MyHeritage.com Unveils World’s First Group Subscription Payments for Families. Family members can “split the bill” on subscriptions at the world’s largest family network
NEW YORK, USA, LONDON, UK & TEL AVIV, Israel – July 6, 2011 - MyHeritage.com, the world’s largest online family network, today announced the launch of a pioneering group payment system called ‘Family Goals’ – that enables family members to chip in to jointly purchase a subscription. With 57 million registered users, MyHeritage.com is a free service that enables families to stay in touch, share memories and explore their roots, with premium subscriptions for advanced features. This is the first time a large scale online business has offered consumers the opportunity to share the cost of a subscription, and is an initiative that leverages the power and uniqueness of MyHeritage.com's family network.
“Families place enormous value on preserving their heritage and keeping in touch, but they also keep a close eye on their personal finances”, said Gilad Japhet, Founder and CEO of MyHeritage.com. “We have created a network used by tens of millions of families around the world in more than 30 languages, and are proud to give them a new and cost effective way to buy an online subscription. Family Goals creates a new industry standard for online subscriptions, while helping achieve our mission of bringing family history to the masses.”
MyHeritage.com is the leading online destination for families to explore their family history, share photos, videos and important documents and to stay up-to-date with family news - all in a private and secure online environment. The site is home to over 770 million profiles in 18 million family trees, creating the world’s Family Graph, a digital representation of family relationships both past and present.
“MyHeritage.com has quietly been building the largest and most international family social network on the web”, said Saul Klein, board member at MyHeritage.com and partner at Index Ventures. “Companies such as Netflix, Spotify and LinkedIn have shown the power of subscriptions on the web, and by adding an innovative social layer to its premium model, MyHeritage.com is doing something unique in the online social world and delivering fantastic value to families”.
By starting a Family Goal on MyHeritage.com, the organizer can invite relatives to ‘chip in’ and raise money to purchase or extend a family site subscription on MyHeritage.com. A subscription benefits the entire family by offering additional storage and premium features for discovering and sharing family history.
There are 3 simple steps in setting up a Family Goal:
1. Picking a target subscription
2. Optionally chipping in to get the ball rolling
3. Inviting family members to contribute
2. Optionally chipping in to get the ball rolling
3. Inviting family members to contribute
The site harnesses social dynamics to encourage family members to chip in first, to chip in the most and to chip in the latest, and keeps them updated as the goal progresses towards completion. Invited family members can choose whether to participate and how much to contribute, in almost any worldwide currency and through many supported payment methods. Partially completed goals receive a pro-rata subscription and the family can complete it later for the full duration.
Family Goals, now available publicly, was released in April 2011 in a private beta to a group of users within MyHeritage.com. Early indications show that by enabling a family to share costs, there was a significant rise in the number of subscriptions purchased. Users who participated in the private beta reported that they were pleasantly surprised with the results and felt that Family Goals empowered their family and increased the motivation of the family members to cooperate in preserving and sharing the family history.
MyHeritage.com user Ken T. from South Dakota completed a Family Goal, raising enough funds to upgrade his family’s site to a PremiumPlus subscription. “Family Goals are absolutely wonderful”, Ken commented. “It took only about four or five family members to reach our goal, and I was thrilled to know that the family is interested and wants to see our family site grow and last for our future children and grandchildren. The site was also very good at keeping the family informed about the progress of our joint goal.”
Additional information on Family Goals is available at http://blog.myheritage.com/2011/07/introducing-family-goals-now-the-whole-family-can-buy-a-subscription-together/.
Chris
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