Let’s raise a toast to tip menus, those loyal assistants that reduce the stress of constantly repeating to new users what you do and don’t on cam, and how much you charge for it. And if that wasn’t helpful enough already, it also coordinates user requests after they tip the appropriate amount of tokens. Long live tip menus!
Not all cam sites support tip menus fully, mind you, but if yours does, then you’ve hit the jackpot, because you just avoided investing time into creating one yourself. You can just input your tip menu items in a few seconds, and you’re good to go.
People gravitate to things that evoke aesthetic pleasure. As silly as it may sound, increments of 10 or palindromic numbers (55, 44, 66, etc.) can be more alluring...
Nonetheless, who hasn’t had doubts now and then about how to fully capitalize on a tip menu? What actions should you include on it and how should you price them? To help out, I’ve put together a list of six ways you can tap into every nook and cranny of tip menus.
Learn From the Best
A peek into other performers’ profiles is worth a thousand words. Lurking in their rooms with the sole intent of seeing how they are using the tip menu doesn’t compromise the cam girl code. This is completely legit. So go check their tip menus to get some inspiration and see how it’s done. Indeed, what worked for them might not work for you, but it can be a starting point until you find your own formula.
Put Your Needs First
Focus less on what users are most likely to pay for and more on what you will enjoy doing most. Users enjoy the show more when they see the person on cam being genuinely into whatever it is that they’re being tipped to do.
Besides, if you just perform the top things people are willing to pay for, in time, you will start disliking your job and thereby not excelling at it. Catering to the mainstream alone might work at the beginning, but it’s doomed in the long run. Your best bet is to do 80% of things you enjoy and 20% of things users enjoy. That’s how you make everyone happy.
Think about what you like and the kinks or fetishes you dig. The answer to what to include in your tip menu lies in the type of porn you usually watch. For the other 20%, try to come up with actions that suit all likes and that can diversify your tip menu. “Mystery box,” which contains your sex toy or “Spin the wheel” are classics.
Think Outside the Box
After doing your homework of roaming other models’ rooms, you will soon realize that there are some tip menu staples: “flash tits,” “flash pussy,” “blowjob,” etc. It never fails. But beyond these, you have to come up with innovative ideas and thus build your own brand. “Write your name on my body” or “dance to your song” are examples of something different you could offer. The way is yours to pave.
Don't Be Too Greedy
How many tokens should you charge for tip menu actions? This is the big question, and it has a brief answer: it depends.
If you’re a new model and your regular audience is low, you should be more generous with your pricing until you gain some popularity. As you build up the numbers of followers, you can adjust your prices and raise them gradually. Keep in mind that it’s always better to get 50 tokens from five users than 100 from just one.
If you need help navigating your price list, check out what the current market looks like overall with some browsing, or experiment to see what works.
Price Your Numbers Harmoniously
People gravitate to things that evoke aesthetic pleasure. As silly as it may sound, increments of 10 or palindromic numbers (55, 44, 66, etc.) can be more alluring to tip. The psychology behind it is the same that explains why you try to walk on the pavement without stepping on the lines of the paving stones – no shame, we have all done it at some point in life.
Following this same logic, arranging prices in order from least to greatest really does the trick. Not only because it keeps up with visual harmony, but also because it doesn’t shoo users away. Imagine you open someone’s tip menu, and the first thing you see are the big numbers. Spooky!
Remind Users About Your Tip Menu
A little reminder about your tip menu never hurt anyone. At the very least, you’ll surely help new users who may not be familiar with the features on a cam site yet, so make sure they know you have a tip menu available where they can see your list of activities. And encourage them to use it!
If you don’t want to do the dirty work, put bots to work for you. Sites often have an announcement bot that regularly sends messages to the room chat; you decide what it says and how often, so you can include a reminder for your viewers about your tip menu and forget about the rest.
Max Bennet is the VP of New Media for Stripchat. Visit Stripchat.com/signup/model to learn more about the innovative camming platform.