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Freemium, Free, Free Trial

4 points by IvanaSays ↗ HN
Folks. For SaaS products, is it fair to advertise a product as "free", if the product has a vey low level free plan for small projects, but otherwise offers a 2 week free trial. Let's say it's a CMS. I am talking about you coming to the site and seeing those call-to-action buttons. If they say "Free CMS" vs. "Free trial" - are you OK with that?

9 comments

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ev1
What is 'low level'? It depends on what the product is and what tier of bullshit it implies.

For example: "Free photo editor" but the free plan does not allow saving.

"Free CMS" but you can only have one page and no ability to edit CSS.

In these cases it's not free or freemium, that's utter BS.

99% of the time it's a no

IvanaSays
Excellent point, and very well said, thank you!
rootshelled
Look at Spotify for how freemium works

Freemium basically implies you can use 80% of the product but some juicy functionality is in the other 20%.

For example:

An image to pdf generator, but it can also do OCR. The free product has lasting value, but the premium option adds to it.

A trail is free but not freemium since it has no lasting impact.

I would instead use wording like: - try it - try now - try it now

This still works as an call to action but does not decieve the user

mceachen
I think it doesn't help you (as an entrepreneur) or the customer if you aren't forthright, especially in your initial communications, which are setting up their first impression of your product and your company.

When I was working on AdGrok, which did Google AdWords campaign management, the very first thing that would save thousands per month is to add the negative keyword "free" to their ad campaign: People searching for "free $whateverYourProductDoes" are not going to be easy to convert to paid, and are likely skewed towards subsequently toxic customers.

There are many "freemium" products that hide the limitations of their free offering, which may result in higher initial conversions, but no one feels good when they're "tricked" into using a product.

Clearly enumerate what's the value-add of paying for the thing, and make sure there's actual value to that value-add.

Also: it's (possibly) PR-worthy when you make previously-paid features be free. It's flame-worthy when you push previously-free features behind a paywall. Consider being conservative with your free tier due to this imbalance.

(I'm wrestling with what's going to be in the "free" versus "plus" tier for PhotoStructure right now!).

murban74
That sounds like trickery to me. If I were a potential consumer of that product, I would feel very put off by its deceptive marketing and most likely not partake in the service. It's 2020, SaaS products have been around for a reasonable amount of time, and for the most part, consumers are savvier than they have ever been. In my experience, no one wants to jump through hoops or given a song and dance to try a product. Give your audience the right information upfront. Be open, honest, and accurate.

Additionally, "free" is not always a good thing. It can often make a product or offering sounds cheap. I think it's custom (and nice) to offer a free trial period, especially when you don't even have to put in your credit card. It's a great way to show off the product, customer service, and value. Even offering a free trial at a low entry fee is becoming standard -- take a look at Ahrefs, $7 for seven days.

Good luck.