Changes To Pricing Plans

Moving forward with the changes we announced in the January newsletter, last night we released a number of updates to our pricing plans. As we discussed in the newsletter, we really struggled with this decision but, given the current economic conditions and general softness in the online advertising environment, feel it is necessary to ensure that we remain a viable service for our existing and future customers. With that said, we want to reassure you that we aren't going anywhere! These are preemptive changes we are making to ensure we will be able to weather this economic storm.

Last night we also released stronger moderation features for the Community News  and Events  modules as well as increased control over resident email notifications. Community administrators and content moderators now have complete control and final approval of news and events that are published to their HOA website. They also now have greater control over when residents receive email notifications.

Below are the new pricing plans as of 02/02/2008. The most significant changes were to the Free plan. If you are affected by these changes, we welcome you to continue to use the free service and have provided a special coupon code - UPGHOA01 - to save 50% off the first month should you choose to upgrade. However, if you feel that our service isn't a good fit for your community right now we certainly understand and hope you will keep us in mind if your needs change.

HOA Website Pricing Plans

*All paid pricing plans include content moderation and email notification features.

Ultimate Plan

• Unlimited Residents
• Unlimited Groups
• 2GB Document Storage

Premium Plan

• Up to 500 Residents
• 10 Groups
• 1GB Document Storage

Standard Plan

• Up to 250 Residents
• 5 Groups
• 500MB Document Storage

Basic Plan

• Up to 100 Residents
• 3 Groups
• 250MB Document Storage

We also still have the Free plan with up to 25 residents and 1 group but no document storage, email notifications or content moderation.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding these changes please feel free to contact me personally at mitch.rupp@rdcweb.com or by phone at 913.710.8103.

Thank you for your time and we truly appreciate your business.

First 30 Days Are On Us

I am pleased to announce that the first month of any new, paid subscription plan is now free!  This change gives our customers an entire month to get their community setup, residents registered and take the site for a spin at no cost and no risk!  This is in addition to our 90-day money back guarantee! 

With zero risk, why not create a website for your HOA today? Use coupon code JAN200901 when setting up your community and get 20% off your first month! This offer is good through the end of January 2009.

Thanks and we will see you ‘round the neighborhood!

Coupon Codes

We pushed out an update to our subscription payment process today that enables us to accept coupon codes. Customers can enter a coupon code when creating a new community or upgrading their existing free subscription by entering the coupon code on the Subscription Payment Setup screen.

Enter code JAN200901 to receive 20% your first month! This offer is good through the end of January 2009.

Thanks and we will see you ‘round the neighborhood!

Site Sponsors

The mission of HOAInTouch has always been to improve the level and quality of communication in your homeowner association communities. To that end, we are constantly striving to find ways to improve and create a better experience for your residents.

As we have previously discussed, our business model has always been to partially subsidize the cost of our subscription plans via advertising. Today that changes somewhat.

Based on a combination of customer feedback and an evaluation of the current and future market conditions for local online advertising we have greatly reduced the amount of advertising present on each page.

Previously we had three large ad sections, a horizontal section across the top just below the menu tabs, a vertical section to the right below any tiles and a second horizontal section at the footer of the page. We would fill this inventory from a variety of sources including Google and other national ad networks, as well as local advertising and in house ads.

As of tonight all three of these sections have been removed. In their place we have added a small, text only Site Sponsors section in the lower right corner of the page (screenshot below). This makes for a much cleaner design with dramatically less “noise” and the site loads much faster. Certainly a better experience for our customers.

(Site Sponsors)

This change in direction is also a win for our advertisers. Moving forward we will no longer be utilizing Google - or  any other ad networks - and will only be displaying our own local advertising.  We are also limiting the number of sponsors per community to four and will only be displaying two ads per page. This decrease in inventory and competing advertisers will translate into increased page views and prominence for our local advertisers.

HOAInTouch is a tremendous opportunity for local businesses to advertise online and know that they are reaching their target market. If you are a real estate agent, lawn care provider, roofer, plumber, handyman, etc. please contact us so we can get your business in front of local homeowners. For only $25 per month you can reach homeowners in the neighborhood of your choice while they are already thinking about their homes.

Thanks and, as always, let us know what you think! We will see you ‘round the neighborhood!

Local Advertising

Our business model has always been to partially subsidize the cost of subscriptions via advertising. To date we have used national ad networks such as Google to fill our ad inventory. However, as of last week we are now able to host and publish our own ads.

This means your community can now have local advertising that is inherently more relevant and useful to your residents. HOAInTouch.com is a great place to advertise for realtors, lawn care, painters, banks, restaurants, etc. Really any business that wants to attract local customers is a great candidate.

So why is this good for you? Starting May 1st, any community that refers two or more advertisers will be automatically upgraded to the Ultimate plan absolutely free! Contact us at sales@hoaintouch.com for more details or if you have any questions.

More For Less

When we launched HOAInTouch.com a little over two months ago we started with an admittedly limited scope of understanding in terms of the varying sizes and types of homeowners associations. HOAInTouch.com really grew out of the recognition of problems our HOA - and similar HOAs in our area - were experiencing coupled with the lack of a viable solution in the market. We knew that if HOAs in our area were experiencing these issues then maybe we had an opportunity to help others around the country.

Two months later and nearly 50 communities strong we have come to recognize that, while there are literally tens of thousands of associations actively looking for a solution to these shared issues, unfortunately our pricing structure put help out of reach for a number of these communities.

Several of the associations we have talked to have expressed that they absolutely love the product and believe it could be of great benefit to their community but that it was either too expense or the limitations too constraining (i.e. not enough users without upgrading to the Unlimited plan) to be a viable option.

After careful consideration we are extremely pleased and excited to announce that starting today HOAInTouch.com will provide much more for much, much less. Below are our new pricing plans and as you can see we have drastically reduced the monthly subscription rates while increasing the number of users and contacts. Please visit our pricing page for more information on each of these plans.

Free – Yep, still free.
· 25 Users
· 25 Contacts
· 1 Group/Committee
· 50 MB Document Storage

Basic - $19.99/month
· 50 Users
· 60 Contacts
· 3 Group/Committee
· 250 MB Document Storage

Standard - $29.99/month
· 100 Users
· 120 Contacts
· 5 Group/Committee
· 250 MB Document Storage

Premium - $39.99/month
· 200 Users
· 250 Contacts
· 10 Group/Committee
· 1 GB Document Storage

Unlimited - $49.99/month
· Unlimited Users
· Unlimited Contacts
· Unlimited Group/Committee
· 2 GB Document Storage

Our hope is that these changes will make HOAInTouch.com even more accessible to the communities that need it most. Of course, all of our existing communities will be migrated to the new pricing structure and will see the reduced rates on next month’s statement.

We sincerely appreciate your support and welcome your feedback. Feel free to let us know what you think of the new plans or what you think of HOAInTouch.com in general. We value your thoughts and enjoy getting the opportunity to know our users a bit better..

Thanks and we will see you ‘round the neighborhood!

Why Does My HOA Need A Website?

When talking to prospective communities during the sales cycle we sometimes get the question “Why does my HOA need a website?”.

The first couple times I fielded this question I was taken aback a bit because, to me, it just seemed so glaringly self evident that a community website was the solution to so many problems associations often encounter.

In my attempt to answer, I stumbled around a bit talking about all the great features in HOAInTouch.com and all of the specific issues it is meant to resolve. While all true and somewhat helpful to the conversation, after fielding this question a few times I came to the realization that speaking to specific features and issues really just clouds the discussion.

The reality is the essence of nearly any issue your HOA faces boils down to communication. The truth is your HOA doesn’t need a website. It needs a better way to communicate - a better way to bring people and information together.

Today's communities really need a better way to connect with neighbors and disseminate information. We think HOAInTouch.com is simply the best means to that end. Try us out and we think you will agree.

Thanks and we will see you ‘round the neighborhood!