love you man, but let someone else do your announcements! Part of the reason there is so much criticism in the community discussion and elsewhere is because the blog announcement contains no mention of the benefits of premium accounts. It jumps right into pricing without establishing value.
Additionally, there is no real-world value to eaves. Announcing premium accounts where all the features have to do with increasing or saving eaves is almost meaningless. Anyone who would even consider spending $100 or $500 a month needs to receive meaningful enhancements to missions and communities and a compelling explanation of how they will increase ROI.
What do you think of the upcoming premium accounts? What’s your take on these 5 insights?
Empire Avenue Tips 
Aug 01, 2013 @ 23:34:13
From InsideEAv, 315 users (9% of all active EAv users, i.e. users with more than 3 EAv actions) generated 425884 EAv-buy-actions (50% of all EAv actions). So he is trying to generate his revenue from around 300 folks. I am not sure that I see a viable plan.
The total dollars against 300 or so players versus the frustration and push back seems to be a bad value. If instead of making these folks upset, EA engaged them to be a part of the team working toward a financial model that made sense. I am just a country hick & don’t know much, but I would rather fight with 300 folks on my side instead of mad at me.
Aug 02, 2013 @ 02:31:30
Well said Harold.
Aug 02, 2013 @ 02:57:55
Tom Laing is right…….so is Harold…..a real bummer…..
Aug 02, 2013 @ 03:28:42
You have such a great way with words, Harold. Excellent summary.
Aug 01, 2013 @ 23:34:22
Aug 01, 2013 @ 23:36:59
Bravo, Bravo!!!! Anyone that knows anything about marketing knows you must have a target audience and you must have data to know what that audience needs to commit to paying you for your services. If that consumer (i.e. a person like myself that loves spending money on the internet and is a shopaholic) can find no benefit to a subscription given the current descriptions then how in the world will Companies find a benefit? Fix some things, listen to the people who would be willing to pay for services and give them the services that they would be willing to pay for at affordable cost.
Aug 01, 2013 @ 23:58:10
You’re absolutely correct… this is very much the cart before the horse, and Dups really appears as clueless as ever. Personally, I find him and his proposal offensive.
Yes, he dives right into the pricing, and none of it makes any sense. At best, it appears completely arbitrary. I don’t feel anything is being taken away from me – Dups is correct. The free service will remain pretty much the same, with the exception of reduced mission rewards. To that I say, who cares? Missions aren’t even worth the paper they’re printed on. Oh wait, they’re not even printed on paper… Missions aren’t even worth the paper they’re not printed on, then.
EA is clearly malfunctioning, and it would appear that Dups & Co. don’t know what’s wrong with it. I do believe that reducing the number of concurrent missions, as well as the mission rewards will help to curb the skyrocketing inflation and mission saturation. But will that improve performance? Absolutely not. Sadly, the only “rocket fuel” on EA comes in the form of inflation. As Harold points out, there are around 300 people actually doing stuff on EA. There’s zero value in that.
Aug 02, 2013 @ 00:59:15
Hey Chris, thanks for commenting. I think you and I are on the same page. As marketers, we’re willing to pay for good tools that help us to connect with our target audience. Without the tools or the audience, premium accounts lack value. But maybe some day if the tools are better and the audience grows…
Aug 02, 2013 @ 00:22:29
Harold and Kita. thanks for the comments. I don’t think the premium accounts are intended for either of you or “the 300” you referred to Harold.
EAv has 2 audiences – social media users and social media marketers. I think EAv is fine with the vast majority of social media users having free sites. If it could get 9% of active users to pay $20/mo for Bronze that would be icing on the cake.. Premium accounts are really geared for social media marketers. If they could get 100 marketers to pay $500/mo for platinum, they’d be pretty happy.
The challenge is there are only a handful of social media marketers on EAv right now. Before they can attract more, they first need a huge increase in social media users. That’s why this feels like the cart before the horse to me.
Aug 02, 2013 @ 00:23:14
Harold, that was the crux of my post today, you nailed it very concisely.
Paul – great post and points to ponder but I can’t disagree with any of them.
Aug 02, 2013 @ 00:42:02
Hey Ryan, I read your blog post and think we see the same thing with respect to EAv but through different windows. I believe in the concept of premium accounts,but there’s no value to premium accounts until EAv has a an audience/user base to market to. If I’m hearing you right that’s the “empty tank” EAv is jumping the shark with.
Fill the tank and maybe it’s worth jumping… or diving into.
Aug 02, 2013 @ 00:24:36
Excellent insights Paul. Thanks for taking the time post this. The 5 points you made I think are valid and well presented. This is why I have grown to appreciate EA. Thx Paul 🙂
Aug 02, 2013 @ 01:05:06
Thanks Dave!
Aug 02, 2013 @ 00:44:16
Give me something of value… like, replace hootsuite or something. To me, EA is about improving Social Media. But we pay to use tools outside of EA. Paying for EA is tough since it does not add near the value of these other tools. EA somewhat measures our metrics and in a way, encourages us to improve them. But it doesn’t really help us do social media.
Aug 02, 2013 @ 13:48:02
Hi agree, Michael. It is a little odd that EAv has decided to launch paid services before it is big enough and useful enough to provide much value even as a free service.
Aug 02, 2013 @ 00:48:46
Reblogged this on txwikinger's blog.
Aug 02, 2013 @ 01:40:24
Hello Paul,
Great post. I definitely agree with you that they should not have reduced the rewards or max concurrent missions for free users. Make higher thresholds for premium users; I don’t think anyone would have really had a problem with that, but getting “penalized” in a sense for being a free user? I don’t think that will sit well with too many free users; after all, they are a major part of why EAv is what it is today, and feeling like they’re “losing” something (even if that value is questionable, as Stitches ‘n Dishes pointed out) is not going to encourage further participation or word-of-mouth to friends and colleagues to use EAv.
I also agree with you that EAv has to do a better job showing what value they are bringing to the table and market themselves better to a specific target audience. Being an online marketer and a member of the Warrior Forum, someone finally created an offer on how to utilize EAv in their marketing efforts, but this only occurred maybe a month ago, and I’m not sure the offer was a great success (solid, but I don’t think it was a blockbuster). I think that is because there are still questions on how EAv can be effectively utilized in online marketing in a practical, efficient manner. I know I have read many complaints on several sites about how it takes too long to establish oneself on the site and to maintain good relationships and such – I think that is negating many marketers’ views of how beneficial it is in terms of a cost-benefit ratio, and thus, limiting continuous, active participation on EAv. Many will start participating in EAv, grow tired of it taking a great deal of their time (or money if they outsource it) with little tangible benefit to it, and then essentially leave, allowing their EAv price to drop like a rock.
With that question hanging over EAv, the owners should never have introduced the pricing aspect until after that question had been clearly settled, and it seems from the comments and suggestions that that question has clearly NOT been settled. When that happens, usually you will have a fallout/dropoff in participation, and only clear lines of communication on exactly what will change and how EAv will benefit users can help to keep participation rates steady and even grow in the future.
Again, great post!
Take care,
Joe Chengery
Aug 02, 2013 @ 13:50:08
Thanks Joe!
Aug 02, 2013 @ 01:42:30
Two points that keep hitting me again and again as I read through all the blog posts and discussion boards.
1) There is no shortage of liquidity. Those that want to spend currency have plenty of currency to spend. These upgrades seem to be focused on providing greater liquidity.
2) There are not enough dedicated players to support the proposed model.
Aug 02, 2013 @ 13:50:37
Yep.
Aug 02, 2013 @ 02:26:30
Reblogged this on Laitom's Blog.
Aug 02, 2013 @ 02:35:23
Just another brick in the wall in the entombment of EA
Aug 02, 2013 @ 04:43:50
I already am pretty much maxed in the top 10,000 so my eave income will double to 10 million a day. So this is great for me. I also want to support EA as much as possible so i am happy to pay. How many else will do it though? (e)NOKIA ? Anyone else? Maybe 2 or 3 people? So what is the point of it?
Aug 02, 2013 @ 13:52:01
Michael are you saying you’re going to upgrade to the $500/mo platinum level?
Aug 02, 2013 @ 05:35:03
Reblogged this on Charlie Slang.
Aug 02, 2013 @ 08:26:42
Why does Empire Avenue hate me?
I’m a social networker, not an SEO or even somebody who generates sales for anything through EA. I got into it because I wanted to play the game and make some connections. And when I start selling books, hey, maybe I’ll have a way to market them.
I’ve been debating how active I want to be on EA. Honestly, Every time Dups makes an announcement, I get something taken away. I’d have to pay more than twice a Netflix subscription to “get something”, which is meaningless. 25,000 free Eaves a day? If I’m that hard up on Eaves, I could just do a few missions. I’d really love to know who is up for paying $500 a month. Does anybody really see that much value in using EA?
I wish Dups would post announcements showcasing reasons to stick around, not enticing me retreat further from the site.
Bottom line is that this site needs users, as that is where any value of using this site comes from. When is Dups going to start doing things to attract users instead of pushing them away?
Aug 02, 2013 @ 08:41:53
James, your point is exactly what I meant in regards to these decisions not leading to further interaction and positive word-of-mouth to use EAv. If anything, it will likely drive them away or make them think, “Is this really worth it?”, as it seems you are asking.
As I also mentioned, there have to be open, clear lines of communication in order for many EAv users to want to stay and use the site, let alone grow the base of users. So far, there seems to be much confusion and disagreement over the timing and purpose of these proposed changes, which is only going to cause EAv users to question whether they should keep using the site because they’ll wonder if it’s really worth it or not.
Aug 03, 2013 @ 11:21:09
I am fairly new to the site and I feel like I am in the same boat as you. We have similar reasons for playing, too.
I am seeing these changes as a reason to say “screw this” and drop it like a bad facebook game.
I had no idea what this site was before I started playing. I just thought it was a game. Then I discovered the secret to popularity for a rather large number of people that I know on various social networks. They are paying people eaves to follow them, like bomb their stuff, make comments, share posts. I am still not sure if I should be horrified or not, or just follow their lead and try to do the same.
But no matter what, I am not going to be paying, and if by not paying it will limit my ability to play, then I just won’t play. I am not into games where the rich get richer and the poor stay poor. Too much like real life to be any fun.
Aug 31, 2013 @ 10:47:32
Sorry I didn’t see your comment until now. I am mostly on EAv for marketing. The game play is an added bonus, so personally I don’t care if the playing field is even for the game aspect of EAv. If paying for a premium account gives some people a slight advantage in the “game” that’s fine with me. I will make my choice if a premium account is the right decision for me based on whether I think its worth the ROI from a marketing perspective. (And I decided it was worthwhile to upgrade to Bronze at least for the time being)
Aug 02, 2013 @ 08:48:34
Hi Paul, thanks for the post. As I have mentioned in the discussion thread we as a team will consider every post. You said Cart before the Horse. We considered all our options, we are about to start scaling. Talking to other enterprises (successful and not) the decision to have premium accounts before scaling turns out to be better than not from experience. A member-base expects a certain thing. For example, if Facebook now turns on subscriptions it wouldn’t work, however, if Facebook had subscriptions before scaling then it’s part of the fabric of existence and hence it works.
We agree with you that our problem is to increase audience, but we want that audience to know exactly what kind of options they have. The exact makeup of the premium services, yes, obviously we will consider everyone’s opinion. At the end of the day, don’t forget that we are humans, a small team, and we are out to do a good thing. And Paul, when I can afford it and scale, I will happily get someone much smarter than I to write my announcements! 🙂
Aug 02, 2013 @ 14:17:05
Dups, thanks for commenting. I understand what you’re saying about the benefit of introducing premium accounts and making it a part of the fabric of the platform before scaling. I believe LinkedIn and HootSuite both successfully scaled first and then introduced premium services. I don’t think it matters much either way.
What does matter is whether you have an effective tool. EAv won’t be successful in selling premium accounts or scaling until mission targeting becomes more effective.
>>when I can afford it and scale, I will happily get someone much smarter than I to write my announcements
Well, speaking of cart before horse… think about it.
Aug 02, 2013 @ 12:26:13
I enjoyed this post and all the comments. I am one who can’t spend all the eaves I earn everyday now! I have not figured out how to monetize the time I spend here. I am always hopeful something will occur to me … and at the same time I have spent far too much time to just walk away. So I play. Thank you all for making the time here enjoyable.
Aug 02, 2013 @ 12:45:24
According to Dennis’s site there are 3594 accounts with 3+ and 2480 accounts with 10+ EA activities in the last week.
http://bit.ly/13HT9ty (takes a long time to load)
Aug 02, 2013 @ 14:30:52
Totally agree with number 3. Granted, I’m lucky to have 3 missions running concurrently, but I’m still trying to get the hang of it…
Aug 02, 2013 @ 14:31:40
I can see how at least charging something would separate the real people from the spammers, though. I’d pay a buck (or give a card #) to be considered a non-spammer…
EAv Makes Changes to Premium Accounts | Empire Avenue Tips
Aug 02, 2013 @ 16:09:27
Aug 02, 2013 @ 20:25:41
Reblogged this on #RockTheReTweet.
Aug 12, 2013 @ 21:58:35
great post! I’m reblogging this aswell
Aug 12, 2013 @ 22:31:14
Thanks Matt!
Aug 12, 2013 @ 21:59:15
Reblogged this on earthlingoflight and commented:
EAV Premium Accounts
Aug 12, 2013 @ 22:31:22
Thanks Matt!
Aug 14, 2013 @ 11:59:08
🙂
Oct 01, 2013 @ 05:28:17
I’d be interested to know exactly how many people since the start of this conversation have gone on to have premium accounts?
Oct 01, 2013 @ 17:49:35
I don’t know but I’d like to as well.
Nov 04, 2013 @ 09:26:40
Empire IO is a good resource but you still need to manually go through it all. Takes forever, sure its ok for networking but for “Playing the game” there are better methods.
Nov 04, 2013 @ 10:58:14
Hey Rich, do you mean Avenue.io? What do you mean by “you still need to manually go through it all.” I’m able to do more than a thousand sells and buys a day in less than 30 minutes with Avenue.io
And what better methods are there? I’m always looking for ways to improve.