How should ezboard update their business model to reach revenue goals?
In the current business model, revenue comes from two sources: advertizing and subscriptions. However, there are problems inherent with both of these. In order to get people to pay, ezboard had to offer the subscribers a better experience than the free users. However, the baseline website still needed to be attractive enough to attract new and more casual users. The catch-22 of the subscription model, the Gold plan, was that it removed advertizing for subscribers to the plan, thus removing one of the two revenue streams. Other than the unpopularity of having advertisements on the boards to most of the users, advertizing had other problems. It was difficult for potential advertisers to effectively target potential customers in ezboard because only registered users provided any personal information that would aid in targeting. The key to improving the revenue model is to make the subscription version more appealing in order to attract new customers, but more importantly, focus on advertisements. The “ring” advertising concept was a good first step. This placed ads on all parts of the ezboard website with the exception of the message boards themselves. Ezboard must cater to potential advertisers by providing more of the targeting information that they need. In the current business model, only the subscribers have to provide this data. Ezboard should modify this policy so that all users provide it. Subscribers would get the additional features, but everyone would register. This would provide potential advertisers a wealth of critical information and should increase the revenue stream from advertisements. The upgraded search feature also provided information to advertisers. (This is important to note- the search feature wasn’t just added for its own sake. The CEO made a point of linking upgrades to potential revenue generation.) The steps needed to make ezboard more enticing to potential subscribers is outlined in the next section.
What services should they consider offering with the new Version 8.0?
To attract new subscribers, ezboard needs to consider offering several new features. Ezboard needs to make their product as good as or better than their main competitors; script products like vBulletin. Script products are downloadable bulletin board software that is newer and more flexible, offering more customization and features than ezboard, but the downside was that administrators had to install and maintain the software on their own servers, which required a high degree of technical knowledge to use. Also, ezboard had to convince customers that being part of a network of discussion boards rather than a separate stand alone board. The new software, Version 8.0, was to incorporate new features that would be simple for a novice user to apply. The following new services should be offered: enhanced search, calendars, multimedia like pictures and videos, instant messaging, blogging, and social networking features. These would all attract users that might not be initially interested in message boards. Some, like the enhanced search function, would help gain advertizing revenue as mentioned above. Also vital to emphasize, though it’s not really an additional service offered, is that Version 8.0 be a stable platform- crashes and unreliability lead to lost members and therefore lost revenue.
