How to ask free users to pay?

Nitin P
8 replies
If you had a product that was free to use, no freemium, and you wanted to monetize it, how would you go about it? Please share your experiences or tips.

Replies

Luka Vasic
I would start by asking your users, the way you would do this depends on who your users are. Ask them about the product, the features they use... And ask them how much they would pay for it. This would give you a number you can work with. If they really enjoy the product and need it they will pay. After this, you can add new features that your customers are asking for and roll out those features with monetization. Through branding and telling a story behind the product, updates, and monetization this can go well. These new features can be marketed as a relaunch or a 2.0 version... On a side note for your loyal customers, I would do discounts and maybe for a few days an LTD or Discount period.
Nitin P
@luka_vasic Thanks for sharing. When you try to monetise a free product there would be some churn. I think your idea of discount and LTD would help address that.
Luka Vasic
@nitin_p Well churn is inevitable, but they aren't paying anyways. So losing a few customers but monetizing the rest is a win
Abhinav Verma
@luka_vasic LTD definitely works and has worked in our case. We are still looking for ways to get Free users to be Monthly Recurring revenue users.
Ruben Bennet
Check usage stats first. How often are people use it. If they use the product often it should be them value so it will be far for them to pay.
Anastasiia K
That is actually quite a question I'm currently thinking of myself. I'd say of course everything depends on how you want to monetize the free user base - would it be with more features incremented in the product or you want just to cut a free option and make people pay right away. Never forget that people are ready to pay for what they find valuable. So if you develop something outstanding and put a rational price on it or, e.g. has a price as a donation type of payment (this can work if you have a loyal audience), monetization will be easier to setup.
Tedel
You usually do not do that. You just give them a reason to start paying. It is not the same. ;)