Oh man, I would love to see the take up numbers for Meta’s “Meta Verified” subscription offering.
Meta hasn’t shared any specifics on how Meta Verified is going, which enables users to purchase themselves a blue checkmark, along with enhanced account support, and other features, for $14.99 per month. But it is making a bigger push on its subscription offerings, which seemingly suggests that it is seeing a good level of interest among both regular users and businesses.
And Meta’s latest Meta Verified pitch is a money back guarantee.
That’s right, as you can see in this screenshot, posted by Jonah Manzano, Meta is now offering a 14-day money back guarantee on a Meta Verified subscription if you’re not totally satisfied with the product.
Which, theoretically, people could then use to get improved account support to rectify an issue, then cancel their actual subscription, giving you access to get free, improved account assistance via this offer.
Which could be a good deal, based on what some others have reported about Meta Verified’s enhanced account support.
But obviously, the bigger push for Meta is to get more users signing up to the program, which provides Meta with another stream of supplemental income, and is likely bringing in quite a bit, even if it does erode the value of the traditional checkmark in the app.
Indeed, looking at Meta’s Q1 numbers, Meta Verified would be included in its “Other” income element:
Meta Verified was launched in the U.S. in March 2023, so presumably, a significant percentage of the increase in this element from then on can be attributed to Verified and Verification for Business subscriptions.
That could indicate that Meta’s generating something in the vicinity of $150 million per quarter from this element, which would equate to around 3 million or so Verified subscribers. And at 3 billion total users across its apps, that’s a fairly feasible level of performance, if not an expected one, given the take-up of similar subscription offerings in other apps.
So while the perceived value of the blue checkmark could be reduced by selling it, as it no longer represents noteworthiness of an account, after X (formerly Twitter) decided to sell its checmarks, maybe Meta figured that such value was already being reduced anyway by broader industry shifts, so why not make an extra $150 million per quarter if people are willing to pay?
Meta also recently launched new tiers for its Verification for Business packages, while it’s also working on new elements to entice more subscribers for its personal Verification offering.
And now, a cash back guarantee.
Will that get more people signing up?
The most significant variance in the approach of Meta, as opposed to X, in this respect, is that Meta’s only using this as a supplemental income stream, while X is seeking to replace its ad income with paying users.
That’s not going to happen, but again, at $150 million or so per quarter, you can see why Meta’s increasingly keen to keep pushing the option to get more users signing up.
And maybe, for some, there is benefit to it.
You can try it out either way, and I’m guessing that if this offer is rolled out to all users, many will do just that.
