Don’t give up on trying to monetize your free users

Feb 20, 2024

Hey there, it’s Jacob at Retention.Blog 👋

I got tired of reading high-level strategy articles, so I started writing actionable advice I would want to read.

Every Tuesday I share practical learnings you can apply to your business.

Fabulous: Daily Habit Tracker is one of the best I’ve seen at trying to monetize their active, free user base.

Use a variety of different offer types for free users to catch attention
- If you show the same discount over and over again, it’s easier to ignore
- Fabulous used: “30-day premium pass”, “$0.99 first month”, “$2 per month”, “3 months free”, and “$14 annual plan”

Compare your offer or price to a real-world item that people feel is inexpensive
- “Get premium for less than the price of a cup of coffee per month”

Use extreme focus in your emails or promotions
- Fabulous will only talk about one concept or feature in each email
- Going deep on one thing in each email means your content doesn’t feel repetitive

Use limited-time offers whenever you can
- A sense of urgency is powerful
- If your email highlights an offer ending, that’s the focal point. Don’t get distracted (see the point above on focus)

Always send a “24 hours left” email or notification
- This is the ultimate sense of urgency. Fabulous always ends their sales with this message
- I’ve seen 30-50% of purchases come in those last 24 hours from promotions I’ve run in the past

People love “new” and “exclusive”
- These are powerful words, don’t overuse them, but when you have something new, exclusive, or special, make sure people know

Use testimonials as a conversion “boost”
- Not everyone is sold immediately on your offer, highlighting real feedback from a real person will help build more trust and improve conversion rates
- Fabulous uses Trustpilot to make the testimonial seem more authentic.

Send more promotional emails to your free users if they’re active
- Email isn’t as annoying as push notifications and can more easily be ignored
- Over 3 months I received 24 emails from Fabulous related to purchasing a premium subscription

Don’t call your offer a “subscription”
- Fabulous uses “Get your 30-day pass” or “Get Premium” but never “subscribe”
- “Subscribe” is a big commitment that will turn people away

Don’t call your free plan “free”
- When comparing their Premium to their free offer they use the word “Basic”
- I like free stuff, but no one wants to be basic

Write unique content for every email, but use a standard template so you can continue to A/B test
- They’re constantly testing and tweaking the names, CTAs, and styles while using unique content for every email
- Over a few weeks, they tested and iterated this one copy line many times:
  - “Your personal 30-day pass”
  - Then they went to “Your 30-day Premium pass”
  - Then they added back in “Your personal 30-day pass” but as a 2nd CTA at the bottom of the email
  - Finally, they seemed to use the best of both and combined to: “Your personal Premium pass”

Layer in motivational nudges for promotions and sales
- In one email they use: “Never-Before-Price”, “83% off”, “you still have a few days left”, “our lowest fare”, and “Act fast!”
- If you have a valuable offer, it’s okay to hype it up

Trigger promotional emails after someone has accomplished something
- I earned a “Self-reflection badge” which “unlocked” a 30-day premium pass for me
- I’m always going to be more excited about something if I earn it
Describe real-world examples so users understand how the app can fit into their life
- Fabulous is about routines so they mention specific routines and habits that may resonate with you e.g. “An online class” or “waking up at 7 am”

Always, always, always have a CTA above the fold in your emails
- Fabulous uses a small content block with a CTA in almost all of their emails before you even get to the main content

Don’t be boring
- Fabulous does a phenomenal job at always having unique writing and stunning visuals in their emails.
- This is their “brand” in the app too and they do a great job of extending the visual style in other comms

Okay, is that enough for you? I hope you were inspired.

Some of these were new to me, some reinforced things I knew, and some reminded me of something I forgot.

Sometimes a little reminder of the right way to do things is all we need. Except for me, I need a lot of huge reminders…

I’ve added all 24 emails (w/ subject lines) to my past board with the Fabulous UI so you can check them out all together here.