Do you want movie sets to continue?

[Bound2Burst]

I note that the sale of movie sets has fallen dramatically. Should I interpret this to mean that you don't like the format where all movies in a set are contained in a single WMV or QUICKTIME file?

[pcwp]

I still buy sets, it's great value. That being said maybe we've reached the point where all 2-3 movies are too different in style to match most peoples tastes? Not really much can be done about this, probably better especially with c4s now to release as much different content as possible.

I can understand the annoyance of them all being in one file, I have good knowledge of video editing so it's easy for me to separate them, but I guess it might not be for others.

One thing I will say though;
This week, with regards to Lily, after about 3 days when you put it up on the b2b front page, I ended up purchasing the JMI video, since I didn't know it was part of a set and figured you wouldn't have advertised it on the b2b front page if it was going to be part of set - thought it was going to be like the amber movie, couple of days later you released it in set , so while I would have probably got the set I won't now as have already paid 50% of the set price for one movie

[Bound2Burst]

[Bound2Burst]

[BlahPeeV]

It may seem a little counter-intuitive, but, what about posting the set =first=? Then you can do the individual clips a day or two afterward to gain more updates, and everyone who sees a set should be able to infer that the individual clips are coming soon, particularly if you adopt this as standard practice so it becomes the norm.

I generally purchase sets if a majority (or even sometimes if it is a large set, a plurality may suffice) of the videos will interest me, even if one or two others in the set will not. It's still usually better value, and who knows? I might end up enjoying the other one anyway. Besides that, the best I can suggest is perhaps have more of a running theme with sets, with perhaps just one (if you can make four movies in a set the standard instead of the usual three - that might be pushing time/cost restraints, but you'll know that where I don't) you could do three with a particular theme - nakedness, bondage wetting, business outfit wetting, etc...to try to maintain some uniformity, since the variety sets are apparently dropping off.

Languishing in Australia with an internet connection on average worse than the average in our very polite and considerate friends in North Korea, I prefer individual downloads where possible instead of one colossal file, and second to that, the .zip method that FF supported but C4S sadly does not was still preferable for my file sorting itself, but, I cannot offhand think of a solution there within C4S' methods.

[pcwp]

[chris]

When you release a movie I like, I usually buy the whole set unless I really don't think I'm going to enjoy the other movies in the set. Sets have always been good value and they are even better value now compared to the individual C4S prices. I don't like having all the movies in one big file and that did put me off initially, but it works well enough and I can always split the file if I need to.

I think BlahPeeV's suggestion of releasing the set first is a good one, though I appreciate that you have to edit all the movies in the set before you can release it. You could post all the movie descriptions and screenshots on your site straight away and say below each movie 'available to purchase on [date]', then just add the C4S links over a few days. I don't know whether that would increase sales of sets or just create more work for you with no reward, but perhaps a few people would buy the set for earlier access to a new movie that wasn't available individually yet.

Given that the content of sets hasn't changed since the Files Forever days that shouldn't be an issue. I guess you know from experience with the Elevator Desperation set whether sets of similar movies sell better or worse than varied sets. I know you've made a lot of money out of me by releasing Naked Wait movies in varied sets, since I bought the sets when I would probably otherwise have just bought a Naked Wait set if there was one.

One thing I will say is please keep adding the movie details to your site - the C4S navigation system is pretty poor and it's quite hard to find a movie once it falls off the front page.

Keep up the good work Dave - I know it's tough at the moment but your movies are still the best around!

Chris

[MPee3]

I think it's just not explained right, the way it is now. Right now on the front page of B2B, the link to the Lily's "set" leads to just a picture of Lily, with no explanation whatsoever. While things are clear to you, they might not be clear to the buyer.

If the link to the set had a clear explanation saying that hitting this option gives you the three movies at a discount, people would be more inclined to buy it. You really need to have some graphics design involved in the explanation: not a mountain of text, but instead having the "Set" option link to a small image showing one screen capture from each movie, with the names of each, and below in bright, bold letters say: "SAVE 35% - purchase all 3 movies as one file". People love savings. Also if you could provide a link to a freeware movie editing app that allows easy separation of the file, that would be great.

I really think a lot of the decline you're seeing is due to that option not being marketed correctly. Presentation is everything.

[pcwp]

I actually like the idea of set first then individual clips. Though only if everything is finished at once (in terms of editing for you), I can see only doing one clip a day or w.e. and then the merge into one 'clip/set' is the most efficient way of doing it time wise, so I guess that is where the problem lies?

If the set was actually first then I think people who were desperate for one particular movie and didn't mind the others might actually buy it. Come to think of it that's probably the biggest change since FF, everything used to be released at once rather than the c4s of individual clips (and then the soon to be set, after all were released), I expect that must have has some impact on sales? As I said before, if you don't think it's going to be part of a set, or don't even want to wait to see what the others are, you'll just buy the one clip and then when the set is finally released its a bit late to want to purchase the set.

I don't know if you want to try reversing the order for a week? If its even possible or have you grown fond of the new c4s 'one clip a day' time frame ?

[pcwp]

[qpeg]

I suppose when the first movie in the set is up on C4S, you could just post to the main site as normal but replace the purchase button of the rest of the movies (and set) with a "coming soon" notice, replacing with purchase buttons as each becomes available.

That way site visitors have the latest release information whilst still being made aware that a full set is upcoming.

[Bound2Burst]

Thank you for the feedback. I am pondering your comments and will make a decision about what to do soon. I appreciate the help.

[chris]

Hi Dave, a few more thoughts on this.

You've said in the past that most Bound2Burst sales were through Files Forever, with few people using your C4S store. That means almost everyone is finding the movies through your website rather than the C4S one. If that's the case then does your store ranking on C4S matter? Maybe by releasing movies one at a time you risk confusing regular customers who are used to movies arriving in sets, just to maintain a high C4S store ranking that doesn't result in many sales anyway.

I wonder how the recent dip in sales compares to when you moved from PayPal to Files Forever? Did you lose sales then until people got used to Files Forever? I guess that was a smaller change becuase you still offered movie downloads from your server for a while.

I think perhaps some people are just not sure about C4S, and as soon as they buy a movie from C4S for the first time they'll realise it works just fine. There might also be some people still waiting to see if Files Forever returns, or who just don't understand the move to C4S beacuse they don't vist the site very often. I think you should make it clear on your front page that Files Forever is no more, and all your movies are now sold through C4S. I would suggest a clear message on the front page saying your movies are now sold through C4S, explaining how to purchase them, what will show up on the credit card statement etc. You need to convince people that C4S is a safe way to buy movies.

There's a chance the higher prices are putting some people off as well. Have you considered editing new movies to be a bit shorter? About 15-20 minutes would still be much longer than what most other C4S stores offer but might be a more reasonable price than a 30 minute movie. If C4S prices based on file size, perhaps higher compression on your movie files would help as well? Some stores seem to offer HD and non-HD versions of clips, I guess you could try that for one set.

Anyway, those are just some random thoughts from lying in bed this morning!

Chris

[Bound2Burst]

[Bound2Burst]

[Bound2Burst]

Does anyone know of any freeware apps that can cut movies without re-encoding?

[pcwp]

[chris]

You can split a .mov file for free with MPEG Streamclip (http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-win.html). It requires Quicktime Alternative 1.81 to be installed as well (http://www.filehippo.com/download_quick ... ative/2615). I don't think it re-encodes the movie, it certainly performs the split very fast which suggests it doesn't.

Chris

[Loo-Loo]

[BlahPeeV]

In my case, I haven't bought the last two sets, because to be perfectly honest they have not interested me as much as those shortly beforehand. This new one up though, once you have the set available, I shall be buying - even though I prefer individual files, I'll go the set option anyway.

[Bound2Burst]

[Alister_McFish]

Ah, ha. You are asking for advise. Please understand that my free advise is often worth a little less than what you paid for it.

I am one who buys individual clips based on my peculiar preferences. For example, of the Gianna Set II, I would be interested only in buying "Can I Use Your Bathroom, I'm Bursting." If I am interested in two clips of a set, I will buy the set only if its price is less than the sum of the prices of the two clips that interest me; and in that case I may discard the third clip in which I have no interest. I know, I said these are my peculiar preferences, but I do not intend to buy or keep clips that I would not watch. To buy an entire set, I must be interested in all three.

[Loo-Loo]

But does that answer the question of why sales of sets are down so dramatically?

It is almost as if the purchasers of sets have just used the demise of FF as an excuse to cut their clip purchases for good. This is the bit that I don't understand. If someone was becoming bored with sets which they were only watching one clip from, then why continue with the sets? And why wait until the FF link becomes a C4S link before giving up?

The problem is that no customers who have done this seem to have come here and explained why.

I still find this all very strange.

Did this happen with bondage videos, or were they not available as sets anyway? Presumably they were moved over to C4S without too much of a sales drop?

I really am just thinking aloud here, in the hope that the reason will appear out of the ether.

[Bound2Burst]

[Watcher]

Like some other posters, I only download the videos which are of interest to me, and since my 'interests' are quite specific/special, I rarely find a movie set in which all three movies would be of interest. The only recent exception was the "'Elevator Desperation " movie set.

If only 1 in 10 of the videos is of interest to me, I am happy, because I realise it is impossible for Dave to keep everyone happy all the time.

I think Dave should continue to produce a 'variety' of video types. If for example he made sets organised by theme (e.g. long legged girls wearing tight mini-skirts, and wetting their clothing and legs - my special interest !), I might have to wait a long time for such sets to be available ! By interspersing such videos with others, my interest in this site is maintained, and I browse more frequently

Watcher