The Idea
“Freemium” is a term that refers to a product or service that gives a part of it away for free in return for (hopefully) users that will eventually turn in to customers. Marketers know that only a small minority of users may actually convert – but you get:
- Feedback
- A chance to market new products to an existing audience
- Get people to try your product that wouldn’t otherwise
- An opportunity to build trust
- “Warm leads” that can convert
In return for
- Supporting a free user base
- Cheapskate customers that are nothing but a loss
Provide Real Value
The idea is to give something of value that people can actually use – not just a gimmicky “free course” or something like that. That means it needs to be low-cost to offer in relation to the price of your product and size of the market.
Some examples are travel-sized samples, software with limited functionality, a product with obvious branding on it, free consultations or services etc. This works best for software companies for obvious reasons but the term goes hand-in-hand with the retail term “loss-leader”. It works great for some companies and poorly for others, so give it some thought and maybe a few tests.
Metrics
- Ease: Doable
- Cost: $100+
- Scope: Medium
- Speed: Quick
- Reach: Global
