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I've been running a free closed beta for a product of mine for... 6 months. The users absolutely love it and claim they can't live without it. But I am having d

by daenz 4y ago

I've been running a free closed beta for a product of mine for... 6 months. The users absolutely love it and claim they can't live without it. But I am having difficulty wrangling them into a price that they don't complain about. I think I'm bumping up against these "free" forces somehow. I also think the closed beta has run too long, and now they're spoiled.

forgotmypw17 4y ago
I have a better idea for you, which has worked for several others, e.g. Dropbox. Let your early adopters earn free service by referring others. Instead of alienating your biggest fans and supporters and power users, you'll be turning them into promoters and marketers.
- andai 4y ago
  GP has already gotten a lot of value out of them, so if keeping them isn't costing much, I'd say grandfather them in for free.
  - oleganza 4y ago
    Why for free? Give, like, a 50% discount. Their "free stuff" would be "50% for free".
    - hnbad 4y ago
      Or even 90%. Maybe 75% as a compromise. Heck, being grandfathered into a very low price point will make them much less likely to quit even if they no longer use the product, thanks to FOMO. So you may see long-tail income from those early adopters with little expense.
      - michaelcampbell 4y ago
        Or a 5%-15% forever discount per referral that's paid for a year. After 6-20 referrals, you're on us - it's cool.
- daenz 4y ago
  It's a good idea, and one that I've run during the closed beta. A handful of the users have a referral credit for referring other beta users, and once we leave the closed beta, their credit will go into effect. I plan on extending the referral program after the launch as well.
mixmastamyk 4y ago
Grandfather early supporers, not at free but a healthy discount.
- donthellbanme 4y ago
- daenz 4y ago
  Not a bad idea, but I'm just going to ask that they pay the normal price in a few weeks. If my product really is game-changing for them, they'll pay it. If they won't, then a discount is only prolonging the inevitable. My current price is really the most competitive price that I can offer, so it's take it or leave it.
  - andai 4y ago
    Is there just 1 tier? If the only 2 reference points are "free" and $X then $X is going to seem expensive by comparison, but if you add 2 tiers above it, suddenly it's "very affordable".
    - daenz 4y ago
      It's a pay as you go model. There's a small base fee, plus costs that scale as you use it. Originally, I had a 2 tier model, for basic and premium. But the feedback that I got from the beta users was that it wasn't granular enough. People who used it less wanted to pay less than the tiers could offer. So I switched to the pay as you go model.
  - anonred 4y ago
    The goodwill of your testers is likely worth far more than the marginal revenue you’d gain from having them pay full price. I was in a similar position many years back and learned the hard way that people _absolutely loathe_ when you take things away from them.
    - daenz 4y ago
stranded22 4y ago
I bought ifttt pro subscription when they were offering "pay any price". I went for the lowest possible - and whilst I don't use the tool nearly enough to justify the pro at full price, I can't see myself ever cancelling the subscription. As the other person said, if you offer a grandfather rate - you might have people who are signed up for life!
EnKopVand 4y ago
I don’t think you’re “bumping against the same “free” forces somehow”, because you seem to have given away the whole pizza for free for 6 months. I think you need to study companies that transitioned from a free to a paid product rather than compare yourself against businesses that increase their regular sales through free samples.
- daenz 4y ago
  To add some additional context, the closed beta users knew from the beginning that the product would be paid after the closed beta. Some even asked about the price, and I gave them a ballpark figure, and all of the responses to the figure were positive. However, once I made the official price announcement, a few people were pretty angry (ironically, some were people who asked about the price and were ok with it at the time). So I'm not necessarily moving from a free product to a paid product. It's from a paid product that was subsidized, to a paid product that is not subsidized. But to your point, I think the closed beta ran too long and shifted their psychology about the cost of the product.
  - mofosyne 4y ago
    What if during the sign up stage, you actually show the current price of the free plan. But then give a 100% discount for a certain period. Afterwards, you would then reduce the discount X percentage until it's fully transitioned into a paid model. If it's all transparent, maybe that would make it easier for people to know that it's not free for free sake and plan accordingly.
    - zdragnar 4y ago
      That necessitates actually having a price point nailed down prior to accepting any sign ups. Some people (including possibly OP) get the ball rolling without even having a reasonably narrow ballpark guess settled on.
jasfi 4y ago
Make your product freemium. You could even gradually move features into paid plans.
- daenz 4y ago
  It won't work for my product. The costs per user are too high.
bytehowl 4y ago
I have no experience with setting up pricing for stuff, but I feel like it could have helped if you already had pricing information in place before your free beta, even if it was just an estimate. Make it clear it won't stay free forever, you know?
- daenz 4y ago
  That's one thing I could have done better. They did know that it would eventually be paid, but I only gave the ballpark figure to those who asked, not everyone.

by daenz 4y ago

forgotmypw17 4y ago

I have a better idea for you, which has worked for several others, e.g. Dropbox. Let your early adopters earn free service by referring others. Instead of alienating your biggest fans and supporters and power users, you'll be turning them into promoters and marketers.

andai 4y ago
GP has already gotten a lot of value out of them, so if keeping them isn't costing much, I'd say grandfather them in for free.
- oleganza 4y ago
  Why for free? Give, like, a 50% discount. Their "free stuff" would be "50% for free".
  - hnbad 4y ago
    Or even 90%. Maybe 75% as a compromise. Heck, being grandfathered into a very low price point will make them much less likely to quit even if they no longer use the product, thanks to FOMO. So you may see long-tail income from those early adopters with little expense.
    - michaelcampbell 4y ago
      Or a 5%-15% forever discount per referral that's paid for a year. After 6-20 referrals, you're on us - it's cool.
daenz 4y ago
It's a good idea, and one that I've run during the closed beta. A handful of the users have a referral credit for referring other beta users, and once we leave the closed beta, their credit will go into effect. I plan on extending the referral program after the launch as well.

mixmastamyk 4y ago

Grandfather early supporers, not at free but a healthy discount.

donthellbanme 4y ago
daenz 4y ago
Not a bad idea, but I'm just going to ask that they pay the normal price in a few weeks. If my product really is game-changing for them, they'll pay it. If they won't, then a discount is only prolonging the inevitable. My current price is really the most competitive price that I can offer, so it's take it or leave it.
- andai 4y ago
  Is there just 1 tier? If the only 2 reference points are "free" and $X then $X is going to seem expensive by comparison, but if you add 2 tiers above it, suddenly it's "very affordable".
  - daenz 4y ago
    It's a pay as you go model. There's a small base fee, plus costs that scale as you use it. Originally, I had a 2 tier model, for basic and premium. But the feedback that I got from the beta users was that it wasn't granular enough. People who used it less wanted to pay less than the tiers could offer. So I switched to the pay as you go model.
- anonred 4y ago
  The goodwill of your testers is likely worth far more than the marginal revenue you’d gain from having them pay full price. I was in a similar position many years back and learned the hard way that people _absolutely loathe_ when you take things away from them.
  - daenz 4y ago

stranded22 4y ago

I bought ifttt pro subscription when they were offering "pay any price". I went for the lowest possible - and whilst I don't use the tool nearly enough to justify the pro at full price, I can't see myself ever cancelling the subscription. As the other person said, if you offer a grandfather rate - you might have people who are signed up for life!

EnKopVand 4y ago

I don’t think you’re “bumping against the same “free” forces somehow”, because you seem to have given away the whole pizza for free for 6 months. I think you need to study companies that transitioned from a free to a paid product rather than compare yourself against businesses that increase their regular sales through free samples.

daenz 4y ago
To add some additional context, the closed beta users knew from the beginning that the product would be paid after the closed beta. Some even asked about the price, and I gave them a ballpark figure, and all of the responses to the figure were positive. However, once I made the official price announcement, a few people were pretty angry (ironically, some were people who asked about the price and were ok with it at the time). So I'm not necessarily moving from a free product to a paid product. It's from a paid product that was subsidized, to a paid product that is not subsidized. But to your point, I think the closed beta ran too long and shifted their psychology about the cost of the product.
- mofosyne 4y ago
  What if during the sign up stage, you actually show the current price of the free plan. But then give a 100% discount for a certain period. Afterwards, you would then reduce the discount X percentage until it's fully transitioned into a paid model. If it's all transparent, maybe that would make it easier for people to know that it's not free for free sake and plan accordingly.
  - zdragnar 4y ago
    That necessitates actually having a price point nailed down prior to accepting any sign ups. Some people (including possibly OP) get the ball rolling without even having a reasonably narrow ballpark guess settled on.

jasfi 4y ago

Make your product freemium. You could even gradually move features into paid plans.

daenz 4y ago
It won't work for my product. The costs per user are too high.

bytehowl 4y ago

I have no experience with setting up pricing for stuff, but I feel like it could have helped if you already had pricing information in place before your free beta, even if it was just an estimate. Make it clear it won't stay free forever, you know?

daenz 4y ago
That's one thing I could have done better. They did know that it would eventually be paid, but I only gave the ballpark figure to those who asked, not everyone.