Invitation only free hosting?

[DanQ]

Having run a successful free host a few years back I am looking into starting up again but with a slight twist, by invitation only. So you would only be able to get an account if you know someone that already has an account.

What do you think?

 

[TaoPhoenix]

This is a little tricky. It offloads the "sales" job onto existing customers.

Mad magazine once called stuff like this "the department of what-is-the-question?" What are you trying to achieve? Better quality clients? Then let's discuss that as a metric.

 

[DanQ]

This is a little tricky. It offloads the "sales" job onto existing customers.

Mad magazine once called stuff like this "the department of what-is-the-question?" What are you trying to achieve? Better quality clients? Then let's discuss that as a metric.

I personally feel that by limiting signup's to any degree the signups should be of better quality.

Obviously this is only my opinion and I would like to see other peoples opinions.

 

[aloycasmir]

Well . You could always have malicious users referring even more malicious users , that too before you can ban them .
Maybe set a limit . Something like you need to wait for 1 month after signup to be eligible for having your own invitation code . That should kill out more than half of problems for you though it would also bring about a slower start to your company .

Nonetheless , a good strategy imho since you're already limiting sign ups and you can monitor them since they might not be in a very large volume .
Best of luck mate

 

[somik]

I would say, go for it! If your service is good, then people will come over! Afterall, everyone wants what they "cant" have, so this is a good strategy.

Also, i would not recommend the wait period. Just make sure you have admin validation of accounts turned on, thats all

 

[Dynash]

Problem with invitation only is any bad press, is only the one side of it. Only users with accounts can take what has been said about your service for face value without being able to try it out yourself. Which can put people who want an invite away elsewhere.

What you want to achieve from it won't be achieved with that alone. The only true way is give out accounts personally, not publicly.

 

[azoundria]

I was thinking to do this as well. The problem is, most new clients don't really care where they sign up, and they'd sooner switch to the competition than ask their friends for an invite.

Once they get into our service, and experience it, the story changes, but those on the outside are only willing to do what's minimal to get hosting.