Theme clubs aren’t new. They’ve been around for a number of years for Joomla and other popular CMS platforms, offering users a way to get themes at discounted rates. This makes them attractive for people who want to take advantage of more of their themes, use them on multiple sites, or customize their website on a “monthly” basis. Theme clubs aren’t for everyone, and that’s why many companies offering these theme clubs still sell themes individually, although for rates slightly higher than when you purchase the themes in one package/through a themes club.
As more premium theme companies have launched over the past few years, a few problems arose out of competition. While there is a lot of competition amongst the popular theme designers, there is also a lot of steadfast loyalty among some providers. For example, if you purchase a theme from Designer X, you are satisfied with their offering, you are likely to either continue purchasing themes from them, or you will continue your membership. However, there are certainly some people who will jump from designer to designer to see which one offers the best price vs. features.
The Theme Clubs market could be considered more competitive, as each is trying to win the customer over to continue purchasing a membership – whether it be a monthly, quarterly, or annual subscription. Generally, these theme clubs charge a rate about two to three times the cost of a standard theme (although this rate varies widely), then a monthly charge about two to three times lower than the standard price of a theme. This way, you’ll still be able to save money if you decide to change a theme.
Some of the problems I’ve seen stem around these main issues:
- Theme designers are over-promising and not delivering. For example, if you claim that you can pump our two new themes for your paying members, then deliver it. You shouldn’t have to apologize to them if you can’t meet what you promised. If it really gets down to it, prepare for the future with themes that are still well-designed, which leads into the next point.
- Some designers have simply released themes that aren’t as high of a quality as I would like to see them. Simply repackaging a theme and re-selling it with a new color scheme doesn’t work and you won’t be able to sustain this approach. Be innovative and don’t cut any corners. With these membership plans, make sure you aren’t rushed to release a theme to meet the “two new themes per month” deadline.
- Obviously, with these commitments, it is also important to keep in mind the other aspects of your business. If you want to be known for good support, there is also a high chance that you’ll need to reduce your workload for creating and designing new themes, otherwise you’ll end up with the desire to outsource your work (which often results in coding that doesn’t appeal to your tastes).
I would have hoped that some of these issues would have been resolved by now, but as I see more new theme clubs/designers opening their sites for business, the problem continues to exist. If you promise two new themes each month, deliver – don’t release a theme in April and a new one in August. That’s not what your paying customers want to see. It’s quite easy for someone to cancel a monthly plan and move on to someone (or a company) that offers what they are looking for.
