Thinking Of Becoming A VISP?

Interesting Things To Consider
Fact vs. Fiction

The reason people change ISPs is to save money, therefore the way for a virtual ISP or vISP to succeed is to offer a low price. Fact or fiction?

In this day and age, most people already have internet access. By far, most of the subscribers secured by a virtual ISP or vISP will already have internet access and switch from another provider. A virtual ISP or vISP can not succeed without taking subscribers from their competition. Surveys show that there are three reasons that cause internet access subscribers to change ISPs. The largest and most lucrative market share change ISPs because they are unhappy with the "quality" from their current access provider. It is interesting to note that those in this category do not even consider service at a price less that what they pay they current ISP as they assume the quality will be even worse than what they now experience. A close second are those that move because of a recommendation from someone that has credibility and influence with them. The very smallest market segment change for price. These first two market segments account for about 90% of those that switch ISPs. This means that only 10% or less change for a lower price. A great resource is the ebook "ISP Marketing Secrets - Simple Steps to Exploding Your Subscriber Base!" available at http://ISPSecrets.biz. (This ebook is available free of charge with our proposal.)

If your marketing strategy is based upon offering a low price you will lose for many reasons. First, you are marketing to a very small market segment. Just 10% or less of all internet subscribers are prospects for your virtual ISP or vISP. Second, the subscribers you do secure have no loyalty and will leave you the minute they find someone cheaper (and there is always someone cheaper). Third, there is no margin left to refuel your marketing budget once it is used. Fourth, those leaving their current ISP because they are unhappy, will not consider you as they perceive that the lower price means lower quality and they are seeking higher quality. In these cases a low price is actually counterproductive.

If this is not the case, why then does AOL have over 20 million million subscribers at $23.90 and United Online (NetZero, Juno and Bluelight combined) have only 3 million subscribers including all of their plans that are free, $6.95, $9.95 and $14.95? If low price was so important, would it be the other way around with NetZero having the most subscribers? By far, most subscribers (90%+) want quality not a cheap price.

The virtual ISPs or vISPs with the largest subscriber counts retail their access at prices between $18.95 and $23.95. This gives them a large enough margin to secure marketing partners that help multiply their marketing efforts. And of course this plays into the second largest market segment as each of these marketing partners have a circle of people with which they have influence and credibility.

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