Elite Membership

[Mike P.(4)]

Hi everyone,

I have a question for other elite members.

In the most recent expose Andrei says that Elite Members get special "invites, news and awesome things ahead of schedule". I have been an elite member for over a year and only received one email with an offer for me to buy a set of uncut sheets. I have never received any news or anything awesome ahead of schedule. I think this is FALSE ADVERTISING.

I emailed theory 11 but they did not respond.

What is your experience as an elite member? Is it the same as mine?

Also, If theory11 would like to respond, that would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Mike P.(4)]

Also, in my experience, being an elite member doesn't "unlock" more items in the archive. It just presumes that you have built up enough points to get the higher value items that are already listed. Again, I think this is an unfortunate play on words.

I would love to hear from theory 11 on this to correct me if my statements are wrong. Silence, only confirms I am correct.

I think it is fair to theory11 members wanting to become an elite member, that they know that the benefits stated by Theory 11 are not true.

 

[Lyle Borders]

Hey Mike!

Thanks for reaching out! First and foremost, we did receive your support message, and it was definitely not ignored. We promise response time of 12 business hours or less. Because your message came in late afternoon yesterday, and today is a weekend - our team didn't yet have a chance to respond. Our actual average response time is less than 8 hours, 24x7x365 - but the holiday contest launch yesterday morning meant that our team was quite busy! So above all else - know that we're listening, we hear you, and we (truly) value the feedback.

Our Elite Member program is there to make sure that our most loyal customers have a little something extra as a reward for their loyalty. Unlike other sites and programs, our Elite Member program is totally free - it's an added benefit, an extra something in true acknowledge from our team being thankful for your support. What Andrei said in Expose is a sample of some of the cool things we have done in the past and things we will surely do again in the future.

The Elite Program is not a product you purchase. Yes, you get there by spending money in our shop, but by spending money in our shop, you aren't buying membership. Elite Membership and those perks come along without any additional cost. Examples include a free item, a teaser photo, an early preview of a trailer, an early access sale for a new release, exclusive releases, exclusive discounts, Q&A Sessions, etc. Now admittedly, at times we could be much better about passing along MORE awesome perks to our Elite Members, and this is my fault. But on a daily basis, those points can be redeemed for instant discounts every day.

This past month, we brought back an amazing new team member - Jon Raiker - who, among other things, is helping with great expansion of our Elite Member program. With his help, we hope to make the Elite Perks more consistent and exciting for all of our Elite Members. Feel free to send along any ideas for Elite Perks that you have -- as always, we'd love your feedback.

We have a planned Elite Perk for this coming week, a little special something for the holidays. We also have FIVE(!) new releases in the works nearing completion, several of which we hope to have ready this month - we've been mighty busy and mighty quiet working away!

// L

 

[Mike P.(4)]

Hi Lyle,

Thanks for responding. I appreciate it. I understand and agree with everything you said in your response, and I am excited to hear about what is planned next week.

My biggest issue is that theory 11 always makes the statements about what perks the Elite club gets, but in the last year I only received one email as an elite member, and didn't feel like I got any perks (other than a single email invite to something I wasn't interested in, I bought it anyway just to feel like I was included in the benefit).

I know it's free, and I don't expect to financially benefit from the membership, but feel like theory 11 didn't care about their elite members this year, or they would have sent us more communication.

Here are some ideas that would not cost a lot, but go a long way in making the elite program better:

Create an elite member "newsletter" or video message that you email 4 times per year

Add more than one item per year to the archive to make it more interesting like exclusive downloads, exclusive decks, autographed products, stickers, coins, dice, clothing, gaff decks for your popular decks, deck storage boxes, close up pads. Just put the effort in to creating more variety than one item per year. Single gaff cards that match your popular decks

Actually give us access to something ahead of release date. Even if it was for only one product per year.

You release tons of products each year which are tons of opportunities to provide us with a perk. Perks like early access to trailers don't cost you anything.

I guess the short answer is, you don't need to do a lot, just do something more than sending a single email in 12 months. Even 4 emails per year would be exciting, even if it was just an update for elite members on what theory 11 is up to.

By promoting and advertising perks, and then not delivering is a mistake. Your team managed to put together expose videos 52 times this year, and you only typed one email to me as an elite member. You would't have to do a lot, just do something, anything.

Anyway, sorry for the rant, and thanks for listening. I am only putting the effort in to tell you all this because I like theory 11 and don't want you to let your customers down.

I am excited to hear about what you have planned next week, and will be watching my inbox! Any hints? Haha, just kidding!

Mike

 

[Lyle Borders]

Here are some ideas that would not cost a lot, but go a long way in making the elite program better:

Create an elite member "newsletter" or video message that you email 4 times per year

Add more than one item per year to the archive to make it more interesting like exclusive downloads, exclusive decks, autographed products, stickers, coins, dice, clothing, gaff decks for your popular decks, deck storage boxes, close up pads. Just put the effort in to creating more variety than one item per year. Single gaff cards that match your popular decks

Actually give us access to something ahead of release date. Even if it was for only one product per year.

You release tons of products each year which are tons of opportunities to provide us with a perk. Perks like early access to trailers don't cost you anything.

Hey Mike!

Great, perfect feedback. Thank you! We will absolutely use this going forward.

Elite Newsletter - I love this idea, and will be putting it into effect come January. I think a quarterly newsletter to Elite Members is a great way to keep you in the loop with theory11. I'm not talking our standard news blips. We can give you some really cool insider information on what is happening at theory11, what we are working on, etc. The kind of news that we don't usually make public we could potentially give you a glimpse into. Be on the lookout for something like this come early January.

Adding items to The Archive - Also a great idea, and something we are already working on now. We are changing our system to make it much easier for us to add one of a kind items on a whim. We have some cool new items coming soon, so keep your eyes open for them! I can't say we have gaff cards coming (they have never been something we have explored much), but that is certainly an interesting idea for us to consider.

Early Access to Releases - This is something we want to do for sure! It will not be every release (or even most releases), but we do want to do early releases for some of our products for you Elite Members. With lots of new products in the works right now, maybe one of these early releases will happen soon, who knows?

Sneak Peeks - These used to happen on a fairly regular basis, and we will be trying hard to bring them back more often! Sometimes you will see teaser photos, other times you will get full product photos and info, and other times you will see a trailer before we ever announce the product.

Love the ideas, keep 'em coming if you think of any more. Keep your eyes open this next week (early to mid week) for a brand new Elite Exclusive. Let me know at support@theory11.com if you don't see it.

Have an awesome week!

// L