To think MN is pitching Premium all wrong?

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

Every time I come onto MN I see ads for MN Premium. The clue is in the name - it’s a premium version of a service we currently get in exchange for being the subject of advertising. To actively start parting with my money for it, they need to offer me something special; something valuable. Yet the ad tells us very little about that. Instead, it tells us ‘Mumsnet needs your help’.

This is the kind of language I’d expect a charity or educational programme to use. It’s an appeal to help those who can’t help themselves. MN is not a charity - it’s a multi-million pound business. If they need more income, fine, start a premium service; but why pitch it as the chance to help some very rich people? Tell me why I should pay the service; what it will do for ME as a customer, not why MN wants/needs the money. It’s the equivalent of me going to my boss and saying ‘My mortgage payments have gone up and I’m planning to start a family, so I need a rise’. That might well be why I need the money, but it’s not why my boss should give it to me. I need to prove that I’m worth the money. MN needs to do the same.

Is it just me, or is this a total marketing failure and a complete misread of the mood of the audience?

I just feel like the ability to speak freely on here has gone out thd window

Do you mean because people get a bit aggressive in their responses if they don’t like what you say, or having comments deleted? Or another reason? I do agree generally when it’s just a discussion about something. Let’s have a conversation not a screaming match. However, I also think some people speak far too freely but I wouldn’t say that was a mumsnet issue, more of an “everywhere on the Internet issue”.

“Should I serve sandwiches or just cake at my baby shower?
“You’re having a baby shower!?! You’re so spoilt and entitled! Don’t you think that’s tempting fate?!”

I wish those people would fuck off. I think baby showers are pretty awful but I don’t think I’ve ever commented on a baby shower related thread telling someone that.

@Xenia

I don't get any ads. May be that is because I don[t use MN on my mobile.

There's something to be said (in my case) for a good old laptop!

This is the ad I got.

Maybe I could pay the premium to get ads.

@EssentialHummus

Ah, apparently his name is Ben.

If that's the adverts you get on the free version why would anybody pay for premium unless it's to see all of Ben

@babs709 I mean in terms of discussion.
Lots of nasty and spiteful comments are allowed but discussion on topics or personalities can get shut down quite quickly when a lot of it is fair comment or an acceptable if not always popular point of view

I find it very bizarre that they rejected the idea of a donation pot as it might create a "two tier" membership between people who could afford to donate a lot and people who couldn't and instead opted for a two-tier membership system instead.

The timing was appalling as well. A large business that employs 100 people putting out the begging bowl in the middle of a pandemic that hit women (in income and juggling work and home terms) harder than anyone

I contemplated it but apart from being able to quote posts back at people (which irritates the fuck out of me anyway as I feel I'm being told off and my posts dissected) I couldn't see what you actually get.

@WorraLiberty

It would be interesting to hear from some Premium members about whether they think it's worth the money and if they'd ever go back to non Premium.

I like having no adverts. I don't know about the "fewer" aspect of it. I don't see any adverts now.

Would I go back to non-Premium? Probably not, mainly because of apathy. I don't mind paying what is, to me, a minuscule amount a month. And I do recognise I am privileged to be able to say that.

I did start doing it just to help out. Probably makes me a right mug but I don't really mind if it does keep it going. Same as I pay my Guardian subscription.

Don't really have strong feelings either way.

What does premium get you if you opt for it?

I did it to help Mumsnet out - as an actual add-on it provides no value whatsoever. So I agree with OP that it's a failure of marketing. "Mumsnet Supporters" or similar language (as per Grauniad) would be more appropriate.

To help Mumsnet out
I'm on board with the concept of helping, but I can't see why people who are already wealthy and successful need help?

Mumsnet is worth paying for largely because it has a high volume of traffic, lots of people use it, the reason lots of people use it is because it's free...

I haven't noticed over-zealous pro-men censorship on MN - I feel I can speak much more freely here than, say, Facebook or Reddit.

The only advantage I've seen from Premium is that you can search for all the comments from one particular poster by clicking 'See all' - as non-subscriber, I can only do that to the OP's posts. It's annoying, but not enough to pay for.

How much is it, by the way? I haven't liked to click to read the details, as I thought they'd never leave me alone!

For me the main problem isn't paying as such, but paying a set amount and paying a subscription which would be renewed every year. I donate to Wikipedia occasionally, but I wouldn't subscribe to it.

@TheSeedsOfADream

I contemplated it but apart from being able to quote posts back at people (which irritates the fuck out of me anyway as I feel I'm being told off and my posts dissected) I couldn't see what you actually get.

I don’t have premium and I can do that.

I don't see the point. The ads on MN aren't very intrusive compared to other sites, so getting rid of them is no big deal. And since this site is mostly user generated in any case, asking us to pay when we provide most of the content - or at least the content which drives users to the site - is a tad cheeky.

I use MN on with my mobile or iPad and don’t really see the ads. They are bad on the desktop site though.

I've looked up Mumsnet Ltd on the Companies House website.

The accounting year end for the company is 31st December. The latest accounts available are to 31st December 2018 (2019 becomes due on 31st December 2020) so they are not very current, but what you can see is:

Profit after tax for 2017 and 2018 was stable at around £2.2m each year.

The 3 directors in 2018 were: Mrs J Roberts, Mr J Walters and Mrs C Longton (who resigned on 12th Oct 2018). Total directors' remuneration for 2017 and for 2018 was £316k each year, plus company contribution to defined contribution pension schemes: 2017 £29k and 2018 £36k.

Barclays Bank hold a Floating Charge over all the assets of the business. It'll be interesting to see what the 2019 results look like.

If you want no ads just use a browser / browser app that blocks them like Duck Duck Go 🦆 or Brave.

As a bonus it makes the pages load much faster too without all that crap slowing it down. I don't mind ads when they are just banner ads but recently there have been autoplay pop up video ads on every single page which play on top of the posts, blocking what you are reading. If you are going to do that I am going to use a browser that blocks all ads, so you are just shooting yourself in the foot. Same goes for other websites that are so ad heavy they make themselves almost unusable (independent newspaper being a well known example of this).

@TheSeedsOfADream

I contemplated it but apart from being able to quote posts back at people (which irritates the fuck out of me anyway as I feel I'm being told off and my posts dissected) I couldn't see what you actually get.

This isn't a premium function!

I usually read Mumsnet on my mobile and don't find the ads intrusive enough to warrant paying to see fewer of them. I think Premium has to offer more exclusive and interesting content.

Ahh thanks DappledThings.

It would be interesting to hear a response from MNHQ to say what's in it for us other than less adverts, if indeed there is anything.

My brain must shut off to ads - I haven't even noticed it.

I rarely even notice the ads, and the ones I do, I find quite helpful.

I don’t see why I would subscribe to a forum, I find quite limited - I can’t understand why posters can’t edit or delete posts later, or opt to go straight to the last post on a thread; as I could on another forum, which looked pretty much the same as MN apart from no ads (although regular posters often chose to subscribe to help the owner out, but then it was her hobby not a business).

The 'see all' of an OPs posts is really handy, you can get the gist of a long thread quickly without having to read everything.

You used to be able to click on a user name and see all their posts ever, which was interesting. But thats gone now & I can see how that could lead to being more easily identified IRL.