Author Topic: Encouraging clients to use up all their subs per month to help contributors (Read 30319 times)

Brasilnut · « **on:** October 06, 2017, 06:07 »

I've been thinking about this for a few days.

Would it be possible to encourage clients to use up all their allowance per day/month to help contributors out? From what I've been reading and speaking to some buyers, most don't even use up all their allowance and this hurts us.

I know that SS would never encourage this as they would lose money on this, but any form of campaign contributors can do to persuade buyers?

It's only a few quarters but does add up...any thoughts?

Pauws99 · « **Reply #1 on:** October 06, 2017, 06:10 »

Quote from: Brasilnut on October 06, 2017, 06:07

I've been thinking about this for a few days.

Would it be possible to encourage clients to use up all their allowance per day/month to help contributors out? From what I've been reading and speaking to some buyers, most don't even use up all their allowance and this hurts us.

I know that SS would never encourage this as they would lose money on this, but any form of campaign contributors can do to persuade buyers?

It's only a few quarters but does add up...any thoughts?

If it worked though they'd put commissions down.....the business model relies on customers not using their quota.

JetCityImage · « **Reply #2 on:** October 06, 2017, 06:49 »

If you personally know a client, absolutely, ask them to use their extra subs on your port - the only downside I see is that you wouldn't want to rely on the extra downloads for forecasting purposes.

YadaYadaYada · « **Reply #3 on:** October 06, 2017, 09:34 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on October 06, 2017, 06:10

Quote from: Brasilnut on October 06, 2017, 06:07
I've been thinking about this for a few days.

Would it be possible to encourage clients to use up all their allowance per day/month to help contributors out? From what I've been reading and speaking to some buyers, most don't even use up all their allowance and this hurts us.

I know that SS would never encourage this as they would lose money on this, but any form of campaign contributors can do to persuade buyers?

It's only a few quarters but does add up...any thoughts?
If it worked though they'd put commissions down.....the business model relies on customers not using their quota.

Winner put a box around that Pauws99 quote. We'd make a little bit for a short time and everyone would lose after that.

memakephoto · « **Reply #4 on:** October 06, 2017, 10:16 »

Quote from: Brasilnut on October 06, 2017, 06:07

I've been thinking about this for a few days.

Would it be possible to encourage clients to use up all their allowance per day/month to help contributors out? From what I've been reading and speaking to some buyers, most don't even use up all their allowance and this hurts us.

I know that SS would never encourage this as they would lose money on this, but any form of campaign contributors can do to persuade buyers?

It's only a few quarters but does add up...any thoughts?

If you, as a contributor, contacted me, as a buyer, to encourage me to download images I may not need just to use up my subscription, I would be annoyed. I would contact Shutterstock support and complain about being harassed by contributors, give them your name and encourage them to deal with it.

Then you could write a book about how not to get your account disabled.

Zero Talent · « **Reply #5 on:** October 06, 2017, 10:38 »

Quote from: YadaYadaYada on October 06, 2017, 09:34

Quote from: Pauws99 on October 06, 2017, 06:10
Quote from: Brasilnut on October 06, 2017, 06:07
I've been thinking about this for a few days.

Would it be possible to encourage clients to use up all their allowance per day/month to help contributors out? From what I've been reading and speaking to some buyers, most don't even use up all their allowance and this hurts us.

I know that SS would never encourage this as they would lose money on this, but any form of campaign contributors can do to persuade buyers?

It's only a few quarters but does add up...any thoughts?
If it worked though they'd put commissions down.....the business model relies on customers not using their quota.

Winner put a box around that Pauws99 quote. We'd make a little bit for a short time and everyone would lose after that.

I have to be "brutally honest": it looks like the author of the "Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock ..." lacks a fundamental understanding of the Microstock industry dynamics.

And maybe even a more general understanding of the finite resource systems and their economics.

All you can eat restaurants, cell phone plans, banks, insurance companies, number of cashiers in supermarkets, number of elevators in skyscrapers, number of toilets in offices, etc, all are designed based on similar acceptable statistical risks, acceptable congestion levels, acceptable losses, etc.

All would go bust or crash, if a sudden (but very unlikely) massive amount of customers or users would rush to abuse those finite resource systems.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #6 on:** October 06, 2017, 11:22 »

If everyone ate like me in all you can eat Restaurants...they'd be bust in a week ;-). Though it that case its the huge markups they make on Drinks and other extras that keep it working too.

Brasilnut · « **Reply #7 on:** October 06, 2017, 11:41 »

Quote

Then you could write a book about how not to get your account disabled.

Quote

I have to be "brutally honest": it looks like the author of the "Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock ..." lacks a fundamental understanding of the Microstock industry dynamics.

I don't understand why I'm getting personally attacked. I just put an idea out there to discuss. Perhaps it has merit, perhaps not but attack the idea, not the individual, please.

Zero Talent · « **Reply #8 on:** October 06, 2017, 12:23 »

Quote from: Brasilnut on October 06, 2017, 11:41

Quote
Then you could write a book about how not to get your account disabled.

Quote
I have to be "brutally honest": it looks like the author of the "Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock ..." lacks a fundamental understanding of the Microstock industry dynamics.

I don't understand why I'm getting personally attacked. I just put an idea out there to discuss. Perhaps it has merit, perhaps not but attack the idea, not the individual, please.

Understood. (*being gently honest*) My apologies.

Chichikov · « **Reply #9 on:** October 06, 2017, 12:42 »

Quote from: memakephoto on October 06, 2017, 10:16

Quote from: Brasilnut on October 06, 2017, 06:07
I've been thinking about this for a few days.

Would it be possible to encourage clients to use up all their allowance per day/month to help contributors out? From what I've been reading and speaking to some buyers, most don't even use up all their allowance and this hurts us.

I know that SS would never encourage this as they would lose money on this, but any form of campaign contributors can do to persuade buyers?

It's only a few quarters but does add up...any thoughts?

If you, as a contributor, contacted me, as a buyer, to encourage me to download images I may not need just to use up my subscription, I would be annoyed. I would contact Shutterstock support and complain about being harassed by contributors, give them your name and encourage them to deal with it.

Then you could write a book about how not to get your account disabled.

You can just refuse, and stop.

If you do all the rest of what you are saying you are no more than a ^%#@\÷… Are you?

niktol · « **Reply #10 on:** October 07, 2017, 14:16 »

Quote from: Brasilnut on October 06, 2017, 06:07

I've been thinking about this for a few days.

Would it be possible to encourage clients to use up all their allowance per day/month to help contributors out? From what I've been reading and speaking to some buyers, most don't even use up all their allowance and this hurts us.

I know that SS would never encourage this as they would lose money on this, but any form of campaign contributors can do to persuade buyers?

It's only a few quarters but does add up...any thoughts?

Or, if you have contacts with paying customers, you could encourage them to buy direct.

namussi · « **Reply #11 on:** October 08, 2017, 01:20 »

What would be in it for the subscriber?

So... how about paying subscribers to use up their quotas by downloading your pix?

sharpshot · « **Reply #12 on:** October 08, 2017, 01:26 »

I would rather encourage buyers to move away from subs and go to sites that pay us 50%. If they aren't using much of their download quota and we aren't getting paid much, it seems like a bad deal for both of us.

Pauws99 · « **Reply #13 on:** October 08, 2017, 02:09 »

Quote from: sharpshot on October 08, 2017, 01:26

I would rather encourage buyers to move away from subs and go to sites that pay us 50%. If they aren't using much of their download quota and we aren't getting paid much, it seems like a bad deal for both of us.

Thing is they don't need to use much of the quota for it to be good value. I suspect for many its simply the convenience factor of not having to spend time thinking about it...in the same way I might get better value if I had pay per view tv...I'm not going to log in and pay every time I watch something.

qwerty · « **Reply #14 on:** October 08, 2017, 03:38 »

Quote from: Pauws99 on October 08, 2017, 02:09

Quote from: sharpshot on October 08, 2017, 01:26
I would rather encourage buyers to move away from subs and go to sites that pay us 50%. If they aren't using much of their download quota and we aren't getting paid much, it seems like a bad deal for both of us.
Thing is they don't need to use much of the quota for it to be good value. I suspect for many its simply the convenience factor of not having to spend time thinking about it...in the same way I might get better value if I had pay per view tv...I'm not going to log in and pay every time I watch something.

especially if they don't personally benefit on going to pay per image. i.e. big company - hassle getting approval for many small purchases. If they go with a subscription they can do it once per year. If it's a one person show they have more incentive to minimise costs.

dpimborough · « **Reply #15 on:** October 08, 2017, 11:16 »

Quote from: Brasilnut on October 06, 2017, 11:41

Quote
Then you could write a book about how not to get your account disabled.

Quote
I have to be "brutally honest": it looks like the author of the "Brutally Honest Guide to Microstock ..." lacks a fundamental understanding of the Microstock industry dynamics.

I don't understand why I'm getting personally attacked. I just put an idea out there to discuss. Perhaps it has merit, perhaps not but attack the idea, not the individual, please.

You are not being attacked they are criticising your point of view

It's all quite healthy

Brasilnut · « **Reply #16 on:** October 09, 2017, 04:30 »

Quote

You are not being attacked they are criticising your point of view

It's all quite healthy

It's all good and I don't take it personally.

I just find that personal attacks defeat the purpose of a forum.

DiscreetDuck · « **Reply #17 on:** October 09, 2017, 04:52 »

Quote from: Brasilnut on October 06, 2017, 06:07

any thoughts?

Your proposal is just not a brilliant idea.
There are more evident solutions to value one's work or revenue than begging the customer to help (and I don't think about writing books).

Brasilnut · « **Reply #18 on:** October 09, 2017, 05:14 »

Quote

There are more evident solutions to value one's work or revenue than begging the customer to help

I agree that begging is not professional. Nor is the analogy with the buffet since eating more food not to go to waste helps nobody.

I was thinking of a more of an educational campaign to alert buyers of the plight of contributors and diminishing returns. How they may be more generous by using their full allowance. However, upon deeper analysis it's probably a flawed strategy since, as many have pointed out, the business model relies on customers not using their full allowance. If they were to do so, management would be forced to reassess.

Would SS ever send out an email alert to buyers to "support contributors" in such a way? Doubt it, since it would go against their own interests and they're not a charity.

Sometimes even the most wacky ideas have merit, but in this case probably not.

SpaceStockFootage · « **Reply #19 on:** October 09, 2017, 05:19 »

Quote from: Brasilnut on October 09, 2017, 05:14

I was thinking of a more of an educational campaign to alert buyers of the plight of contributors and diminishing returns.

Maybe you could write to Amnesty International, see if they could step in.

sharpshot · « **Reply #20 on:** October 09, 2017, 05:33 »

I wonder if we could set up a peer-to-peer network and cut out the middlemen that are taking most of our money? I'm sure someone cleverer than me can put together everything we need to sell image licenses at very low cost. People are using blockchain technology for similar things now, we just need one of them to work on it specifically for stock images. It would be ideal for buyers too because we could sell for low prices if we are making close to 100%. It's good to see the internet starting to reject a few big businesses taking all the money. I think there's a revolution coming and it's going to be great for us. Now you can all call me crazy

SpaceStockFootage · « **Reply #21 on:** October 09, 2017, 05:45 »

Not sure how that would work. You're still going to need a site to show off the work, marketing to get the word out, a means to upload, store, transfer and review files. Pretty much everything that a current stock site needs... so I'm not sure where the savings would be.

But I probably know less than you when it comes to blockchain action... so I could be wrong!

sharpshot · « **Reply #22 on:** October 09, 2017, 08:45 »

You have to forget everything that the current sites do. It's something completely different. There's some really smart people developing blockchain technology solutions, I just hope some of them like selling stock images. I can see how it would be much better than anything we have now for both contributors and buyers.

Zero Talent · « **Reply #23 on:** October 09, 2017, 08:54 »

Quote from: Brasilnut on October 09, 2017, 05:14

Quote
There are more evident solutions to value one's work or revenue than begging the customer to help

I agree that begging is not professional. Nor is the analogy with the buffet since eating more food not to go to waste helps nobody.

I was thinking of a more of an educational campaign to alert buyers of the plight of contributors and diminishing returns. How they may be more generous by using their full allowance. However, upon deeper analysis it's probably a flawed strategy since, as many have pointed out, the business model relies on customers not using their full allowance. If they were to do so, management would be forced to reassess.

Would SS ever send out an email alert to buyers to "support contributors" in such a way? Doubt it, since it would go against their own interests and they're not a charity.

Sometimes even the most wacky ideas have merit, but in this case probably not.

You got it!

increasingdifficulty · « **Reply #24 on:** October 09, 2017, 08:58 »

Quote from: sharpshot on October 09, 2017, 08:45

You have to forget everything that the current sites do. It's something completely different. There's some really smart people developing blockchain technology solutions, I just hope some of them like selling stock images. I can see how it would be much better than anything we have now for both contributors and buyers.

It's not some sort of magic. It's just another way to send money (and avoid taxes). Marketing, storage, uploading etc. is still relevant. Storage can of course be "in the cloud" in a peer-to-peer system, but SOMEONE must store your images, and that someone would have to be you at first, meaning if your computer is not online, your images aren't. There must always be a server somewhere storing the assets, and when you go into the hundreds of millions, that costs money.

Marketing must still be done. How will the general population know about it? Why do you think Shutterstock/iStock show up as soon as I type "stock...". Because they spend millions and millions of dollars making sure they do.

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Author Topic: Encouraging clients to use up all their subs per month to help contributors (Read 30319 times)

Brasilnut

Pauws99

JetCityImage

YadaYadaYada

memakephoto

Zero Talent

Pauws99

Brasilnut

Zero Talent

Chichikov

niktol

namussi

sharpshot

Pauws99

qwerty

dpimborough

Brasilnut

DiscreetDuck

Brasilnut

SpaceStockFootage

sharpshot

SpaceStockFootage

sharpshot

Zero Talent

increasingdifficulty

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