As some of you have noticed, we are running house ads for TrainerRoad on the forum. I want to explain why and set expectations for that.
As a bootstrapped company we don’t do much traditional advertising, and by the numbers this relatively small change should have a big positive impact on our company. I appreciate y’all taking some time to get used to it as we constantly seek ways to grow TrainerRoad.
Why
In short, to increase sign ups . The forum has a ton of traffic every day, and it’s important for the growth of our company to make sure they are thinking about TrainerRoad and how it can help them get faster.
Who Sees The Ads?
As of now, everybody on the forum will see the ads. We’re working on a solution to show no ads to people with active TrainerRoad subscriptions, but that isn’t in place yet.
Where Will the Ads Be?
We’re starting off with the top and bottom of the topic feed or post, and inline with posts every 15th post. We’ll be trying different placements over time, so this is likely to change.
Feedback
If you ever feel that the ads are degrading your experience, let us know how you’d like to see them changed. Note,“degrading” is unique from “different”. Since we haven’t had ads recently, it might feel different, but a degrading experience means it hinders your ability to use the forum to get information and engage with the community.
I’d describe it as annoying (probably something in between aggravating and different) but if you are working on a way to turn ads off for subscribers I can put up with it for a bit.
I haven’t noticed the ads, whether because of ad blockers or just lack of attention. That said, I don’t mind.
I may be in the minority, but I wouldn’t be offended by useful ads on the podcast either. I don’t need to hear another BetterHelp ad, but if Wahoo wants to advertise their newest and greatest trainer or something, all good.
The downside is most of the ads I hear on podcasts are for items that even if related, like nutrition, might not be appropriate. I want honest feedback about why Maurten’s studies on sodium bicarbonate may not be ideal, and if they are a sponsor that likely could not happen.
Probably more than you care about, but my thoughts.
I don’t mind them. It is your forum platform and if there is a lot of traffic here from people that aren’t yet members, it seems obvious to try to tempt them.
I think they are a bad idea, at least for the majority of the visitors to this forum, especially in their current form. I keep on coming back to the sentence “The forum is the ad.”
But let’s break it down. As far as I can tell there are three groups:
Forum members who are subscribers. I see no good reason to advertise to them. They have already been convinced to fork over money and the ads just serve to annoy them. I find it kinda insulting and can see no gain for TR.
Forum members who are not subscribers. Here you can make an argument, although I reckon they know at least something about TR. IMHO the forum itself should be the ad, the actual ads just cheapen the experience. Many of them are past subscribers, so a banner ad isn’t going to convince them to re-subscribe.
People who visit the forum, but are not members and not subscribers. Here I see some arguments in favor or ads, but I would limit myself to a single banner at the top. Again, the main ad is the forum itself and the community.
What I would like to see is
no ads for current subscribers,
no banner ads for forum members who are not subcribers and
perhaps a single banner ad at the top for visitors.
I think the visual heft of the current ad designs are a bit incongruous with the aesthetically light forum UI. Working in marketing, I’m all for testing new things, but I wouldn’t be surprised if their obviousness as an ad diminishes their effectiveness.
However, I usually have a DNS-based ad blocker on, so advertise away!
Actually I come back to the Trainerroad subscription every winter because of this great forum. There are so many alternatives, but I don‘t want to test them all, so Trainerroad it is.
Also the forum comes up quite often when googling cycling related things.
Think this is the crux of it - I wouldn’t be surprised if a large majority of viewers of this forum aren’t even members of the forum nevermind subscribers to the product.
I’m totally good with ads for TrainerRoad on TrainerRoad’s forum.
Only feedback I have is to make them white instead of black, the contrast is jarring and it stands out quite a bit. It’d be great if they toggled between light and dark mode
If a forum user is paying for the service, I see no need or benefit for either party, for the forum interface to direct advertising to that user. How about for TR subscribers, the ad changes to a “Thank you for subscribing to TR” with links to career, calendar, & other areas of the training interface?
Something I’ve found only very slightly irksome (not enough to bring it up until now) is the absence of an obvious link back to the training interface, which itself does have an obvious link to the forum. On the top of the forum I see the “Sign Up Risk Free for 30 Days -Learn More” link which does that, but I’ve never thought to use it because of its wording. Is it now redundant if the forum is serving ads?
. The forum has a ton of traffic every day, and it’s important for the growth of our company to make sure they are thinking about TrainerRoad and how it can help them get faster.
That’s gonna confuse a heck of a lot of people who head over there looking for visual humour, satire, etc. 
