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I understand the desire to have a seamless flow from free to paid, but you can easily move this flow later in the app (a la progressive disclosure). You can eve
by yoasif_ 10y ago
I understand the desire to have a seamless flow from free to paid, but you can easily move this flow later in the app (a la progressive disclosure). You can even build this into the existing flow where users currently go to upgrade, by prompting the user to create a Nylas ID at that point (if they haven't already).
There's a reason that e-commerce sites allow buyers to add items to a cart without sign up, and to "checkout as guest" instead of forcing users to sign up for a Staples (or whatever) login -- you get more conversions.
Even if you prefer the approach of trying to get the information up front, adding a "skip" option that allows users to use the app without cloud sync, etc., then allowing a user to "go pro" later on at least allows people to try the app without a commitment. It's not possible to convert someone who isn't a user because they got scared away by the registration requirement -- better imo, to have a non-registered user, than no user at all.
The only reason I could think of for not wanting to allow this is related to the third party data sharing -- perhaps you plan to sell (obfuscated) user data to data brokers. If that's not in the cards, and you do not plan to monetize your free tier (aside from up-selling to pro), I see no downside to allowing users to use the app without cloud sync in the free tier, with upgrades available within the app.
Updating the privacy policy to be explicit about what data is used for ("basic usage and performance statistics") would do a lot to allay the idea that this data is being sold to data brokers (and not simply to make the app better).
- nopzor 10y agoIt's a lot harder to monetize free->paid if you don't even know who your free users are. Requiring the creation of a Nylas ID for the free tier addresses this. Your ecommerce example doesn't fit the situation here; the ecommerce business wants the order $$ at the expense of the account, and their UX reflects that.
- yoasif_ 10y agoI remember a few years back after I got my first decent Android phone looking at "top 10" lists of the best apps out there. One of those apps was Lumosity, and I installed it. The first step was setting up an account. I promptly uninstalled the app, and to this day, I have no idea whether it is any good. It felt odd to me that for a game with no multiplayer component would require me to sign up for an account, and I'm not interested in leaderboards or cloud based backup either. I have the same feeling about email clients, especially when Thunderbird exists and is mostly decent. Giving up an email account for a free "app" (and not a service) continues to feel odd to me. It almost feels wrong to call it "free", especially since it is unclear to me how my email is used.
- dyu- 10y agoA non-main/throwaway mail for that purpose would be a good one for you to have so you can test without giving away anything.
- drdaeman 10y agoAnd a throwaway phone without any user data? (I don't think there are working Android-in-Android VMs that are both performant enough and offer good isolation.)