How a Freemium Model Impacts Content Strategy
Posted: Sun Jan 05, 2025 6:44 am
Ideally, you’ll only have one funnel to work with. However, if there are multiple ways to purchase a product, you’ll need to have multiple funnels to accommodate the different purchase methods.
In the case of freemium software, prospects usually have two paths to becoming paid customers. The first path is directly purchasing the paid version. The second path is signing up for the free version first and later converting into customers through the platform. Because prospects have two separate ways to convert, you'll need two funnels.
The first funnel is more traditional, consisting of moj database actions that take place outside of the product, where the prospect goes through contact lifecycle stages.
The second funnel occurs within the product, where the progression toward buyer-readiness is measured by actions that take place within the product. In this funnel, prospects become product qualified leads (PQLs) instead of MQLs or SQLs.
Because of the differences in conversion points and lead scoring between the two funnels, you need to develop two different content strategies:
Your first strategy should involve the interactions that occur on your website, social channels or email streams, independent of your product.
Your second strategy should be geared toward the users progressing through the freemium version of your product.
Why You Need a Content Strategy Within Your Product
A prospect's initial use of the free version of your product doesn’t always indicate they’re going to upgrade or convert.
While the goal of product-led growth is to delight users so much with the free version that they'll convert on their own through the freemium funnel, you still need to incentivize them to explore your product offering further.
You need to encourage users to utilize more features or bring on more users and obtain maximum value from your product — and if you are encouraging conversions within a product, you need a content strategy around those conversions. That strategy can include outreach outside of the product, such as emails triggered by certain actions within the product. It should also be built into the product through pop-ups, banners or tutorials.
There are some parallels between customer marketing and in-product freemium marketing in this regard. Customers become “product-qualified” through their use of products or services (a different sort of measure of interest and fit) and you should try to focus your marketing efforts on making sure they’re extracting the most value from your product.
You shouldn’t send them materials on the features they’re already utilizing, unless these materials describe how to use those features even more effectively. Instead, send them new information on how they can use the rest of the product. After all, you wouldn't try to upsell an existing customer on a service or product they'd already purchased.
In the case of freemium software, prospects usually have two paths to becoming paid customers. The first path is directly purchasing the paid version. The second path is signing up for the free version first and later converting into customers through the platform. Because prospects have two separate ways to convert, you'll need two funnels.
The first funnel is more traditional, consisting of moj database actions that take place outside of the product, where the prospect goes through contact lifecycle stages.
The second funnel occurs within the product, where the progression toward buyer-readiness is measured by actions that take place within the product. In this funnel, prospects become product qualified leads (PQLs) instead of MQLs or SQLs.
Because of the differences in conversion points and lead scoring between the two funnels, you need to develop two different content strategies:
Your first strategy should involve the interactions that occur on your website, social channels or email streams, independent of your product.
Your second strategy should be geared toward the users progressing through the freemium version of your product.
Why You Need a Content Strategy Within Your Product
A prospect's initial use of the free version of your product doesn’t always indicate they’re going to upgrade or convert.
While the goal of product-led growth is to delight users so much with the free version that they'll convert on their own through the freemium funnel, you still need to incentivize them to explore your product offering further.
You need to encourage users to utilize more features or bring on more users and obtain maximum value from your product — and if you are encouraging conversions within a product, you need a content strategy around those conversions. That strategy can include outreach outside of the product, such as emails triggered by certain actions within the product. It should also be built into the product through pop-ups, banners or tutorials.
There are some parallels between customer marketing and in-product freemium marketing in this regard. Customers become “product-qualified” through their use of products or services (a different sort of measure of interest and fit) and you should try to focus your marketing efforts on making sure they’re extracting the most value from your product.
You shouldn’t send them materials on the features they’re already utilizing, unless these materials describe how to use those features even more effectively. Instead, send them new information on how they can use the rest of the product. After all, you wouldn't try to upsell an existing customer on a service or product they'd already purchased.