managing and marketing subscription products
Post on 20-Oct-2014
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Slides from a talk given at NextNY's Product Management School. The presentation is an introduction to the challenges that product managers and marketers face when working with subscription products. Includes a discussion of balancing acquisition and conversion activities with quality user experience and customer satisfaction.TRANSCRIPT
Slide 1
Managing a Paid Product
What? I have to pay for this?
A presentation by Chad Allen
Director of Product Management
Formerly of:
@chadallen
What Do You Mean by Paid Product?
Customers pay an ongoing fee for access to a regular stream of goods or services
Three Rules For Managing a Paid Product
1. Assume Nothing
What percentage of paid services offer free trials?
The fact that only 35% of 550 observed sites offer trials of any type shocked us. Our expectation was that most subscription sites offered some type of free trial.
SubscriptionSiteInsider.com
A free trial works if I can fully evaluate the product in two weeks
A free trial doesnt work if I need more than two weeks to the realize value of the product
Here is the highly sought-after 3 day free trial to Match.com. Match.com promotional codes are hard to come by If you use it wisely, you can sign up for the match.com 3 day free trial and meet someone, then cancel the subscription.
onlinedatingmatches.com
BTW
Assume Nothing Test Everything
2. You Dont Work for the Data, the Data Works for You
Live by the Data
Which design won?
but dont die by the data
Yes, its true that a team at Google couldnt decide between two blues, so theyretesting 41 shades I cant operate in an environment like thatThere are more exciting design problems in this world to tackle.
Douglas BowmanFormerly: Visual Design Lead at GoogleNow: Creative Director at Twitter
Stopdesign.com
A designer, Jamie Divine, had picked out a blue that everyone on his team liked. But a product manager tested a different color with users and found they were more likely to click on the toolbar if it was painted a greener shade.Add to PortfolioGoogle IncGo to your Portfolio As trivial as color choices might seem, clicks are a key part of Googles revenue stream, and anything that enhances clicks means more money. Mr. Divines team resisted the greener hue, so Ms. Mayer split the difference by choosing a shade halfway between those of the two camps.Her decision was diplomatic, but it also amounted to relying on her gut rather than research. Since then, she said, she has asked her team to test the 41 gradations between the competing blues to see which ones consumers might prefer.
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3. Be Nice
87% of all consumers will never go back to an organization after a bad experience
RightNow Technologies and Harris Interactive, October 2008
Balance selling with customer experience
Freemium is Your Friend: Provide Value ASAP
Some Terminology:
Free Trial = provide full product for limited time periodFreemium = provide limited product for unlimited time
Marc,You just made my day! What a great and effective email. I just wanted you to know how powerful it was and that it gave me goose bumps. I have put off paying for your service however I believe I now will.
Freemium Provides Continuous Customer Feedback
Marc,If your readers bomb the interview maybe they should start their own business. There are some guys down the street for where I live making a good living right now. They sell Tacos for $1.00.So my advice to you is that if you fail your interview, go sell Tacos.