Does ConquerClub lack effective marketing?

BigBallinStalin · Post by **BigBallinStalin** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:48 am

So how many paying customers are there?

And how much has that figure grown by year?

How many "active" players are there?

jammyjames · Post by **jammyjames** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:52 am

17867 active players at the time of this post..

The other stuff.. not a clue

Fruitcake · Post by **Fruitcake** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 4:30 am

BigBallinStalin wrote:So how many paying customers are there?

And how much has that figure grown by year?

How many "active" players are there?

Some interesting information on here:

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/conquerclub.com

Leehar · Post by **Leehar** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 5:02 am

BigBallinStalin wrote:So how many paying customers are there?

And how much has that figure grown by year?

How many "active" players are there?

And to think you actually had access to that info

Fruitcake wrote:
BigBallinStalin wrote:So how many paying customers are there?

And how much has that figure grown by year?

How many "active" players are there?

Some interesting information on here:

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/conquerclub.com

We're in the top k for denmark?
Go 150 Danes! http://www.conquerclub.com/public.php?m ... ore&page=1

BigBallinStalin · Post by **BigBallinStalin** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 6:18 am

Either the growth of this business is very slow, or it's smoothing out, or it's on the decline.

Which is odd because this is most likely the best site on the internet for playing Risk online, so I'm surprised that so few people are signed up/paying to play here...

So, the question becomes: "Does ConquerClub lack effective marketing?"

zimmah · Post by **zimmah** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 6:21 am

BigBallinStalin wrote:Either the growth of this business is very slow, or it's smoothing out, or it's on the decline.

Which is odd because this is most likely the best site on the internet for playing Risk online, so I'm surprised that so few people are signed up/paying to play here...

So, the question becomes: "Does ConquerClub lack effective marketing?"

it lacks effective marketing and customer service. a lot of customers get unhappy because of the lack of updates and service. especially in the map foundry, but also in other area's.

new websites are rising using flash and such which is much smoother. CC just feels old.

I still enjoy playing on it, but i understand the complaints.

BigBallinStalin · Post by **BigBallinStalin** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 6:30 am

zimmah wrote:
BigBallinStalin wrote:Either the growth of this business is very slow, or it's smoothing out, or it's on the decline.

Which is odd because this is most likely the best site on the internet for playing Risk online, so I'm surprised that so few people are signed up/paying to play here...

So, the question becomes: "Does ConquerClub lack effective marketing?"

it lacks effective marketing and customer service. a lot of customers get unhappy because of the lack of updates and service. especially in the map foundry, but also in other area's.

new websites are rising using flash and such which is much smoother. CC just feels old.

I still enjoy playing on it, but i understand the complaints.

Is this true? Do most people on CC feel this way?

Those are some good areas to examine; I'd love for more posts like zimmah's.

whitestazn88 · Post by **whitestazn88** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 5:16 pm

I think that the customer service complaint is hard to actually prove. The most users on the forums ever was like 1500, and if the most users ever active was like 22000, then only a __% of the users pay enough attention to the forums for them to really know about the upgrades that are/aren't being implemented.

I think it took a damn long time for them to get a facebook page and a twitter though, that probably would have helped. And if CC weren't so pussy about saying it's a game like RISK, rather than saying "we're not affiliated with that hasbro game that has a world map on it" then they'd get more traffic from people searching for "free online risk". No one is looking for "an online land grab!".

Also, part of it is that kids these days (look at me saying shit like I'm an old man now) don't really know risk as the board game, as they don't really give a shit about board games. So when they could mindlessly play a flashgame on one of the millions of sites, they would probably do that rather than come here to think about their assault cubes an their territ counts.

BigBallinStalin · Post by **BigBallinStalin** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 6:53 pm

whitestazn88 wrote:I think that the customer service complaint is hard to actually prove. The most users on the forums ever was like 1500, and if the most users ever active was like 22000, then only a __% of the users pay enough attention to the forums for them to really know about the upgrades that are/aren't being implemented.

I think it took a damn long time for them to get a facebook page and a twitter though, that probably would have helped. And if CC weren't so pussy about saying it's a game like RISK, rather than saying "we're not affiliated with that hasbro game that has a world map on it" then they'd get more traffic from people searching for "free online risk". No one is looking for "an online land grab!".

Also, part of it is that kids these days (look at me saying shit like I'm an old man now) don't really know risk as the board game, as they don't really give a shit about board games. So when they could mindlessly play a flashgame on one of the millions of sites, they would probably do that rather than come here to think about their assault cubes an their territ counts.

Right, I know we're talking about a small target market in respect to the entire market for online flash games, but still I'm not understanding why ConquerClub isn't larger...

Pirlo · Post by **Pirlo** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 10:21 pm

BigBallinStalin wrote:
whitestazn88 wrote:I think that the customer service complaint is hard to actually prove. The most users on the forums ever was like 1500, and if the most users ever active was like 22000, then only a __% of the users pay enough attention to the forums for them to really know about the upgrades that are/aren't being implemented.

I think it took a damn long time for them to get a facebook page and a twitter though, that probably would have helped. And if CC weren't so pussy about saying it's a game like RISK, rather than saying "we're not affiliated with that hasbro game that has a world map on it" then they'd get more traffic from people searching for "free online risk". No one is looking for "an online land grab!".

Also, part of it is that kids these days (look at me saying shit like I'm an old man now) don't really know risk as the board game, as they don't really give a shit about board games. So when they could mindlessly play a flashgame on one of the millions of sites, they would probably do that rather than come here to think about their assault cubes an their territ counts.

Right, I know we're talking about a small target market in respect to the entire market for online flash games, but still I'm not understanding why ConquerClub isn't larger...

I think because CC is not professional enough. It is a volunteers-based business. No business can prosper fast without real dedication.

like 500.000 signed up... only 20.000-25.000 active members.. this means the first impression sucks. people sign up to play. not to get stuck in 4 games with other new recruits who usually join for the same reason, then find themselves stuck and decide to abandon the site and deadbeat. so actually, one signs up and get stuck for weeks before getting an empty slot again. No welcoming info is another reason.

rdsrds2120 · Post by **rdsrds2120** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 2:23 am

Actually, this is something that we should be addressing soon. It looks promising to me, but it is still in the woodwork.

-rd

BigBallinStalin · Post by **BigBallinStalin** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 5:01 am

rdsrds2120 wrote:Actually, this is something that we should be addressing soon. It looks promising to me, but it is still in the woodwork.

-rd

Why not share what the CC elite has in mind?

If you've got volunteer admins, map makers, tournament directors, mods, and more, then why not tap into the aggregate skills and knowledge of the fora on this topic?

rdsrds2120 · Post by **rdsrds2120** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 5:10 am

BigBallinStalin wrote:
rdsrds2120 wrote:Actually, this is something that we should be addressing soon. It looks promising to me, but it is still in the woodwork.

-rd

Why not share what the CC elite has in mind?

If you've got volunteer admins, map makers, tournament directors, mods, and more, then why not tap into the aggregate skills and knowledge of the fora on this topic?

Why not? Because I don't have level 5 clearance, and myself don't know all the details.

As for the volunteer stuff, what exactly are you referring to? To help with what, specifically?

-rd

BoganGod · Post by **BoganGod** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 6:21 pm

To effectively market any product, the product must be consistent and of a merchantable quality. Successful and expanding businesses(not always the same thing) use customer feed back to more effectively position themselves in what is normally a competitive marketplace.

This site almost has a monopoly on good risk based flash games, yet has done nothing effective to build on that market place position.

Even little things like vote for CC campaigns are poorly managed so those that have the good will to help can't even do so effectively. Where do we go from here? This is a great site, that is poorly run. We can't blame most of the people that attempt to run the site as they are under resourced, and volunteers themselves. We can't criticise(be very careful with this thread bss) too much as that way leads to vindictive banning under an escalating system that is very poorly applied and policed.

Based on the available evidence I think that the paying users of this site are supposed to shut the f*ck up and be pathetically grateful. Lame dice can be implemented(in one case dice which had different numbers assigned than the numbers that were shown on screen.....), turning the screen fuchsia not a problem(how do either of these benefit customers??? Functional benefit not aesthetic benefit please), in the meantime valid and useful suggestions languish for 4yrs......... Has anyone ever asked for lame dice in a suggestion thread and garnered community support? I'm not against different dice, I am against the waste of resources in implementing said dice. Seems to me a little like Blockbuster investing in shelving to better display betamax cassettes. Not logical but could happen if those that have a say lose touch with their customer base.

DiM · Post by **DiM** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 6:59 pm

with proper staff CC could be great. faster better updates keep current users satisfied and also bring in new people.

zimmah · Post by **zimmah** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 7:39 pm

Pirlo wrote:I think because CC is not professional enough. It is a volunteers-based business. No business can prosper fast without real dedication.

like 500.000 signed up... only 20.000-25.000 active members.. this means the first impression sucks. people sign up to play. not to get stuck in 4 games with other new recruits who usually join for the same reason, then find themselves stuck and decide to abandon the site and deadbeat. so actually, one signs up and get stuck for weeks before getting an empty slot again. No welcoming info is another reason.

very valid point.

No Risk No Fun · Post by **No Risk No Fun** » Sun Aug 21, 2011 10:27 pm

I think part of the problem is that the community is very exclusive and not "noob" friendly.

BoganGod · Post by **BoganGod** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 1:18 am

No_Risk_No_Fun wrote:I think part of the problem is that the community is very exclusive and not "noob" friendly.

There are members of the community that are very noob friendly, sadly they are generally know as freestyle farmers. Or farmers for short. A tighter definition of farming/and or more of a restriction on games for new players, or even the rank restriction option that has been suggested multiple times, would all go towards cutting down on farming. We are likely to see pretty pink dice with vomit yellow butterflies before we see any more action on the farming issue.

chapcrap · Post by **chapcrap** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 9:35 pm

rdsrds2120 wrote:Actually, this is something that we should be addressing soon. It looks promising to me, but it is still in the woodwork.

-rd

I hope something good happens soon. I like the community feel here, but I would love a larger population to dominate.

Woodruff · Post by **Woodruff** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 9:37 pm

BigBallinStalin wrote:So how many paying customers are there?

And how much has that figure grown by year?

How many "active" players are there?

It doesn't lack effective marketing, it lacks effective customer service. And the primary problem for that rests with the absolute and complete lack of lackattack activity, in my opinion.

PLAYER57832 · Post by **PLAYER57832** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 9:49 pm

BigBallinStalin wrote:Either the growth of this business is very slow, or it's smoothing out, or it's on the decline.

Which is odd because this is most likely the best site on the internet for playing Risk online, so I'm surprised that so few people are signed up/paying to play here...

So, the question becomes: "Does ConquerClub lack effective marketing?"

You cannot look at a site like this the same way as other types of products or even internet sites. Sure, its a great site. But, its not for everyone. And, you can expect turnover to be high. I have been here for some time. When I stop to think that this means I have been logging on basically every day to play games and chat... its a lot.

PLAYER57832 · Post by **PLAYER57832** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 9:51 pm

BoganGod wrote:
No_Risk_No_Fun wrote:I think part of the problem is that the community is very exclusive and not "noob" friendly.

There are members of the community that are very noob friendly, sadly they are generally know as freestyle farmers. Or farmers for short. A tighter definition of farming/and or more of a restriction on games for new players, or even the rank restriction option that has been suggested multiple times, would all go towards cutting down on farming. .

Restricted games for now players is NOT a good idea. However, changing the definition of farming, having better explanations, and rewarding players who take the time to help noobs would work. Per the definition. Who cares if someone plays and wins noobs.. as long as they are polite, friendly, perhaps even helpful. Its being a jerk that should be condemned.

Swimmerdude99 · Post by **Swimmerdude99** » Mon Aug 22, 2011 10:21 pm

I think its the same as many gaming sites though in that people join and then don't stay interested, nothing new there...

BIGMEANIE · Post by **BIGMEANIE** » Tue Aug 23, 2011 10:44 am

BoganGod wrote:
No_Risk_No_Fun wrote:I think part of the problem is that the community is very exclusive and not "noob" friendly.

There are members of the community that are very noob friendly, sadly they are generally know as freestyle farmers.

this made me laugh

BIGMEANIE · Post by **BIGMEANIE** » Tue Aug 23, 2011 10:50 am

swimmerdude99 wrote:I think its the same as many gaming sites though in that people join and then don't stay interested, nothing new there...

i think it might have something to do with waiting 24 hours between turns once you start. i know in my case i never thought of using chat to coordinate freebie-RT games. maybe if new members could have a brief taste of speed games they would enjoy their first games more. that, or it could be suggested that they use live chat to coordinate rt-games with other freebies.

of course this might also make some freebies feel less inclined to buy premium, seeing as they can play fast for free.