DECEMBER 2013 NEWSLETTER: A Crazy NEW Idea?
[Updated: March 9, 2020]
We had all kinds of fun ideas marketing our site when in 2011, we first started our GamesforLanguage program. In 2014, we decided to make our page free-to-use for everyone. In any case, for us the site has been a great way to learn and practice languages and to engage with other language enthusiasts.]
[December 2013]: You registered on our site some time ago. You may have purchased/subscribed. Or you just tried one of our languages, but for whatever reason decided not to subscribe and continue.
And if you didn't subscribe, you may have felt that our course was:
• too easy or too challenging for you, or you just didn't like it,
• or you don't have any interest and/or time to learn another language now,
• or you just thought you shouldn't pay to learn a new language as there are free online courses available.
There is not much we can do about (1) and (2) above, but if you fall into category (3), or are a current or past subscriber, we'd like to hear your opinion about our CRAZY NEW IDEA:
The Crazy new Idea of a FREE Deal:
We continue with our FREE lessons for those who register and will be happy about any subscriptions. However, those who score more than 500 points by the end of Scene 2 will be able to continue with a FREE unlimited but conditional subscription.
What does “unlimited” mean?
Unlimited means that there is no time limit to your subscription. You can replay any Games and Scenes as many times as you'd like. You can progress at your own pace until you complete your course. In fact, any current subscription would also become unlimited, as long as the condition below is maintained.
What does “conditional” mean?
We want you to play and learn. But we also know that you'll learn a new
language only with regular practice. Your free (or paid) subscription will stay active as long as you play at least 4 times per week (Monday-Sunday).
If you skip this schedule more than twice, you'll see the screen on your right and you'll then have to subscribe (or your current subscription will expire as scheduled) in order to continue with your course. Learning is FREE – you'll only be paying, if you are NOTpracticing!
What might be the effects?
If you are a really motivated learner who likes our game/story-based approach you'll want to continue for free until you have completed the course. Even if you skip days and lose the free access, you may want to subscribe and continue. (Or, you may indeed just stop using our course.)
Why are we doing this?
• We are a young, closely held company, and are less interested in revenues than in attracting motivated learners.
• We hope that our “Learn & Play/Skip & Pay” model can keep learners motivated: We want you to learn for FREE and only pay, if you are NOT learning and practicing!
• We want to test whether “avoiding to pay” is as good a motivator as paying up front.
What do you think?
Before we test our “crazy new idea” we want to ask our past/current subscribers and our registered users:
• Would your learning behavior have been/be different?
• Would such a “deal” interest you?
• Would it motivate you to learn?
• What are aspects of the “deal” we should consider (vacation, illness, other, etc.)
• Is this too crazy or unrealistic an idea?
We'd love to hear from you. What are your thoughts?