Organizations delivering products and services online can benefit from giving away lots of morsels in hope that a few curious visitors who bite will turn into paying customers.
These morsels, known as “freemiums” (a word that combines “free” and “premium”), take the form of no-cost basic services that entice users to upgrade to fee-based premium services. I see several strategies for articulating this model:
Straightforward
Skype’s fee chart starts with free services and goes forward with three types of fee-based upgrades. There’s no behavior modification going in here. The customer views the options and makes a choice.
Indirect
Melissa Miller Young, a freelancer in writing, social media, and marketing, dispenses advice about her specialties in the blog at her website. She also lists her services but does not specify rates. The advice aims to demonstrate her proficiency and therefore her worthiness to be hired. It’s important to provide content that is fresh and different. An example to avoid comes from WriterTank, a freelance service similar to Miller’s. WriterTank recently presented “The Comprehensive 25 Tip Guide to Boosting Blog Traffic” on the heels of “15 Ways to Increase Traffic to a Blog” — with substantial overlap. Free, but not entirely helpful.
Nonprofits frequently use the indirect approach. The American Cancer Society provides information and demonstrates the society’s hard work. The site also has a tab for volunteering and donating.
Subtle
Whispering Oaks Vineyard and Winery’s Facebook page advertises events and products but never lists prices. It also provides glimpses of life at the winery and vineyard. These passages offer an ambience, sort of like aroma therapy, that visitors may find pleasing. The idea is simply to portray Whispering Oaks as an appealing destination.
Steps toward a successful freemium
- Identify something you can give away that will meet a need for your audience.
- Decide which strategy is right for you and craft the freemium with that in mind.
- Deliver the freemium in a consistent, predictable fashion.
For more information, Freemium Blog is an excellent resource that demonstrates the freemium as a business model.
Thanks to Jeff Riggins of the Drury Social Media program for asking me to write about freemiums. I look forward to seeing more observations in the comments section.
— Ed Peaco
I hadn’t really thought about blog articles being a lure to potential customers until recently. I rather used my blog as an effort to establish credibility by demonstrating my writing skills while simultaneously working to establish myself as an expert.
I like the idea of targeting articles towards potential clients though. More than that I like the idea of starting with some value for free and offering expansions for a fee. Sounds like a solid tactic.
As far as those two articles being on top of each other, that was mostly just because after I’d written the first one I found myself with even more that I wished I’d included.