Customer acquisition and retention using freemium strategy

Key Takeaways:

  • To know about customer acquisition and
  • To understand freemium strategy and how is it beneficial in acquiring new customers.
  • Steps that make a freemium model strategy successful in business.
  • A quick insight how the freemium model strategy led to a great success for few SaaS companies.

In today’s dynamic business world every company not only strives to maximize revenue but also considers customer acquisition and retention as its important goal. To reduce its acquisition cost and retain its customers, the company keenly keeps modifying its marketing strategies apart from the traditional way of marketing.

One such strategy to implement the customer acquisition and retention for reducing the cost and maintain the loyalty of the existing customers is the freemium model. As every business aims to lower its cost of customer acquisition, this strategy helps the business to capture more customers through its various offerings. In fact, the freemium model strategy has a positive impact on customer acquisition and retention. For more information on customer acquisition click here. 

As the word itself suggest free and premium, customers tend to get attracted to the free offerings more, resulting in a boost in customer acquisition and retention for the organization at the start of its marketing campaign. Once the product of the company using the freemium strategy becomes popular, free tier users will eventually approach the boundaries of their free account and elect to upgrade to a premium account to have access to the complete set of features and value that your product offers. Businesses must impose constraint features on the product to successfully execute the freemium strategy by adding up the following to premium service that is:

  • Offering new features: better functioning of available features or ad hoc paid upgrades.
  • Storage limitations: under free version and to expand the storage facility one has to upgrade to the premium version which in turn can have data processing quotas.

Thus, this creates friction for the free consumers by limiting access or usage in the product which motivates them to upgrade it to premium service. The most crucial factor is that these constraints will make consumers desire more, but not to the point where they lose sight of your product’s primary value. Hence the firm must strike the correct balance, which necessitates a thorough grasp of the customer’s demands as well as the value they derive from your product. One might be wondering as to why the businesses should offer Freemium products and services? Here are the following points for the same.

  • In today’s dynamic and ever-growing business world, businesses are in search of creative strategies to gain new customers while keeping their expenses on a lower end.
  • Customers are always keen to know what value would they fetch from the given product or service before making any purchase decision and hence imparting education to the customers in this regard and building relationship with them requires a huge amount of expenses in the form of advertisement, sales demo and marketing campaigns which are in turn traditional marketing campaign.
  • However, using the Freemium strategy model one can reduce the cost of acquiring new customers wherein the customer can educate and learn by himself the use of the product or service through the free offers made available.
  • This shifts the education burden from the sales and marketing team to the customer himself which is beneficial to both the parties that is the freemium approach establishes a natural lead nurturing process by allowing the customers to investigate independently the product or services offered and for the business, it’s beneficial as it reduces the cost on acquiring new customers.
  • It attracts a lot of customers to use the product or service availed them by the company using the freemium. As the freemium model offers free stuff people know that they won’t have to commit to a subscription plan so at least they shall sign up for the service and give it a try. 
  • The trick here involves offering the users just enough access to begin the product and service and then start gaining the benefits. 
  • The premium plan should be offered only when the user seems to be too involved in the product or service provided or is on verge of quitting the use of the service by letting them know about the additional benefits, they would fetch which will make you identify the products scalability and the threshold at which they are willing to pay.
  • Increases social media attention with the help of bloggers. A large number of bloggers enjoy writing about their experience with the service or product but they need not necessarily opt for the premium plan just to write about them but by offering the free plan the bloggers who are keen to write about your product can do it for free, even though they may not be the regular users but at least their followers and readers might become the regular users thus building a great chain of networking. This will in turn help to identify the product or service gap and areas of improvement by reading about their reviews on their blogs. 
  • Increase in products awareness through word-of-mouth marketing by sending the users of free plan with an email inviting them to submit a quick tweet or post on social media about how much they appreciate and enjoy the free offerings in the service provided.
  • It helps to create customer loyalty in the business that is when the user does not convert to a premium plan even after using the freemium version, at least they will be accustomed to your product or service and when they feel the need to get subscribed to some additional functions, they shall choose your product over the others which they are unfamiliar with thus creating customer loyalty and recommend your product to their peers, thus leading to marketing your product and increase in the demand for the product or service.

How the freemium model strategy can be successful?

To successfully implement the freemium model strategy, one should keep a certain key point in their mind.

  1. The freemium strategy when implemented in the business should provide some value to its users by giving them the appropriate reason to upgrade their services to premium. While it is critical to assist customers in finding what they are searching for in the freemium, businesses must equally remember not to give too much to them. If businesses give people more than a taste of the value of your product, the business shall be disappointed with its freemium conversion rate.
  2. Ensure to collect feedback as a part of the user onboarding which will help the business to understand what the expectations of the customers are and hence provide a much better experience further which will give them a reason to convert into premium version. Through the freemium model, you can collect the user’s data. With this collected data businesses can understand the consumer’s behaviour and accordingly segmentation can be done after looking at the user’s product engagement.

Let us look at the examples of some SaaS (Software as a service) companies that succeeded by using the freemium strategy:

  1. Candy Crush: We all are aware of the very popular game candy crush but have you ever wondered about how it earns revenue and its marketing strategy? If not, then here is the information about how candy crush makes huge revenue by using its freemium model strategy. Earlier candy crush adopted the advertising strategy i.e., the traditional way of marketing but later on, in 2013 it abandoned this strategy and started using its freemium model strategy. Candy crush just like any other game can be downloaded and played for free of cost, users are never compelled to spend a penny to participate in the game. It has been created in such a way that the users can complete each level in the game but with certain limitations such as restricted moves and a set of five lives which are made available for free. As the player moves ahead in the game the level of difficulty increases and it is designed in such a way that the player shall need beyond five lives and move to complete the levels ahead and that is when the users are given an option of in-app purchases of extra lives and moves and a free option to substitute this premium payment is to send a request to Facebook friends to subscribe to the game. This shows that even at this stage the users are not forced to pay. As sending a request to friends on Facebook and waiting for their acceptance to subscribe to the game is time-consuming, users generally tend to prefer the in-app purchase option at this stage and this becomes an addiction to the user who remains consistent in the long run and hereby the company earns huge profits. On whole, the game has attracted many users which leads to good capturing of the market and in turn earns a good amount of revenue from the same.
  1. Canva:  This is one of the popular graphic designing software as a service (SaaS) application that allows the users to create and edit visual content like posters, logos, infographics, presentations, and many more. Let us have an insight that how an application-based company makes money through its freemium strategy. Canva was first released as a free application tool and the main aim behind this technique was to attract users and establish a loyal following. With this strategy, the user base increased through word of mouth and the high quality of product offered. Over the past few years, Canva began to add a variety of revenue streams ranging from subscriptions to business solutions. Despite this, the company’s core remains focused on its freemium business strategy. As a result, the majority of its tools are still free to use. Users will only have to pay for more advanced features if they want to utilize them. The premium feature that is Canva pro a premium subscription plan unlocks some features like creating a brand kit, access to premium animation, unlimited folders to save the work done, etc., and these features hold key importance, especially to the graphic design professionals. Canva for Enterprise is another professional premium plan which has to be subscribed to monthly and is mainly targeted towards businesses. Canva print is another revenue-generating plan which allows the user to print out various designs on physical materials like T-shirts, posters, business cards, etc. Here the pricing is based on the article chosen, order volumes, and residing place as well as the extent of customization needed by the user. This made the company attract many users thereby earning profits using its freemium model.
  1. Spotify:  Spotify is a music streaming service that provides customers with access to a massive music library. It runs on a freemium income model, with a free, ad-supported basic service and a monthly fee for an unlimited premium subscription. Spotify’s premium experience is heavily reliant on its music algorithms and user and artist community. Its freemium model strategy has led the company to capture a large user base, convert the free users to a premium value proposition, also manage customer retention leading to a reduction in acquisition cost, it also maintains a balance between the cost of free and premium services provided. This is how the company earns huge profits and a significant portion of its profit is paid to the music labels in the form of royalties.

Ways in which the risk under the freemium model strategy can be handled:

Just like any other strategy, even the freemium model has its own risk when the product is offered under freemium, the premium users have higher expectations and if their expectations are not met by providing worthy services for the price which they paid, the company tends to lose a huge amount of its profits and the free users may be less inclined to give positive feedback about the services as they tend not to subscribe to the premium version and enjoy the additional benefits and in this process, the company may lose its customers.

Thus, the real trick under the freemium model strategy is to keep the customer retention game on going and acquire the new customers in such a way that they must be persuaded to use the free offerings and upgrade later because they believe in the product. They are more likely to stay premium indefinitely if their decision to upgrade is based on genuine trust in the product and a belief that their money will be well spent in terms of increased access and features. The article thus clearly explains the importance of freemium strategy apart from the traditional ways of marketing which bear more expenses to acquire and retain customers. The article depicts that the decision to upgrade is the result of a more thorough cost-benefit analysis than the decision to keep the premium subscription. It also suggests that attribute-level value perceptions such as ubiquity and social connectivity influence the intentions to keep the premium subscription, whereas the intention to upgrade is driven by the benefits of the premium subscription, such as enjoyment and price value. Overall, freemium can assist the business in achieving its objectives. However, for a business to be successful, the freemium strategy should be implemented correctly in the right way. A successful freemium model may be exactly what the businesses require, from lowering client acquisition expenses to enhancing product virality.

[Get the regular updates with latest trends and news on our Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/marketing360.in/]

Shikha Nagar

Content writer

Nikunj Solanki

Graphic designer

Vrunda Bhatt

Website Editor 

141 thoughts on “Customer acquisition and retention using freemium strategy”

  1. First off I would like to say excellent blog! I had a quick
    question that I’d like to ask if you do not mind.
    I was interested to know how you center yourself and clear
    your head before writing. I’ve had a difficult
    time clearing my thoughts in getting my thoughts out.
    I do enjoy writing but it just seems like the first
    10 to 15 minutes are usually wasted simply just trying
    to figure out how to begin. Any ideas or tips?
    Thank you!

  2. actually liked the article you posted actually. it really isnt that simple to find even remotely good posts to read (you know READ! and not just going through it like some zombie before moving on), so cheers mate for really not wasting my time on the god forsaken internet. 😀

  3. Explore the Horizon

    I used to be recommended this blog via my cousin. I’m not positive whether this publish is written by way of him as nobody else realize such detailed about my problem. You are incredible! Thank you!

  4. One more thing. I think that there are several travel insurance web pages of dependable companies that allow you enter your vacation details and find you the prices. You can also purchase the international travel cover policy on the net by using your own credit card. All you need to do is always to enter all travel information and you can see the plans side-by-side. Only find the package that suits your financial allowance and needs then use your bank credit card to buy the idea. Travel insurance on the internet is a good way to search for a respected company with regard to international travel insurance. Thanks for sharing your ideas.

  5. Its such as you read my thoughts! You appear to know so much about this, like you wrote the ebook in it or something. I think that you could do with some to power the message home a bit, but other than that, this is magnificent blog. An excellent read. I will definitely be back.

  6. I don?t even understand how I finished up here, however I believed this publish was once good. I do not recognise who you might be but definitely you’re going to a well-known blogger if you happen to are not already 😉 Cheers!

  7. Generally I don’t learn post on blogs, however I wish to say that this write-up very pressured me to take a look at and do it! Your writing taste has been amazed me. Thanks, very great article.

  8. Thanks for this glorious article. One other thing is that a lot of digital cameras come equipped with some sort of zoom lens that allows more or less of any scene to become included through ‘zooming’ in and out. These kind of changes in {focus|focusing|concentration|target|the a**** length will be reflected within the viewfinder and on massive display screen right on the back of the camera.

  9. Howdy! Someone in my Facebook group shared this website with us so I came to check it out. I’m definitely enjoying the information. I’m book-marking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Outstanding blog and amazing design and style.

  10. Magnificent items from you, man. I have understand your stuff prior to and you are just extremely fantastic. I really like what you’ve received here, certainly like what you’re saying and the way during which you assert it. You’re making it entertaining and you continue to care for to stay it wise. I can not wait to learn far more from you. That is actually a tremendous web site.

  11. Usually I do not read post on blogs, but I would like to say that this write-up very forced me to try and do it! Your writing style has been surprised me. Thanks, quite nice post.

  12. I’m truly enjoying the design and layout of your site. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much more enjoyable for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a developer to create your theme? Outstanding work!

  13. Howdy would you mind letting me know which webhost you’re working with? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different web browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot quicker then most. Can you suggest a good web hosting provider at a reasonable price? Thank you, I appreciate it!

  14. Hmm is anyone else experiencing problems with the pictures on this blog loading? I’m trying to determine if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog. Any responses would be greatly appreciated.

  15. Can I just say what a aid to find someone who truly knows what theyre speaking about on the internet. You definitely know the best way to convey a difficulty to light and make it important. More people need to read this and understand this side of the story. I cant consider youre not more common because you definitely have the gift.

  16. Terrific work! This is the kind of information that are supposed to be shared across the web. Shame on Google for no longer positioning this publish higher! Come on over and consult with my website . Thank you =)

  17. I was just looking for this information for a while. After 6 hours of continuous Googleing, at last I got it in your website. I wonder what’s the lack of Google strategy that do not rank this type of informative websites in top of the list. Usually the top sites are full of garbage.

  18. Woah! I’m really digging the template/theme of this site. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s very difficult to get that “perfect balance” between user friendliness and appearance. I must say you have done a very good job with this. Additionally, the blog loads super quick for me on Safari. Excellent Blog!

  19. What an insightful and well-researched article! The author’s thoroughness and ability to present intricate ideas in a comprehensible manner is truly admirable. I’m extremely impressed by the depth of knowledge showcased in this piece. Thank you, author, for offering your knowledge with us. This article has been a true revelation!

  20. Wow, fantastic blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your web site is excellent, as well as the content!

  21. Nice post. I learn something totally new and challenging on sites I stumbleupon every day. It will always be exciting to read through content from other authors and use a little something from their web sites.

  22. I blog frequently and I seriously thank you for your information. This great article has really peaked my interest. I’m going to take a note of your blog and keep checking for new information about once per week. I opted in for your Feed as well.

  23. A motivating discussion is definitely worth comment. There’s no doubt that that you need to publish more about this issue, it might not be a taboo matter but generally people don’t talk about these topics. To the next! Best wishes!

  24. I was excited to discover this site. I need to to thank you for your time due to this fantastic read!! I definitely savored every bit of it and i also have you saved as a favorite to see new stuff on your website.

  25. I’ve been browsing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It is pretty worth enough for me. In my view, if all web owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the web will be much more useful than ever before.

  26. Hi, I do think this is an excellent site. I stumbledupon it 😉 I may come back once again since I book marked it. Money and freedom is the greatest way to change, may you be rich and continue to guide other people.

  27. Spot on with this write-up, I honestly believe that this amazing site needs much more attention. I’ll probably be back again to see more, thanks for the information.

  28. You are so cool! I don’t suppose I’ve truly read through something like that before. So wonderful to find another person with unique thoughts on this subject. Really.. thanks for starting this up. This site is something that is required on the internet, someone with a little originality.

  29. May I just say what a comfort to discover someone that actually knows what they are discussing on the internet. You certainly understand how to bring a problem to light and make it important. More people need to check this out and understand this side of your story. It’s surprising you’re not more popular because you surely possess the gift.

  30. May I simply say what a comfort to uncover somebody that actually knows what they are talking about on the web. You definitely realize how to bring an issue to light and make it important. More and more people should look at this and understand this side of the story. I can’t believe you aren’t more popular because you certainly possess the gift.

  31. Its like you read my mind! You seem to grasp a lot about this, such as you wrote the e book in it or something. I think that you can do with some to power the message home a little bit, however other than that, this is wonderful blog. An excellent read. I will definitely be back.

  32. I blog quite often and I seriously thank you for your information. Your article has truly peaked my interest. I am going to bookmark your site and keep checking for new information about once a week. I subscribed to your Feed as well.

  33. I was recommended this blog by my cousin. I am not sure whether this post is written by him as nobody else know such detailed about my trouble. You’re incredible! Thanks!

  34. A formidable share, I simply given this onto a colleague who was doing a bit of evaluation on this. And he in actual fact bought me breakfast as a result of I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the deal with! However yeah Thnkx for spending the time to discuss this, I feel strongly about it and love studying extra on this topic. If doable, as you turn out to be expertise, would you thoughts updating your blog with extra details? It’s extremely helpful for me. Huge thumb up for this blog post!

  35. Excellent post. I used to be checking constantly this blog and I am impressed! Extremely helpful info specially the ultimate phase 🙂 I handle such information much. I used to be looking for this certain information for a long time. Thank you and good luck.

  36. Spa Salon Forest Hills

    Hi there, just became aware of your blog through Google, and located that it’s really informative. I am going to be careful for brussels. I will appreciate in case you proceed this in future. Lots of folks will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!

  37. I must thank you for the efforts you’ve put in writing this blog. I really hope to view the same high-grade blog posts from you later on as well. In truth, your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own, personal website now 😉

  38. My partner and I stumbled over here different web page and thought I might check things out. I like what I see so now i’m following you. Look forward to finding out about your web page repeatedly.

  39. Wow that was odd. I just wrote an very long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Regardless, just wanted to say great blog!

  40. Hello there, I found your website via Google while looking for a related topic, your web site came up, it looks good. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.

  41. Hi, I do believe this is an excellent website. I stumbledupon it 😉 I may come back once again since i have book marked it. Money and freedom is the best way to change, may you be rich and continue to help other people.

  42. Greetings, There’s no doubt that your web site may be having internet browser compatibility problems. When I look at your website in Safari, it looks fine however when opening in Internet Explorer, it’s got some overlapping issues. I simply wanted to provide you with a quick heads up! Aside from that, fantastic site.

  43. I was very happy to discover this web site. I want to to thank you for ones time for this fantastic read!! I definitely appreciated every bit of it and i also have you book marked to check out new things in your website.

  44. Spot on with this write-up, I seriously believe this site needs far more attention. I’ll probably be returning to read more, thanks for the info.

  45. I was very pleased to uncover this web site. I need to to thank you for your time for this particularly wonderful read!! I definitely loved every part of it and I have you book marked to check out new information on your blog.

  46. Spot on with this write-up, I really believe this web site needs much more attention. I’ll probably be returning to see more, thanks for the advice!

  47. Having read this I believed it was rather enlightening. I appreciate you spending some time and energy to put this short article together. I once again find myself spending a significant amount of time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was still worth it.

  48. Nice post. I learn something totally new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon on a daily basis. It’s always useful to read articles from other writers and use a little something from other web sites.

  49. Nice post. I learn something new and challenging on websites I stumbleupon everyday. It will always be helpful to read content from other writers and practice a little something from other sites.

  50. I was just looking for this information for some time. After 6 hours of continuous Googleing, at last I got it in your website. I wonder what’s the lack of Google strategy that do not rank this type of informative websites in top of the list. Usually the top sites are full of garbage.

  51. Aw, this was a really nice post. In concept I would like to put in writing like this moreover ? taking time and precise effort to make a very good article? however what can I say? I procrastinate alot and by no means seem to get something done.

  52. Oh my goodness! Impressive article dude! Thank you so much, However I am going through issues with your RSS. I don’t know the reason why I can’t subscribe to it. Is there anybody having identical RSS issues? Anyone who knows the solution will you kindly respond? Thanx!!

  53. You’ve made some really good points there. I looked on the net to find out more about the issue and found most individuals will go along with your views on this site.

  54. Pretty great post. I simply stumbled upon your weblog and wished to say that I’ve really enjoyed surfing around your blog posts. In any case I?ll be subscribing to your feed and I am hoping you write again very soon!

  55. I absolutely love your blog.. Excellent colors & theme. Did you make this web site yourself? Please reply back as I’m hoping to create my own personal website and would love to know where you got this from or just what the theme is named. Many thanks.

  56. You are so awesome! I don’t believe I have read through anything like that before. So nice to find somebody with some unique thoughts on this subject. Seriously.. thank you for starting this up. This website is something that is needed on the internet, someone with some originality.

  57. Aw, this was a really nice post. Taking the time and actual effort to create a good article… but what can I say… I hesitate a lot and never manage to get nearly anything done.

  58. An intriguing discussion is definitely worth comment. I do think that you need to publish more on this subject matter, it might not be a taboo matter but usually people don’t speak about these topics. To the next! Kind regards!

  59. You are so cool! I do not believe I’ve truly read through a single thing like this before. So great to find somebody with some original thoughts on this subject matter. Really.. thank you for starting this up. This website is something that’s needed on the web, someone with some originality.

  60. You have made some decent points there. I checked on the web to learn more about the issue and found most individuals will go along with your views on this website.

  61. Everything is very open with a really clear clarification of the issues. It was truly informative. Your website is extremely helpful. Many thanks for sharing!

  62. Aw, this was a really nice post. Spending some time and actual effort to generate a good article… but what can I say… I procrastinate a lot and never seem to get anything done.

  63. Oh my goodness! Amazing article dude! Thanks, However I am encountering problems with your RSS. I don’t understand the reason why I am unable to subscribe to it. Is there anybody having the same RSS problems? Anyone who knows the answer can you kindly respond? Thanks.

  64. Have you ever thought about publishing an ebook or guest authoring on other blogs? I have a blog centered on the same information you discuss and would really like to have you share some stories/information. I know my viewers would appreciate your work. If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an email.

  65. Thank you for another informative website. The place else could I get that kind of information written in such an ideal manner? I have a mission that I’m simply now working on, and I have been at the glance out for such info.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *