How much of your product do you let people explore before requiring signup?
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I've been hearing conflicting advice around this topic. Some say let people explore everything freely (browsing, viewing guides, even starting to create) and only ask for signup when they want to save or share. Others say gate it early so you capture leads.
Right now anyone can browse the explore page and view public guides without an account. But creating requires signup.
For those who've tested this: did reducing friction before signup actually increase conversions, or did it just increase window shoppers? Where's the line between "let them fall in love first" and "you're giving away the product for free"?
Would love to hear what's worked (and what hasn't) for your products.
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Great topic to discuss, Isabel. Real founders will find value in this discussion and I want to contribute my "2 cents" as a founder. No doubt once you create a new product you will have free riders no matter what! and giving them full access is certainly an advantage rather than a disadvantage. Your first 'free users' are providing you an invisible service in exchange for the free account, They are using the product or service in real life and testing your product to its full limits. If they encounter any friction they will bring it to your attention before any paying users sue you or leave with a bitter taste. So I recommend giving a select few free full access but definitely do gate from the start for onboarding other users.
Snipplet
@richatsealedvault Thanks for the insight, Richard! That's a great way to think about it, early free users are essentially your QA team. We've seen that firsthand with Snipplet. Right now anyone can browse and view guides without an account, but creating requires signup. Sounds like keeping that line there while making the browsing experience good enough to hook people is the way to go.
Appreciate the perspective on giving select early users full access too. We've done that with a few power users and the feedback has been way more valuable than any analytics dashboard!