Questions

We're building an online workforce marketplace, and we're considering introducing a free version. What would you recommend us to use - Freemium (i.e. having a free plan) v.s. Free trial ?

This really depends on your target audience and your overall sales / growth strategy.

Without knowing the specifics of your business I can't give specific advice (feel free to contact me for a call), but I can give some general guidance.

If you're selling to established businesses, don't go freemium. Businesses spend money to make money, and if they have a problem that needs to be solved, they're used to spending money to solve it. A freemium model in this case is probably just going to attract pathological customers, and not the good, well-paying, easy-to-work-with clients that you want.

On the other hand, if you are targeting smaller businesses that you hope will "grow into" a paid plan, a freemium strategy might work.

It could also work if you are targeting corporate workers who have no budget authority, but who might be able to convince their boss to pay for the product if they can demonstrate results using your free version.

Go out and talk to the customers you're building this with and get a sense for what they're willing to pay for, or what their purchasing authority is and what it would take to get budget for your product.

If you're not building this with customers already onboard and helping you guide its development, you are much less likely to be successful. Go out and find some customers, validate your business model by pre-selling the product, and take their feedback into account as you build and market it.


Answered 11 years ago

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