Do Mobile App Freemiums Influence Social Funnel Advancement?

Freemiums are often the content of choice today for company’s seeking to advance their customers through their social sales funnel. But do they help more than they hurt revenue generation?

With an estimated 90% to 99% of the 1 million apps downloadable free of charge, consumers are quite accustomed to receiving free services. So businesses see this as a content marketing strategy for the bottom of the sales funnel (i.e., BoFu content). The intent here is to engage customers through trial use of a business solution that allows service providers to showcase their competence while getting sales ready prospects to consider an offer.  


In the mobile app business, freemiums are generally applied in the following manner:

  • Feature limited – start with a reasonable set of functions
  • Time limited – free trial typically of entire feature set that expires over a 30 day time period.
  • Capacity or subscription limited – free offering applies to a limited set of subscribers

Freemiums have been employed very successfully in social networking arenas. Popular examples include Skype, Hoovers, LinkedIn, Dropbox and most email service offerings. Proponents of the freemium model suggest that providers of apps and other digital offerings deliver a base set of services free of charge in order to reach high internet traffic. A fee is then charged for specialized services or future activation of paid service (e.g., time limited trial subscription).


Example of Freemium-to-Premium Mobile App

Trial use apps, along with free audits and assessments, are widely used in BoFu content strategies where users need a free look before purchase. During this trial period, suppliers can collect significant research information in a social CRM data base.

In total freemiums offer the following benefits:

  1. Rapid customer acquisition (click away) – If you can convert trial users without forcing them into a purchase decision, you can build a customer base fairly rapidly and efficiently. Some research supports the notion of simplicity in purchase. i.e., Users are adverse to pulling out credit cards or even completing registration forms. It is therefore suggested that these actions be deferred until after initial interaction.
  2. Promotional tool with reduced marketing expenses - The freemium model can be an especially effective promotional tool online because customers easily spread the word throughout social media outlets. When offered free of charge, the free product can be easily recommended to friends via Facebook, blogs, LinkedIn, Twitter and industry forums. Moreover, if the download link goes viral, marketing expenses are drastically reduced. 
  3. Validation of business model – Freemiums provide opportunities to prove market potential for a company’s offering as well as to prototype the offering for product research.
  4. Search engine effectiveness – Freemiums provide far more valuable and popular blogging content as users link to the site hosting the free download. Consequently, more opportunities are provided to bump up search engine results (e.g., through fresh content and greater audience reach). In addition, research shows terms like “free” to significantly boost the effectiveness of PPC ads as well.
  5. User confidence – Much like a money back guarantee, a giveaway is often perceived as an expression of confidence on the part of the service provider. i.e., By offering a freemium, a company is essentially expressing its confidence in product effectiveness while imparting some goodwill to its sales ready audience. In effect, the introductory price is a signaling mechanism. A low entrance price signals that you are confident that your product will create value for the customer.
  6. Overcoming customer reluctance for untested experience goods – Many digital products or services need a period of use before the customer can determine its usage value. Since customers tend to underestimate the value of a product, the optimal pricing for an untested experience should include a low introductory price which is then increased when the customer realizes the full value of the product.
  7. Tiered pricing rationale – Freemiums also provide a rationale for premium offerings. For example, if priced by the number of shared app users or the number of activated features, users have a baseline in which to justify pricing from the most basic to enterprise-level platinum support.
  8. Valuable research - Freemiums allow early research of a product’s or service’s feature demand. And by tracking downloads from their source, information can also be gathered about target audience characteristics as well. Finally, freemiums are normally provided at the bottom of the sales funnel. As a result, the downloading of a free app provides a trail of conversion data often missing from middle of funnel content (e.g., blogs, eBooks, Podcasts, webinars, etc.).

Freemiums Serve as Bottom-of-The-Funnel (BoFu) Content

But despite their growing popularity, freemiums typically suffer from the following:

  1. Slow time to monetizeThe conversion from free to paying customers can take months to years for freemiums to be profitable. Statistics show that paid adopters typically range from 1% to 10% of total app downloads. This would imply that a freemium model often hinges on an aggressive up-sell of feature upgrades or user base expansion.
  2. Competitor imitation The more viral a freemium offer spreads, the more exposure it has to competitive scrutiny.
  3. Psychological perception of perpetually free – Free is a huge accelerator of adoption. The flip side of this is that after using the product for free, it is very hard to get the customer to start paying for it. 

So how do you stand on freemiums?  Will they continue to grow in popularity? Which of the three most commonly administered formats show the most promise (e.g., feature limited, time limited and capacity limited freemiums)?





125 thoughts on “Do Mobile App Freemiums Influence Social Funnel Advancement?

  1. So how do you stand on freemiums?

    Freemiums are a great way for companies to showcase their apps to a variety of potential customers. In a technological world where consumers enjoy free apps, why would anyone be willing to spend money on an app they can’t test for themselves and see if it is indeed worth the money? Freemiums are the gateway to these customers. However, I do not agree with all three versions of Freemiums (featured limited, time limited, and capacity or subscription limited). When you give access to your app on a “time limited” capacity, you allow consumers to typically see everything your app is capable of. This give copycats the ability to duplicate your app or make a similar one. The appealing “trial” periods which include the feature limited and capacity limited seem to be the versions of Freemiums which will be better in the long run.

    Will they continue to grow in popularity?

    I do believe that Freemiums will continue to grow in popularity for the mere fact that it is difficult for consumers to simply pay for an app when they may be able to get a similar one for free. Companies need to prove that their app if worth the few extra dollars and Freemiums is the best way to do so. By being able to showcase how great the app is, consumers will be able to see what they will be paying for. Then in turn, they will more than liking be willing to pay for the app after the trial period is over or they decide to upgrade. I would say Freemiums are a win/win situation for both parties so I don’t see how their popularity would not continue to grow.


    One “commonly” administered format” shows more promise than the others. The feature limited allows customers to see certain functions but not all of the functions. If the customer is content with the features on the freemium, they will want to see more! This will incline the customers to upgrade to the full version of the app. The feature limited app also allows the consumers to take their time in getting to know the app and what it is capable of instead of feeling rushed or pressured to buy the app since the time of the trial period has ended.

  2. I believe that Freemiums are a great way to attract the customers, inviting them to try the services, and with the right techniques, get them to upgrade their subscription. In today’s competitive market, where potential consumers have access to free apps and services, companies must evaluate what free services they can provide that generate profit in the long term.
    The feature limited and the capacity limited formats seem to be the two strategies that will continue growing for the next years. LinkedIn is a great example of feature limited. Everyone can build a LinkedIn profile, but by the time a person needs to find a job, upgrading their subscription will be the best option to increase the probability of getting a good position.
    The time limited freemiums may not be effective for some companies. Some people might use their trial and then change to another company to continue receiving free services for short periods of time. This might happen with apps for credit scores reports, music and magazines.

  3. It was mentioned in the blog that “consumers are quite accustomed to receiving free services”, and I would like to expand on that and the concept/importance of freemiums. The concept of free has always appealed to consumers, however we all know, even the not so savvy consumer, that nothing really is ever free. What the consumer is willing to give up for that “freemium” has already cost them, for example, their personal information to be compromised. So although the concept of free is manipulated to make you feel entitled and quickly satisfied, it is also there to commit faster, without much thought. The trust placed on a freemium may not be as deep rooted as needed to spiral out f the bottom of the sales funnel as quickly as needed. So the cost to implement one may or may not make freemiums a BoFu importance. The importance, however, is substantial because although we know things aren’t really free, being able to try something without cost will always remain a constant in any successful marketing effort.
    The basis on whether they will continue to grow in popularity may have been a question when these concepts first came out. I do not believe that they will continue to rise in popularity more so than they already are. I believe that strategically, the way it is administered will show the most promise in how it is perceived or accepted enough to make an impact on a purchase. The most commonly administered format that shows the most promise is the feature limited. This is a speculation, however, since the product or service may vary in its need for certain formats. Generally speaking, the feature-limited seems to be a format that can lead to faster decision making, because if they are happy with one set of features they will perceive that the full set of features will be worth it. The only set back to time limited is that the user may feel that they got use of it for enough time and never purchase. The capacity limited option as well. I feel that the feature limited option brings in both worlds together and offers a more constant way to get consumers engaged at the bottom of the sales funnel (Bofu).

  4. Freemiums, in my opinion, are a great way for marketers to introduce products or services to to consumers. These free apps allow users to receive benefits from the product without having to pay or provide payment information. Freemiums allow consumers access while the company benefits from the valuable information gathered, in addition to the opportunity to turn users in to loyal consumers. Companies offer a timed trial period, limited features or subscription limits. While there are pros and cons to each of these methods, the best course of action will resonate with the companies objectives. Moving forward I do believe freemiums will continue to grow in popularity and wide spread use. Free apps allow companies to connect with their consumers without forcing or pushing a sale. However, I do think companies can overcome the issues with monetizing by offering an upgraded app to users who have proven interest in the product or service and track history of app usage. Personally as a user, I prefer a limit feature app as I can take my time in familiarizing myself with the service or product without being charged or denied access. Moreover this form of freemiums and app deliverance enables users to utilize the service or product at their own level of interest and usage.

  5. The up side of a freemium product cannot be argued. Although monetizing is an issue exposure and brand awareness are priceless. For this reason I believe it will continue to be a tactic that is utilized by many brands. Competitor imitation should not be a major concern either, given that the price point for most apps is so low. To purchase and then emulate an app does not require more effort. The functionality of most freemium apps is so minimal that the only risk is regarding the user interface and design, which can be patented. The psychological perception of perpetually free goods does offer a more significant hurdle. As reflected in the paid adopter’s percentage (1-10%) most customers are not willing to pay for what they can get for free, even if there is an inconvenience of in app ads or limited functionality. When used as a spring board for the brand and a reminder to add validity to other offerings the freemium approach is still effective. Meaning you can now say try app X from the people who bought you freemium app Y.
    The freeemium format that offers the most upside is the feature limited version. This particular tactic allows you to enjoy the product become familiar and reliant on it without having all the features. If the app designer executed the freemium version correctly the missing features should become essential as you become more reliant on the app. In the case of games this could be additional levels or bonuses, with utility apps it could be as simple as a results screen or the ability to see a transaction history. Most apps become less significant if you stop using them; the additional benefit of this format is unlike a time trial you can continue to use the app which should escalate reliance on it. Capacity or subscription limited freemiums are counter intuitive to the goal of app exposure this tactic would only work for brands that are already established and want to create awareness to a new offering.

  6. So how do you stand on freemiums?
    I feel freemiums work for some brands. I think it is an effective way to get consumers to the site and if the product has legs than the consumer would most likely stick around. From personal experience, I have noticed that I try products through freemiums that I otherwise would not use.

    One big problem I have the way that some companies approach the end of freemiums. Sometimes they ask for a credit card and do not mention that the trial is over and automatically charge you. This method actually pushes more consumers away then help the brand.

    Will they continue to grow in popularity?
    I feel that the it will continue to grow in popularity. I think it is a great way to showcase a product to the consumers. It is very similar to receiving a free sample of food at a supermarket. Once you try and enjoy it then you tend to buy it.


    I feel the one that works best for showcasing a product is capacity limited. No matter what the consumer is engaged without forcing them into a contract or having to give credit card details. While some consumers will continue using the capacity limited product, if it designed to withhold the special items, consumers will tend to purchase.

  7. S.Flook

    So how do you stand on freemiums?

    Freemiums can be a great tool, but can also hinder a company. It all depends on the target and objective that the company has for the freemium. When the objective is solely to increase awareness, then I stand very firmly behind freemiums and agree that they can bring brand awareness. In a very cost conscious world, these are one of the only truly effective ways that knowledge of the brand can go viral. Marketing is extremely important, and as mentioned in the blog, freemiums are a promotional tool one can use, by also reducing marketing expenses for the company, as it is done through the consumers on social media. Personally, I love Freemiums, and constantly check my App store for new up and coming Apps that will become a “friend of mine”. Nevertheless, I do think companies need to be cautious with how they offer these freemiums, as statistics show people hesitate to pay for Apps, accounting from only 1-10% of adopters.

    Will they continue to grow in popularity?

    There is no doubt in my mind that freemiums will continue to grow in popularity. From kids to adults, everyone is trying to save an extra penny. It no longer seems like a trend, but instead, a requirement for freemiums to be offered. Also, I don’t see why they would stop growing, as freemiums can be said to benefit both parties. It allows customers to enjoy an App and service without having to pay until they want to upgrade, and for company’s it can increase their base of potential customers by thousands or even millions. Our society seems to have a phobia against commitment, therefore, trial runs, such as freemiums, address these issues and allow the customer to know what they are paying for. Right now, Facebook and Snapchat both have millions and millions of users that use their site/App daily or even hourly. However, if people had to pay to join any of these, it is almost guaranteed that at least half of that number would be taken away. People don’t like to pay for things, especially, not things that are unknown. So my question is, why not? Why would it not grow when done appropriately, it can help both parties?


    This depends on which side you are looking at it from, whether it’s the company’s or the consumers. However, when focusing on the company’s perspective, I believe the time limited App shows the most promise. It satisfies both parties. Consumers do not have to commit right away, and freemiums can’t stay free forever for the company to make an easy profit. Once the trial is over, if the app has become a “friend of mine” or one that has been embedded into someone’s daily social media habits, it is probable that the consumer will buy the App after the trial is over. Therefore, both consumers are happy because they know they are paying for something worthwhile, while the company makes a profit.

  8. Freemiums consider a business model that allows a consumer to receive basic services for free, but requires them to pay for any service deemed to be premium is a great strategy used by most companies . For example, a cable provider may offer a customer free HBO for 2-3 weeks, but then require the customer to pay a fee for any program considered to be premium. Another example is computer software which offers a user basic use of the program, but requires a fee to access advanced features.

    Most companies do this because it allows costumers to get a taste of the product or service and encourage them to get more. Rarely will someone download an app or any kind of gaming apps and finish a level and stay stuck in it they want more. In order for them to continue they have to pay to play . A great example of freemius that happened to me personally is Lumosity this amazing website/app that creates simple daily brain workouts with exercises that reflect your choices. Lumosity exercises are engineered to train a variety of core cognitive functions. I started out with the free trail, but then when it asked me to pay I was hesitant so I stopped using it for a bit. The thing is 29 days had already past and my brain was now use to it,I had created a neural pathway that demanded me to continue playing. I knew it was good for me because of the neuroplasticity. This is how the brain is capable of change this website had demonstrated to be helpful to me so I paid. According to this principle of neuroplasticity, the brain is constantly changing in response to various experiences. New behaviors, new learnings, and even environmental changes or physical injuries may all stimulate the brain to create new neural pathways or reorganize existing ones, fundamentally altering how information is processed.

    The freemiums is a great way of getting people hooked on whatever service or product they are offering. It will continue to grow and expand to many other companies that are not offering.

  9. So how do you stand on Freemiums?
    I believe Freemiums are a great marketing tool for companies to engage the customer with their product or service. The customers who download this freemium app are allowed to use the company’s product or service with little to no risk to them for free. I believe this tool is useful when companies set out to provide new products or services because it allows the user to test out the product before they invest any personal information into it. This allows customers to gain trust in the company and creates a form a brand loyalty, which can lead to the customer being upsold into the premium offering of that product or service. The challenge in Freemiums is getting consumers to upgrade to the premium once they have already begun using their product or service for free. So it’s up to the company to entice their consumer to upgrade by providing premium service.

    Will they continue to grow in popularity?
    I think that the popularity of Freemiums will continue to grow in popularity over the next couple of years. Pandora is a great example of a Freemium. Pandora, which is a music streaming and automated music recommendation service, allows its users to choose and pick what artist or song you want to listen to. The app even allows you to access your music from you home computer, tablet or cell phone. However, users have the option to become premium users for a small fee in order to listen to your music commercial free. I even upgraded my membership in order to not hear commercials every three songs. I believe marketers can benefit from creating their apps as Freemiums because in today’s world once your product has gained a strong following it will market itself through social media, gaining new users thanks to “word of mouth.”

    I believe the featured limited is the format that shows the most promise for the future. With a featured limited start users start with a very basic set of functions for your app. I believe that by doing this it allows user to test out your product and gain loyalty towards it. They will then be enticed to begin to upgrade their service or product because they already like what the app is doing.

  10. Marketers have always used “free giveaways” to entice consumers to their brands or products. But it was always something that was complementing the product or putting the brand in the consumers’ top of mind. In the article, When Freemium Fails, the writer states, “Freemium is a construct of a digital age because there’s almost no marginal cost to digital goods”. Businesses think that providing their product as a free digital product will be a way to entice consumers to start paying for it afterwards. However not all businesses can use the freemium model. I believe freemiums should only be used when the company has a product that is not limited in scope. The product range should allow users to get “hooked” on the initial offering and then want to buy add-ons. Businesses should also know who they are selling to. It doesn’t make sense to sell to mainly large businesses as enterprise clients have budgets for buying goods and services and aren’t attracted to free products.

    Freemiums will continue to grow in popularity as the demand increases for users to “test” out the product and marketers begin to crave the data that comes from using freemiums to test products on the market. However, to emphasize, it must be done logically and to the benefit of the company. Freemiums must be expected to attract millions of users in order to get a good return on investment. Otherwise, it just becomes another product that people will get bored of until there’s a hype for a new or better product.

    Feature limited – start with a reasonable set of functions
    I’ve had a good experience with limited features type freemiums. This model can really make you want to purchase the full version. For example, some photo apps will give you the basic filters but if you want more filters and functionality, it proposes you to purchase the full version. Some smart businesses will even have a cost for each filter you purchase as opposed to giving you everything at one cost.

    Limited time type freemiums don’t always work the way you want them to. The product has to be really outstanding for you to consider purchasing the full version. For example, Prezi, gives you 30 day downloadable trial. The product was very difficult to use and the company doesn’t offer much support on how to make the best use of the product within that time frame. Therefore, I opted to not purchase the full version. Another problem with this model, is that I can simply use several email accounts to keep getting a new 30 day trial.

    I’ve never had the opportunity to get a product with this model, although I have had a similar experience with a product that was on sale for a limited time. Actually a good example of this would be the freemium offerings from Starbucks. Those are limited quantity only, however from a marketers’ standpoint, you would need to engage your subscribers to review the product so that other consumers will be enticed to purchase the product for themselves. Otherwise again you’re just giving the product away without getting the consumers to make the product go viral and spread the word. I often times will take a freemium from Starbucks and know that it has a value to other people but not necessarily review or recommend it to someone else. There has to be a call to action or a purpose for those specific subscribers that you’re giving away your product to.

    The one thing that would completely entice me to purchase a product that was a freemium is to get rid of ad banners. Although similar to limited features type model, this model allows users to get a product for free but will be bombarded with ads. So in order to get rid of them, you have to purchase the full version. I like this model because it lets me use the product but once I love it, I will buy the full version just to get rid of the ad banners that are always in your way.

  11. Freemiums are a great way for companies to gather data on prospective customers. The potential for freemiums to work effectively for any type of business depends on the type of customers and the size of the business. Technology companies whose customers are large organizations should stay away from freemiums as most large organizations have a budget and want more out of their services. In addition, if a company is only selling a few main services it cannot utilize freemiums as customers will not be willing to pay for a service that does not provide them any additional benefits. Offering freemiums does not guarantee profits for any company but their popularity will continue to increase. In 2012, 77% of the most successful mobile apps offered freemiums, demonstrating that in order to compete many companies must offer freemiums unless their product is unique and lacks competitors. In addition, if a company is unable to generate revenues through freemiums, if the service gains popularity banner ads may always be sold. The potential revenue generated by advertising or banner ads is the main reason freemiums will continue to grow in popularity. The formats that are most promising are Feature Limited and Time Limited. Feature Limited would work best for companies who have more competitors. Utilizing feature limited requires offering only minimal services. In addition, feature limited should only be offered by companies whose main services include more than just a few services. Time Limited would work well for companies who have very few competitors as customers will try the service and after the trail period will be more likely to purchase the product because they lack alternatives.


    Needleman, S., Loten, A. (2012) When Freemium Fails. The Wall Street Journal.
    Retrieved from

  12. As a loyal Apple consumer, personally I am a huge fan of freemiums. I am able to take advantage of these free applications and use them not only on my iPhone, iPad and Mac Book Air, but I can hook up all devises to my television at home and view them on airplay. Spotify is a perfect example of a great freemium that offers many of the benefits mentioned in the blog above. I believe based off the popularity of smart phones and how fast the market is growing freemium applications will continue to grow in popularity as well. Free applications do indeed prove to customers that companies are confident in their product, which in return turns into trust on the consumer end. Out of the three most commonly administered formats, capacity limited freemiums show the most promise. Capacity limited apps, like Spotify for example offer free music to all users. However, only users that upgrade to a Spotify Premium membership for $9.99 a month can skip over as many songs as they want and not be forced to only play music on shuffle mode when using their smart phones. I loved the application so much that when my 30day premium trial ended and there were limitations placed on my playlists and streamed content I upgraded along with many of my friends and classmates. Capacity limited apps are smarter from a business stand point because they’re not getting rid of users who choose not upgrade, they’re just showing them what they’re missing out on.

  13. The Stand on Freemiums
    As a marketing tool, freemiums have proved to be one of the most effective strategies implemented by marketing teams towards pushing their products into the market. They come with an array of benefits as they provide the company with free publicity and an enormously significant reduction in the costs incurred towards marketing and distributing the products to the target market. They also allow for direct feedback from the market, which is a free avenue for ideas on how to increase the apps’ user-friendliness. This increases the quality of functionality of the services they deliver, which in turn raises the market appeal the market has for the app.

    Potential of Freemium Popularity Growth
    In accordance with the current market structure of the apps industry, freemiums are destined to grow in popularity in the near future. In order to see why this is the case, one ought to understand the market structure on which they operate. They are designed to support their inclusion into include iOS, Android, Windows Mobile and Windows 8, the platforms that currently dominate the app industry. The iTunes Store has 186,492 registered developers, while the Android Play Store has 67,550 developers, all of whom are registered uniquely in their markets. This amounts to a huge level of competition, which requires appealing incentives in order to win over the target clientele. In addition to this, most of the popular apps achieve their popularity either after going viral, or due to their association with a very influential market leader overall. With this regard, the most effective way of increasing the chances of an app’s success in the above mentioned market platforms is through the implementation of freemium services within the launch structure of the apps.

    The Most Promising Freemium Format
    Feature limited is the most promising format of the three most commonly administered formats. This conclusion comes after the review of three of the most successful companies that implemented this freemium format into their app distributions among their user base. Pandora, Dropbox and Evernote rank among the most successful companies in the app industry with their revenues approximating $274 million, $500 million and $100 million respectively.
    Pandora went on to note that during their first launch, they opted for the time-limited format. This gave them a user base that exceeded the level they had projected, but almost all the users disappeared after the expiry of the limited time of use. Dropbox also initially opted for the capacity-limited format initially, but this proved to retain the current users and drive new users away. Evernote drafted their freemium model in that it maximized the quality of service it provided for its premium users while keeping the stream open for the new freemium users. The idea extracted from these three companies is that it is advisable to keep the freemium users linked to the app for as long as possible, and improve services, because a significant number converts to premium with the extended time of use.

  14. So how do you stand on freemiums?
    I believe Freemiums are the best way for businesses to get their products or services out into the market for new, potential customers to test it out before they make any purchases. Most customers don’t like purchasing items in today’s market without being able to test it out first to see if it is worth spending their money on it. I believe that if the product is unique and truly convinces the customer that they are in need for that product they will eventually upgrade and get all of the special features that go along with it.

    Will they continue to grow in popularity?
    I do think that if the product is unique, offering these freemiums will only help the business. If the company is simply a copy-cat of another business with no originality, then having it go viral might impede the company and open up the doors for other more powerful competitors to enter the market and become the industry leaders. When a more successful company notices a small business getting this much awareness with little to no barriers to entry, then the chances are greater for them to want to join in this niche. Companies such as Spottily, Pandora, LinkedIn, and almost all very popular apps out there do offer a free version and also give their customers the ability to upgrade. Although these companies did become very successful from their freemiums, that does not mean that every small company will be this lucky. It is said that only a small fraction of apps out there in the market are actually profitable or breaking even. Nevertheless, starting up an app with a free version does help the customer become familiar with the app and begin to enjoy its features.


    I believe that each one can benefit a company more than others. For instance, Drop Box is an excellent example of utilizing the “limited freemium” format for its customers. Once the customers have utilized the capacity of the drop box, they must upgrade for extra space if they choose to continue using it. The same goes with multiple companies using the feature or time limited formats. Although they are all excellent sources, I believe the most promising must be time limited. This option gives customers a sense of urgency of their time running out so they might try to take advantage of all of the features, and before they know it, they are hooked and will end up upgrading once the time has run out.

  15. Freemiums are part of the pricing strategy of any business and it basically allows a consumer to receive a basic service for free, but requires them to pay for any service to be premium. For example, Skype provides free computer-to-computer calling, but sells voicemail, calls to landlines and other products. Therefore, I believe mobile app freemiums influence social funnel advancement because companies are offering a sample of their product/service for free to the customer and right when the customer feels attached to the it they will finally buy it. It is a wonderful way for consumers to start getting familiar with the product/service if they haven’t been exposed to it before.

    Freemiums popularity will definitively grow since people are constantly on their phones and at the beginning consumers get to try it for free. Who doesn’t love free stuff? Also, freemiums are a great tool companies can benefit from because they can target a specific audience. As well as, being a great way for doing merchandising and leveraging a company’s brand equity. I think the key feature on most freemiums is the “feature limited” because it awakens the consumer’s desire to have it all. So if the consumer is so far pleased with the product/service they will most likely to buy it.

  16. Based on the information provided, free apps don’t diminish revenue that a company could generate. The apps that are provided free of charge are for “potential clients” it is another means of advertising the products and services you are offering. With the free apps, it is to engage with a sample of what you have to offer-a carrot. Think about a bakery that has a new type of cupcake, or the supermarket – they always have demonstration and free samples- you will have a small group that don’t like what they are tasting, you’ll have a few that will purchase immediately because you fulfilled an immediate need and other that will remember and purchase later. From a marketing perspective, a brand value needs to be created, because not everyone is open to trying something new, lack of knowledge, fear, and funds. They want to make sure it is something that will be useful and can enhance their knowledge before they are committed to it monetarily.
    Freeminums will continue to grow in popularity because of the technological age we are in. Everything is mobile or viral creating awareness for little marketing dollars, however, just like any new business it requires time. Will time hurt the company? Only if they aren’t prepared to be in the game for the long haul. A company has to establish a limit on the Freemiums. I would recommend that a company use a time limitation feature. Give the prospective client a taste of all the products and services you offer for a 7 day trial period. If they are satisfied with what you have to offer or can satisfy their needs, they will purchase the app. It is stated that once you offer a free product, it is hard to get customer to pay for it. That is true unless the customer finds value in what you have to offer. So your blogs, business and brick and mortar must be engaging to the client. Keep in mind that society likes FREE things! All you want is to be seen. Just like the funnel, you build on it.

  17. So how do you stand on freemiums?
    I think freemiums are very useful for companies to promote their products or services and to create brand awareness. Giving away a piece of what the company is offering for free helps to spread the word and attract more consumers to try it out, with the possibility for them to become future customers. In my opinion, freemiums provide several benefits for the company and also for the consumers. The company can get important information about their potential customers, their market, about their potential as a company and it is also a way to advertise for cheaper. On the other hand, customer feel attracted when they can try first a product for free, feeling that the company is confident enough to give them the opportunity to try it, and then decide by themselves the value it has for them. That value they perceive is what is going to transform a free app download into a purchase.

    Will they continue to grow in popularity?
    I personally believe that it will definitely will continue to grow in popularity, as apps are here transforming the mobile experience. People are more interested in doing everything on their phones since is more convenient, and this is a big opportunity for companies to be out there where consumers are, showing themselves, what they can do and what they offer, therefore as I said before, by giving them a piece for free to try, it will attract more people to get to know the company and potential customers. In my personal opinion I like to try apps first, and if I consider it is what I am looking for I will purchase, on the contrary if I don’t know the app or how valuable it is for me, I don’t feel comfortable in buying it without give it a try first, I wouldn’t want to lose my money.

    I believe time limited is the type of freemium that shows the most promise, it offers to try the entire feature set with an expiration time. When the app shows the person everything it can do and all its potential, I think that then when the person kind of got used to it, will feel the necessity to transform that free app try into an actual purchase in order to keep using it.


    Freemiums are a great way to not only increase a product / services audience but also cut the marketing expense. Everyone likes to get things for free and it is even better when the items are actually of quality.

    Free apps are very popular and I do not see this changing anytime in the future. There are literally millions of apps that serve just about every purpose possible. We can use aps on smartphones, tablets, laptops, computers, etc. By making the apps free, it allow the customers to get a look at the service that is offered and use it however they see fit. I think in time there will be less apps but a higher quality. Right now there are so many that people aren’t really using them all. I think over the next decade the smaller apps will disappear and only the top ones that are profitable will be left standing.

    I personally think the capacity limited freemiuns are the best. Or at least they are the ones I always end up buying. An example is Dropbox. I started off using it having only the free account. But after using it constantly and having to delete things for more space, I decided it was worth the $10 a month to have the extra space. It is the same with many other apps. After using them and becoming accustomed to having access, I end up buying the app so that I don’t have to change my routine.

    freemiums are growing rapidly and most of company use these apps to reach their customers. I believe that freemiums will continue to grow in popularity. Today’s economy is a very competitive and some companies will need to be different to get the proper customer exposure they seek. Once the consumer is using the products their more inclined to pay for additional features. As a user of free apps myself I believe its a great way to try out something new and see if it fits your needs, so a freemium is a great approach in my view. By having freemiums these companies can get their products known recognized by their intended target market.
    I don’t think subscription limited can be effective in converting a free trial user to a paying user. The second least effective is the limited features because if a product is very good with limited options when they offer more features, users will be interested in testing the other features by paying the price. So in my view, the most effective way to converting free trial users to paying users is time limited since the user may not get enough time to test the product.

  20. I believe that freemiums are a great introductory tool for not only the app itself but also the company and all the other services it might offer. The term freemium is created using two words ‘Free’ and ‘Premium’. It describes a business model where in a company gives away a core product for free and then generate revenue by selling premium products to a small percentage of those free users. Any user that at first place found the specific freemium app as a moment solution for his/her pain point, might be a potential target not only for an upgraded version of the app but also for all the other services that the company which created the app can offer, generating then a loyalty bond much more permanent.
    Following the same line of thought, the freemiums should continue to grow in popularity, giving users a fast solution to their needs and allowing them to choose if to invest in a extended version with complete services or continue free. Even if just a small percentage of users convert to buyers many of the freemium apps have their marketing objectives way farther then the only purchase of the app itself. Brand awareness, loyalty generation, trust and the feed backs they can get from actual users – even if they are only on the free version- are priceless to not only the improvement of the app and development of new ones, but also for the company and brand itself to promote further their other products or even to understand consumer’s needs and wants to introduce a new product / service to suit those demands.
    To conclude, I believe that the most commonly administered format that show the most promise among freemiums is the “Feature limited” where users are allowed to take advantage on a reasonable set of functions of the app for undetermined amount of time – on which they will be constantly seeing the app’s brand – and when they feel the need of the full set of functions that the app offers, they will with no doubt buy the premium version of it, and as thy use more frequently the app, they will not hesitate on upgrading and buying other new apps from the same company / developer. By not pressuring the user on pre paying, gaining their trust and making the app a necessity for covering that function, good freemiums apps spread the mobiles viral only on a word-of-mouth and can become huge business. I’m a typical user that always buy the free version of the app to try it out, find out if Ill really use it that much and very soon I buy the premium version. I have apps on my iPhone that I use constantly and I have had them for years (following all their upgrades) as their use and solutions are already part of facilitating my daily activities. Some of those apps are: “Check”, “Instagram” (still free), “Lose it!”, “P Tracker”, “JutNot Pro”, “PS Express”, “Camera+” among others.

  21. I think that Freemiums is a good marketing strategy for businesses. From my own experience I know that I would more likely buy a product/service if there was a free trial rather than having to pay up front for the product/service. Freemiums gives consumers a chance to grow to like or love the product/service so that at the end of the free trial they can not help but to purchase it.
    Freemiums, in my opinion, will continue to grow in popularity. During the trial run consumers are able to give feedback which can help companies to improve the product/service by the time of purchase. Increase growth in Freemiums means that companies who ask consumers for payment upfront will need to increase their brand awareness in order to compete with those companies that use Freemiums.
    Of the three most commonly administered formats the one that I believe shows the most promise among consumers is Time limited. I chose Time limited because consumers are able to use all of the functions and will get a feel for the entire product/service over a certain period of time. During this time they will grow to like or love the product/service in its entirety and will most likely purchase the product after the free trial. Although there may be a risk with the other two formats, I believe that Feature limited and Capacity or subscription limited would be more beneficial to the company because consumers may purchase the entire product/service upfront or pay for a subscription because they want to have access to all of the functions and features.

  22. I believe this concept is very useful for company to get their name on the product. freemium is that customers want more and more for free. The freemium is on the application or service a company give for free. In fact, freemium is very helpful for company to expand into the market system. this is a pricing strategy giving things away such as a product or service for free. the feature limited app is one with more potential growth. It provides users with a first taste or impression of the product and with the hope of getting more. the option is to pay to access all application the thing is feature, does not pressure it customers.

    1. Freemiums is the most innovated system to promoted and engage customers into new products, services or apps. It is fascinating how nowadays companies can introduce their services/products as a “free” charge or promo deal. This type of strategy is great for most of the customers but not that beneficiating for the companies. Most of the customers after download an app for free; if they don’t use it that often, need it as a daily basis or are engage with the app they don’t pay for the upgrade version, causing this a lost for the company.

      Freemiums will continue growing as long as companies are willing to invest and spend time on free apps. As well, freemiums suffer for competitor imitations, this cause more lost on the time and money invested on the apps. As well is hard to get the customer back after they enjoy a free trial. In my personal opinion, they are few people, including myself, that paid for apps. But they are apps that are worth it and some are not. For instance, the kindle app for books is excellent for mother, students or individuals who like to read on the go, and don’t have a change to either buy the book or rented.

      The most commonly administered format most promise for me is the feature limited, that gives the opportunity to the customer to try the app, enjoy the benefits and fall in love with the benefits of the product or service. It is important that companies create apps that have short time and limited information on the trial version, this can reduce the imitation from competitors and lost of profit.

  23. So how do you stand on freemiums?

    Freemium describes a business model in which you give one of your main products away for free to a large group of people. Companies normally sell premium products to a smaller fraction of people in the large group. Personally, I enjoy freemiums because most of them provide me with experience using the product before going on to purchase upgrades or other things. This is a great marketing ploy because users can actually get a great feel for how the software or product works prior to purchasing the full capabilities. This is great for word of mouth advertising because users can share their experiences in a variety of capacities. In my opinion, this business model is a necessity for some to expand and retain their businesses

    Will they continue to grow in popularity?

    I believe Freemium will continue to grow in popularity because if one goes viral, then it reduces the marketing expenses dramatically. Another reason why freemiums may continue to grow is because it can attract a lot of traffic to the website or product, drawing in people from all over. Many people like to try trials before purchasing products, or they enjoy limited access and option to buy full. It will gain popularity as well because people enjoy “Free things.” When something is free it brings in a willingness to interact with the product. Some benefits mentioned in the blog are also reasons why this business model, would grow in popularity. For example, search engine effectiveness, user confidence, and valuable research; all offer ways to improve the company’s or user experience.

    Which of the three most commonly administered formats show the most promise ?

    I believe that free, limited will show the most promise. Free, limited offer users with limited access while offering the option of prime. This is very creative because it accomplishes the idea of “it’s free, but…” It also allows the user with an experience that ties into the fact that if you would like to enhance your experience, purchase an upgrade from what you are currently using. There is a potential risk that consumers may never upgrade, but a small piece of the freemium, business model is to get a small fraction of those people to purchase. Everyone is accounted for and plays a role.

  24. The marketing arena has changed so drastically over the last 5-10 years. Changes in how we watch television (with or without commercials), how we interact with one another, and how we obtain information have completely altered the way in which marketers interact with consumers. Some methods never change and will always be effective. I enjoy the ability to try before buy in many categories. When it comes to apps, I really don’t find myself or my wife purchasing them. We usually will download free apps and we don’t have many, as it takes of space on the phone.

    Two apps come to mind when discussing Freemiums, Headspace and Snapchat. Headspace is an app geared towards helping users to better understand mediation and learn to meditate. The app is free with 10 days of 10 minute (Take 10) meditation exercises. The app does not ask for any information up front and you are able to complete 2 days of meditation exercises before you are required to give them your name and email address in order to continue. This is another commonplace in the marketing arena, collection of consumers’ information. After providing this information, you are able to complete the remainder of the 10 days of free meditation exercises. Once completed, the 10 days are saved, but in order to continue on to Take 15 (15 minute meditation exercise) and to other more specified meditation exercises, you have to pay. I do intend to pay for a subscription to Headspace because I can see the value in their offering.

    Briefly, Snapchat requests your personal information before you are able to complete any Snapchat messages. I know the emphasis here is on pay for play, but there is also the imminent desire to collect personal information to increase other marketing activity. Although, I downloaded Snapchat, I deleted it because I was not able to try the app before providing anything, including my personal information.

    I offered these examples to point out my stance on Freemiums. I think that Freemiums are beneficial to organizations, whether or not they produce extreme revenues, at whatever pace. The goal is to not only increase awareness of the brand, but most importantly, to demonstrate the value of the service in such a way that users are willing to: 1) provide word of mouth (WOM) advertising – which is FREE; 2) provide their personal information; and 3) pay to play. When offering their service for FREE, I think this is fair! Thus, I definitely believe that the use of Freemiums will continue to grow in popularity in the marketing arena. This method provides, not only users information, but also it provides the marketers information on how users interact with the application and, most importantly, what value added changes need to be made.

    When it comes to the type of Freemium that I think is most effective, Headspace is spot on. I think the best strategy is to offer users full use for a limited time, and make sure that they are fully aware, using strategically timed reminders, of the expiration of the full use of the application. The Headspace application still allows me to go back and redo the Take 10, (10 days of 10 minute mediations) infinitely. As well, since I provided my personal information, I have received emails with offers to upgrade or to subscribe to their service.

    At the end of the day, it is a well-known fact that you have to spend money to make money, and Freemiums are a great use of a marketing budget to increase awareness, users, and loyal customers of a particular brand for a product or service.

  25. So how do you stand on freemiums?

    I believe Freemiums are a smart way for marketers to introduce its products and/or services to consumers by providing minimum risk for the customer. Users are able to benefit from the product without feeling as though they’ve put up an investment. In the long run, consumers can become brand loyal if they’ve taken a liking to the product. The consumer can be upsold into premium offerings once he has decided that the company is trustworthy and worth the investment. During the freemium format it’s up to the brand to deliver a product/service that resonates with their target audience and results in a conversion.

    Will they continue to grow in popularity?

    I believe they will absolutely continue to grow. A great example is Spotify. Users can utilize great, free content from Spotify on desktop and even mobile; however, premium users are able to stream music from their phones without interrupting advertisements, and they can set their own playlists and search through thousands of artists. Though users are initially content with the free offerings, and may continue to be content with them, there will always be select users who prefer to benefit from the premium offerings once they’ve gotten a taste of what to expect. Word of mouth is huge with today’s generation—as stated, especially within social media. Marketers will absolutely benefit from this tactic as consumers continue to try out new apps and share them with their friends.


    Though all three formats have proven to be effective, I believe that the one to show the most promise in the future is time limited. Time limited will provide the most benefits to the company. Once a user becomes hooked to the product they will be forced to pay for it once the time limit runs out, resulting in a profit for the company. An app like my previous example, Spotify, captures a consumer within the limited time frame by effectively catering to their needs. Upon completion of the trial, consumers may become brand loyal and make a conversion. Unlike other apps where users may tolerate the limited features rather than pony up the couple dollars for premium services.

  26. I love freemiums! I constantly find myself browsing the free apps on my iPhone. I think it’s a great way for a new company to gain exposure or test the waters in the market. I think freemiums will absolutely continue to grow in popularity with the continuing rise of smart phone options and technology addicts. Although there are some downfalls that companies can experience with freemiums as mentioned in the blog, I still believe companies will continue to use freemiums to keep up with today’s technology and social habits. I think feature limited is the most promising format to choose when developing freemiums. This opens the app to everyone allowing a taste of what there is to offer before deciding to purchase the full app or even only purchase certain functions. To me, the feature limited format is the start of a new relationship and I want to get to know the app and decide if we are a match.

  27. I like freemiums and I think they will last a while, it is a great way to promote your product. I know I did a free trial of Sirius Radio, now I am paying for it and the same with Netflix, I did the one month free trial and now I pay for a subscription. I think they are very effective for products we use often, like Sirius in the car and Netflix. Because during the free trial period you get used to having it and enjoy it, so you may end up purchasing it. So, I don’t think they would work on things we don’t use often.
    I think the one method that will last the longest is the Time limited; it lets you use the entire functionality of the product, which will entice you to eventually purchase it. The feature limited may work, I understand the thought behind, they are trying to give you limited access, like Spotify; you can use it for free, but if you pay for it, you can use it on your phone, there are no ads while you are listening and I think you can download songs, I’m not sure. But, that is the thought behind it, you can have this for free, but if you pay, you get so much more! This tactic doesn’t work on me, but I know it works on others, so I think this tactic will be around for a while, but I think the longest will be the feature limited.

  28. Freemiums can have a positive impact on influencing social funnel advancement. They are a great tool for businesses to attract and engage new customers. This is especially true when the freemium providers are new or unfamiliar to targeted audiences. In this digital age, identity theft and fraud is on the rise. People don’t like to provide their personal and sensitive information to just anyone. As a result, they are continually wary in purchasing and downloading content from unknown online businesses, websites and service providers. Freemiums give companies a chance to show their legitimacy and abilities, and build their brand before consumers. Afterward realizing these things, customers may be much more likely to advance toward buying the premium product. But to reassure advancement in the funnel from freemium to premium the latter would have to contain enough added value that it significantly differentiates itself from both the freemium version as well as competitors’ products. Otherwise users have no forward motivation toward purchase.

    It is perceived that freemiums will continue to grow in popularity, especially amongst startup companies, since they have nothing to lose and a lot to gain. The latter is especially true if the freemium goes viral, like many have done already. As previously stated freemiums attract new customers and help small businesses gain a place, and pull, in the marketplace. Future freemium growth can also be attributed to the “free” factor. Consumers always love the idea of getting something for free!

    Notably, capacity and feature limited freemiums show the most promise when it comes to the number of customers willing to try the product. However, time limited formats show greater promise for profit potential. Businesses do have to make a profit somehow to stay in business and capacity and feature limited freemium formats may not be enough to advance customers through the sales funnel to the purchase point. The reason for this is simply because what these two freemium versions (capacity and feature limited) are offering might suit the customers’ needs as is. Thus they have no reason to buy additional features, more capacity, or the full-blown product. This is true of many apps and social networks, like Skype, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Personally, I have several apps and use one social network site, but if I had to dish out money for them I’d probably pass them up. On the other hand, time limited, trail offer freemiums that are significant and helpful computer software programs, coming from known, reputable providers, I would purchase because of the cost-benefit factor involved. In short, the value offered has to be worth the cost and usage factors.

  29. Freemiums are a great marketing tool to draw in customers. They are an effective way to introduce a product or new product features to a customer and give them just enough before requiring them to pay for the service/product/feature. Many consumers may never try a product, because they don’t want to pay for something before they buy it. Freemiums solve this challenge by allowing consumers to try it before they buy it. The blog mentioned LinkedIn as an example which I can personally say has done a great job of using the Freemium. I am currently on the job hunt, and I am tempted every time I log into LinkedIn to pay for the premium service to get more features.

    I believe that Freemiums will continue to grow in popularity, because they give businesses a way to allow consumers to try the service before they buy it. More businesses may use the Freemiums in the mobile apps or on the mobile sites.

    I think the feature limited format shows promise and will continue to grow in popularity. As I have stated above, the feature limited will give consumers just enough taste of the product before requiring them to make a purchase to get the full use of the product or service.

  30. As a consumer I use freemiums quite often. I tend to be an early adopter on a lot of things and having the ability of trying things out for free leads me to experimenting with more services and apps than I would otherwise. However, there are very few services that have converted me to the premium side. I rarely find a reason to pay for a product that I am using for free even if it means losing access to the product.

    I think a limited freemium model could be a successful way to increase the conversion from freemium to premium. According to the innovation lifecycle model described by Everett Rodgers in his book “Diffusions of Innovations”, the distribution of a total marked falls in a bell curve. Using this concept, I think companies could be successful if they offered the freemium option to about 16% of the projected market then put a hold on the free product for a set time and then opened it up again to about the same number. Over time I think this would capture what Rodgers refers to as the innovators and early adopters. Based on how often the initial groups converted to the premium model, the company could adjust their offerings and services.

    I think the overall popularity of freemiums will increase. Companies that offer freemiums are generating revenue by selling ad space in their free versions and by collecting and selling the data that they acquire through the process. Consumers are becoming more and more used to the presence of ads and are willing to trade information about themselves for free services.

    Of the three models I think that capacity limited has the most upside. This way the consumer can see the full benefits of the service and remain a casual user indefinitely. Then when the user starts to create the habit of using the product and approaches the limit of their capacity they will more than likely upgrade to the premium version. The downfall for the company is it could take a lot of time for them to see the conversions.

  31. So how do you stand on freemiums?
    I feel that freemiums is a great way to introduce new products/services at a low cost that provides a profitable return on investment. When you are introducing something new it’s a must to get that product to as many people as possible. Freemiums is a great way to do this. A great example used in the blog was LinkedIn.

    Will they continue to grow in popularity?
    I strongly feel that freemiums will continue to grow in popularity. A good example is dating apps. Seems like every day you hear of a new dating app to help singles meet and form relationships. The apps give you limited access and limited profile information, a fee is charged to gain full access. This is much like any freemiums, the fee app gives you limited access but full access to the apps services come with a fee.

    I feel that featured limited show the most promise between the three most commonly administered formats. Featured limited is the most commonly used, giving you limited access while pulling you in and enticing you to purchase full access.

  32. Freemiums are very popular and they continue to grow in popularity as smartphone technology advances. Some will say there is an app for everything, an easy and convenient way of making a task easier. Freemiums are popular amongst app downloaders because anything that comes with a free price tag is always “better.” Smartphone or tablet users have dozens of apps on their phone and most are almost always free. These freemiums tend to have “pro” or “upgrade” packages, enabling the user to access even more and have more capabilities beyond the basic functions of the free version.

    As an avid user of apps on my smartphone and tablet, there are some apps that I am glad that they are free and some that I am willing to pay money for. I think it has a lot to do with your interests and how an application will be useful for you. For example, I am very interested in photos and photography apps. There are some that are freemiums that are very useful to me; however, although they are useful I want more capabilities and that is when I am prompted to purchase the pro package. An app called Over allows you to take a photo and add artwork and text over the image. The free version allows you to put text on your image with limited fonts, certain colors, and will leave the “Over” watermark on your image. I don’t necessarily want people to know what app I am using to generate my content, so I opted to purchase the upgrade to remove that watermark and have more font/color options.

    Freemiums will grow more and more popular, but how effective is it for the business providing this app? Yes you are getting traffic to your site and generating awareness, but is it just a money pit? What if the company decides that they want their app to be a paid app, will this prompt a huge drop off in usage and downloads? I believe people are so used to accessing freemiums that they will be hesitant or resistant to paid apps more and more. On the other side, if a company builds a good reputation and user base from the freemium, it might have better results with their paid version.

    Feature limited apps seem to be promising because many apps available now are that kind of app. Users make do with the select functionality and sometimes download another app to compensate for another’s lack of functions. This goes back to a point made in the blog post about competitor imitation. So many apps will exist in the same category, doing almost the same exact functions. Users will have 10 photo apps because they all have slightly different filter options or one may be better at sharpening an image and another will be better at cropping. Time limited doesn’t seem promising because many people won’t continue their subscription if they have to pay. They will enjoy the features while it lasts and very few will actually purchase it. Freemiums look like they are here to stay and users will continue to download them as the hottest new app is released.

  33. Free is for me! I think freemiums are great, who wouldn’t want to get something for free or at least have the chance to try it out for a limited time for free before you decide if you want/need it. The freemium marketing strategy of limiting the apps features makes sense after all how else would they get anyone to buy it. If an app has my attention and I’m getting use out of it of course I’m going to want to have all the features that go along with it. This is in the best interest of the consumer and it is a consumers market due to the huge amount of competition. There are so many sites using this method, Pandora, Whatsapp and where you start off with limited features and if you want to continue using the product at a higher standard of service you must purchase. In the end, it’s win/win.

  34. Having worked in a group sales capacity for nearly seven years in the hospitality industry, from a business perspective I understand the value of offering a freemium as a bottom of the funnel (BoFu) strategy. In any sales process, at the top of the funnel (ToFu) the prospective audience is large and unqualified. The sales phase doesn’t really occur and the strategy is to be informative to consumers stimulating interest driving the funnel. The middle of the funnel (MoFu) is a gray area, still offering content that draws interest and some selling occurs, but not every prospect is qualified. However, BoFu content is aimed at closing the sale. The company is doing its best to demonstrate value, as the pool of prospects is well qualified at this point. (Isca, 2013)

    Freemiums are designed to showcase the value, and by offering a “taste” of the product at no charge builds a qualified pool of consumers who are that much closer to investing fully in the product by paying the premium. A free sample of services is the best way to convince a consumer of the value. A perfect example is the free food taste tests offered at wholesale clubs like Sam’s and Costco. Consumers are more prone to buy the products if they have a positive experience during the sampling process.

    The model of sampling a product has been ongoing for years, and as we have evolved to the age of services and age of technology, freemiums are the fastest way to offer a sample and build a qualified pool of prospects. I feel they will only continue to increase in popularity for this reason. Furthermore, as the article notes, consumers perceive a company to be confident in its services when offered at low or not cost. This further draws prospects and through viral attractiveness can help lower marketing costs.

    I immediately think of LinkedIn when thinking of freemiums. While many features require a premium upgrade, consumers can still enjoy the functionality of this service without paying. This is a drawback when it comes to conversion ratio of consumers upgrading and additional revenues for the company. However, this freemium is only as good as its base of customers who are actively engaged in the service. We wouldn’t want to upgrade to the premium features if the lack of users reduced the effectiveness of the overall service. While the time to monetize may be slow, the benefits are worth the wait. Now LinkedIn has millions of user and companies are starting to see the benefits of the additional features, and are now paying for the upgraded features.

    Sometimes time is required to truly see the benefit of a service, and time limited freemiums may not always be as effective. Once the time expires, if consumers still feel they don’t understand the value, there is a high probability they move on to the next service. Capacity or subscription limited freemiums also have their setbacks. Those limited number of people who have full access need to be the right audience, those that will fully utilize the service and share by word of mouth the experience. This is hard to come by, and often times the wrong person may be the user who obtained the access. I think this method limits reach and interest.

    The best and most commonly used format is the limited feature freemium. Just the right amount of features provided to the entire prospective pool will allow each to have the same end-user experience, which can drive more interest for the company’s services. Upgraded features at a premium are a great way to entice, and if the free services are found to be extremely useful, qualified prospects will convert into buyers. Sometimes this takes longer and there is the risk that individuals will never upgrade. Yet, this format I feel has the widest reach, and the wider the audience the better the potential to generate revenues. The trick is to find the right balance between free and premium.


    When it comes to freemiums, I like the idea of companies releasing these apps to attract customers. They really help because customers are able to get a taste of what the premium app would offer. I have downloaded many apps that are free to download, but to advance to a certain level or use certain features, a subscription or additional fee is required. Depending on how much of a need many customers may find the in the app, that will be what determines whether or not it gets purchased. The blog mentioned how sometimes it can take months, even years, become old users of the freemiums return to purchase the app. This could be because they saw a need for the service provided.

    As stated in the bog, if the app does very well, and goes viral on social networking sites, it can assist with lowering the marketing costs because customers will do the marketing themselves. I believe that freemiums will continue to grow in popularity. There are those companies who have built up a great brand image, and may not release a freemium, but go straight to their app being a subscription; but then there are those companies who want to build a better brand or are in the beginning phase and should release the app free of charge.

    If I had to say which format shows promise, I would have to go with the option for the features being limited. The reason I pick this one is because users of the app would be able to try the app and have it as long as they want, but at some point, the paid features may be required. Capacity limited subscriptions are good because if only a set number of people can download and use the full app, the company then has to depend on this group to market. There is no guarantee that this group will use the app to its full capacity or even market the product the correct way. When it comes to time limited, I wouldn’t suggest it because users will have the ability to try out the full app for a disclosed amount of time. In cases like this, I know some people may uninstall the app and download it again to get another trial. Once that begins to happen, the company starts losing money because potential customers never get a subscription. With feature limited, everyone starts at the same point in the app upon downloading it, and these usually don’t have a time limit. However, at some point, the other features not being available would make the users to consider more and more of purchasing the app. It’s like having a kid walk by a candy store and telling them they cannot go in; that would drive them nuts. Eventually, those people who like the app and go on to get the premium service of it, will do the marketing and hopefully, this can benefit the company.


    Freemiums are an excellent way to attract attention to a service or product as consumers love freebies. Freemiums will continue to grow in popularity as companies seek new revenue streams and seek to attract new users, as freemiums usually pertain to digital apps, games, software, and other digital services. For example, local newspaper Sun-Sentinel uses the freemium strategy with its digital news service as it seeks to increase revenues. Like others the freemium is presented to consumers in the form of initially allowing users to view website content free of charge. After a few free views, consumers are then asked to select a monthly plan to continue using current and premium services. The strategy can be effective but comes with some risks and does not necessarily create a advantage over the competition. Companies risk users not buying premium versions, slow conversions which translates into slow sales, as well as competition being able to easily imitate the strategy. Selecting the best format perhaps will depend on the service or product being offered along with the target audience as each business is different and there is no one solution. Research should be conducted in deciding which method fits the target market. Still, I think the best freemium strategy is the feature limited. The feature limited format provides consumers with just enough to get a feel for the service or product to decide on whether or not they want to purchase the full version. The key here is getting the consumer excited about the product through the use of the limited version. The feature limited could also help the company evaluate whether or not it has a viable product and an effective promotions strategy. The time limited may discourage consumers if they have immediate access to the full version, as they may feel less inclined to make a purchase after seeing what the product or service has to offer. Capacity limited may also deter customers from buying the full version as it may simply push consumers to seek alternatives once capacity is reached. The freemium idea is excellent but should be implemented with caution. Even if consumers consider purchasing it could be a drawn out process, which for most companies a lagging revenue stream could seriously hurt its financial stability. Those that are successful must understand what their target audience wants and must be patient, but more importantly must find a way to excite customers so that they view the premium feature as a must have.

  37. I think that freemiums are a great way for a company with a new product to increase popularity quickly. Today, word-of-mouth has a far wider reach through internet and social media. Therefore, if consumers are able to try a product for free and share their positive experiences, the product is more likely to be a success. On the other hand, if customers have a negative experience with it, the company has the chance to review the feedback, make the necessary changes, and release an upgraded product fairly quickly.

    I believe that freemiums with limited capacity are the most effective and will continue to gain popularity in the future. When offering a free service with limited capacity, you are able to provide the customer with just enough service to see how useful your product can actually be. Once the customer begins to get happy with the trial, they see that in order to get the additional features they will have to upgrade. At that point, it is more likely that the person will make the choice to upgrade to the paid version of the service. Personally, I have upgraded to the paid service on a number of occasions for apps such as Megaupload, Cloud Services, etc. Also, this approach is far less aggressive than the limited subscription offers because the customer can basically use the free version of the service for an indefinite period of time without being forced to purchase or lose service. It gives the customer the option to choose when they are ready. I feel that when someone sees an offer for a limited time freemium, they are less likely to try it because:
    1. Credit Card/Personal Info is usually required up front
    2. People tend to forget to cancel at the end of the trial period, therefore getting charged in the end.

    Again, I am speaking from personal experience on that issue as well.

  38. My stand on freemiums is that they are necessary depending on your business model. For example, if your goal is to be perceived as prestigious then freemiums might not be the best way. Usually, you would want your products and services to be seen as exclusive so making it free and open for quick download will be moving contrary to your goals. Most of the time freemiums are really good long-term investment (which a lot of managers don’t like to hear).

    I think that freemiums will grow in popularity. Consumers are spoiled. We expect to get certain things for free. And when we don’t get it from you we go to your competitor. So in order to stay in the game, you have to give us a taste of the goodies.

    I think the most commonly administered features that shows the most promise is time limited freemiums. Customers are demanding more transparency and companies are showing all the card they have in their hands. We want to know exactly what we’re paying for. Once we are hooked to the product, (if it’s that good) we feel like we can’t live without it so we cough up the cash. This also helps us stay away from imitation. Usually competitors that are just imitating are usually not as good as the real deal, so once we have a taste of the real we don’t want to just settle for anything.

  39. In my opinion Freemiums are wonderful ways for companies to promote their products, and to advertise without having to spend money. Indeed, users of the freemiums often make the advertising for the brand with their friends. I believe that they will continue to gain in popularity because brands who do not offer it nowadays will lose crucial market shares. Indeed, users have become used to download free version of the apps, or programs, be their time trial, feature limited or else, users now take it as a given to have a free version of the product. In my opinion, freemiums will definitely grow and keep gaining popularity. Even though it also backfires at companies as users once used to use the product, aps or service for free are reluctant to start paying for it. We see with Photoshop offering a free trial version, most of the people who download this free version will use it once or twice for their given need at this specific time and not purchase the program. It is a risk that companies take.
    In my opinion, and as of personal experience, I believe that feature limited is the best way to have users purchases the full version; we can see this frequently happening with games on phones. Indeed, once the user has started using the game and becomes addicted to it, he wants to unlock more levels or features and therefor needs to pay for the full application. I think it applies for programs too, if the program users download offer great features and even more if you purchase the full version, the chance the full version will be purchased will be greater than if offering the full product for a limited time. Indeed, I believe that offering the product for a limited time have users using it, playing with it, and then, when the time if up, they do not want to pay anymore for this program they have been using for the past month. They will or search for a new similar programs, or try to re download the program under a new email address or new account.
    When the time trial period or capacity period is over, users are usually more reluctant to purchase the application that they have been using for free. On the other hand, if only part of the program or application is available, and the user already likes the features he can use, he will be more likely to pay for the program or game in order to be able to use it to its full capacity and potential.
    I believe that freemiums will continue to grow in the future, as users are more and more used to free things, but companies’ needs to make sure that this will not take over their sales. As we explained before, users might download the free version and then seek a similar one once the time trial is up. Companies need to make sure, these freemiums they offer will lead to sales and not only generate free downloads and then redirect the users to cheaper or free competitors’ products.

    Martin Tavernier,

  40. Freemium is most often used with apps, games and SaaS software. However, it has found a place in a wide variety of industries. All industries in which a quality, free product can be duplicated with virtually no marginal cost can successfully utilize a freemium business model. Freemium is a choice model for attracting users through confidence in the user’s experience of the product rather than through traditional marketing campaigns. Nowadays internet users expect the content to be free. We are used to free tools such as free email, free social networks, free online banking, just to mention some popular ones. The same applies to free apps; they are here to stay for a long time. They are beneficial to users and companies as the article explains. In my opinion this concept should be embraced for every company that can afford it, since it is a tool that collects important information from target markets that can be later converted into customers. Technical innovation has paved the way for creating successful business models in new ways, including through the use of free and freemium.

  41. I think that freemiums are a great marketing tool that can be very effective in increasing awareness and usage of a product or service. Everyone loves to receive things for free. I, for one, can’t remember the last time I actually paid for an application on my iPhone. I think offering freemiums is a great way to gain new users and have do a trial run of the product or service without having them invest money in it. Offering freemiums is an extremely easy way to gain awareness by having a large quantity of people use the application and getting a feel for what it offers and its value, before making a purchase. As a consumer, it can’t get any better. As a marketer, it can be risky until you can determine return on investment (ROI).

    I think freemiums will continue to grow for the time being. The app market, whether it be through Apple, Samsung or any other operating system, is relatively new so I feel it is still on the rise. Each day, people are becoming more and more dependent of their smart phones and more and more involved in the app world creating high demand for freemiums. While marketers continue to innovate and offer new freemiums on the app market, I think this will continue to rise until the market has been saturated.

    In my opinion, I feel feature limited and time limited show the most promise. It’s really difficult to choose one over the other. I feel feature limited shows promise because I think from the get go, it’s comforting to know a freemium you’re downloading doesn’t have an expiration date. At least for me, I tend to download more freemiums that are feature limited than time limited. Offering feature limited freemiums encourages the consumer to download and use the app and explore all the offered features. If the app is of true value to them and is used on a daily basis, that consumer (such as myself) will find it useful to upgrade and pay a small fee to receive all features. Additionally, I feel time limited are just as promising because while they do expire, they offer consumer full features from the beginning. In doing this, it creates a higher value to the consumer since the features are endless and when the time expires, they will most likely purchase the app so that they can continue to reap its benefits and features.

  42. I believe that freemiums are one of the best ideas when it comes to marketing any new product or service the choice to provide freemiums to customers is the best thing a producer can choose to do. When creating a new service, a freemium gives both consumers and producers the benefit of learning about the product whether the producer discovers something is faulty or can be changed through trial and error, or the consumer decides that the service is not really beneficial to them whatsoever. When discovering new products and services, I personally do not want to spend my money on something that I have no reviews or feedback on. I like to experience the service or see a review from a consumer before even thinking about purchasing the service. With a freemium, I am able to test the service first-hand, deciding if the upgraded version is something that I can actually use to my benefit. When discussing the three most commonly administered formats within a freemium service, the one that offers capacity limits. Freemiums that offer these types of services suchas Google, iCloud, and many web file transfer services give users the ability to use their services up to a certain extent. Therefore, if they wish to continue to use the applications they much purchase the upgraded version. I see this administered format being the most successful because the chance that a frequent user will leave the application because of a capacity issue just doesn’t seem logical. If you truly love the application and use it frequently you will most definitely upgrade to continue using the services.

  43. I believe freemiums are the way to go when it comes to marketing and promoting services. I engage with products that offer freemiums. This is not to say that I engage in them all because if I have to give payment information, then I avoid it like the plague. If the app asks for too much access to my personal information just so I can utilize the service then I know that freemium is definitely not the one for me. Having access to my contact list, viewing my phone log, making changes to my phone and things of that nature are a sure way for me to avoid the freemium that is asking for this information. To use freemium services should not require me to sign over my first born or the first year of my future earnings just to access features of the app. This is a sure sign that I will run the other way. With that being said I do not know anyone that would say no to something for free. Getting something for free is always enjoyable so I can see apps with free features growing in popularity. I think time limited freemiums so the most promise because these freemiums actually let the user have full access to the site for a limited time getting accustomed to and enjoying the many features it has to offer. However at the end of the limited time offer the consumer will have to pay to continue to utilize the service or try to locate another service comparable to it. Since most people don’t have time to hunt for something similar that may or may not have all the features that they have grown accustomed to, it is usually easier to just pay for the premium service in order to continue having access to all the features.

  44. 1. What is your stand on freemiums?
    I think freemiums are a good way in order to gain new incoming customers. With a free trial of the free application, consumers will then get accustomed to using the application and eventually are sold into buying the premium application which will then the application will now gain a new customer.
    2. Will they continue to grow in popularity?
    While many applications are offered for free on the app market on the iOS operating system or on google play, I think this is a good strategy in order to gain new customers which will strengthen the application market itself. With more free promotions, consumers will be more drawn to try new apps and eventually gain more business for the application itself.
    I feel that feature limited freemiums are the apps which seem to be on the rise. Capacity limited usually have a cap on memory while time limited usually offer a trial period of about 30 days of use. Feature limited freemiums have a higher upside only if they were to offer better support for the application and even though it is a lite feature of the application, it gives a better example of the application in which the consumer is using.


    I feel that native advertising will eventually over take display ads because it is more convenient to consumers. This can be very helpful with small and medium sized businesses when they advertise on sites like youtube an facebook. It is more simple and will probably be less expensive for the businesses. I feel that consumers pay more attention to native advertising methods anyways.


    I feel that businesses may face the challenge of not being able to reach the certain consumers that they need to reach with certain native advertising. I feel that they may also not always have a good enough ad for the native advertising. Some businesses ads may be too time consuming or won’t be pleasing to the eye. These things are important because this is what gets consumers attention.

  46. I think freemiums are a great idea, because they reach so many more people. Consumers are more likely to talk about the app if it’s free, and this just compels more people to download it. Also, if the consumer enjoys the features of the app, they are more willing to buy it and talk even more positively about it to people they know. If someone decides to download a free app and they don’t like it, they’re less likely to talk negatively about it, because they didn’t invest any money into it. However, if they had bought it and didn’t like it, they would talk negatively bout it, because it was a waste of their money.
    I definitely believe that freemiums will continue to grow in popularity, because people are becoming more and more attached to their mobile devices these days. If you walk into a room full of friends “hanging out” nine times out of ten, you’ll see that they’re all on their mobile devices, because of the attachment that they’ve formed to them. Instead of talking people would sometimes rather play with the new app that they just downloaded, and this trend is a great opportunity for businesses to keep taking advantage of.
    I think that the feature limited format shows the most promise when it comes to freemiums, because it allows the consumer to get attached to the app. Feature limits are the equivalent to cliff hangers at the end of a great TV series. They leave you wanting more and more, and as the consumer continues to get attached to the app, they’ll eventually break down and pay for the upgraded app so that they can get the additional features.

  47. I believe freemiums are an excellent ploy for both sellers and consumers as it gives an opportunity for both sides to engage in the product with little risk. Consumers get a small taste of what is to come and sellers will receive vital feedback about their product or service. The other advantage to freemiums is the Beta versions that are available. This lets developers put out their product and have consumers note and sometimes make changes and fixes at no cost for the developer. I think they will continue to grow in popularity because they are such a tease, they give the user a small taste and then leave them cliffhanging for more. I know with Sirius XM satellite radio, you get the feature for free for a few days or months when purchasing a vehicle and it gives you total access to all channels. Soon the subscription runs out and you are left with regular fm radio and wish for the vast amount of content. Going into the formats however they are all very effective if chosen properly depending on the product or service. Pandora is a web based radio that lets users choose stations based on types of music but they often have commercials throughout the play. To upgrade to Pandora plus you get commercial free playing and this is something users have been craving. Time limited plays well with other services or products. There are numerous computer programs that for free for a few months with total access to all content but require a purchase at the end or the trial. Amazon does this as well with an Amazon account which allows free overnight shipping and exclusive discounts. And lastly Apple and Google have gone into cloud formats that allow users to store data on the internet via drives or clouds. Apple for one gives all their users 5 gigs of storage on their cloud service and if you want to upgrade size you have to pay to get greater capacity. All in all nothing is truly free in todays world but getting a taste of what something is like and then either having to pay to keep it or upgrade it is not much of a stretch after users becoming attached or engaged in that product or services. People do not like to move back or stay stagnant, it is all about advances and progression.

  48. I love the idea of freemiums, the concept is a great for companies to be able to get their company known and also show what they offer. Freemiums give customers a chance to feel the product/app and see if it’s something they would use for the long term or not. It saves the hassles of dealing with people wanting their money back because they give you a chance to test the product first. For example i love to play app games. I had downloaded Sally’s Spa Lite for free and i fell in love with the game. In order to get to higher levels you would have to buy the full version which i did. Of course giving away a full product for free is not worth it but a trial or a “Lite” version is a great way to show the customers the product they are purchasing is worth it. I believe that Freemiums will continue to grow as more and more are being offered. If customer tries the app and likes it the odds are they are going to purchase the full version. Every Freemium has there own way of working some you can only access certain parts or levels, others have a time expiration but this is giving the customer the urgency to try and buy it. I know i have updated many of my apps to the full version.

  49. Freemiums are great features for mobile device users. Personally, many of the apps I download from the app store have freemium features. One of the apps that I can think of is the OkCupid app. This app has to do with making a profile and having the option to like other user profiles in the area to meet new people. The features are limited and to get access to more content, users have to pay for the premium upgrade. Most users don’t upgrade apps and only use the free content. I believe freemiums will continue to grow in popularity. Companies know that people love free things. By giving free content on apps, users start to spread the word of the app/company and the company starts to build a reputation. The only problem is that these companies most likely will get a small amount of people that actually buy the upgrade of the app. So in a way its kind of a win-loss situation for them. The freemiums that have time capacity have the most promise. The users have a certain trial time period to fully use the app and after that time, they would need to upgrade to use the app again. These show the most promise because customers that liked the app would most likely pay to keep having it, instead of never being able to use it again. The users would also already know what they are paying for.

  50. I have no issue with freemiums, so long as it is clear from the download what I am getting into. What I find very annoying is when I download something believing it to be free only to find that it is nearly useless without buying something. I am fine buying a “trial” version knowing that if I like it and want to keep it, I will have to pay – but only if I know that from the start. Bait and switch is how it feels to be hit with a message saying that I have to buy and I immediately respond to these tactics by deleting the app. Additionally, if a “free” app offers premium services at an additional cost, I have no issue so long as this is clearly defined at download.

    I believe freemiums will continue to grow in popularity because users are hesitant to spend money on an app without trying it out first. Hundreds of apps appear for each search. Many iOS apps are free or very low cost. Users are inclined to try the free apps before they’ll begin researching the apps that cost money. This reinforces the idea that freeiums will increase in popularity.

    Markerters need to align the freeium type being offered with the type of app being provided. The limitation should be based around the supply demand principle. The format most demanded should be the format limited. For example: Cloud based storage. This app is likely going to be targeted by people looking for places to safely store documents for later retrieval via the web. Although features will be nice to help make this process easy, capacity or storage size will probably be a bigger deal. In this app, being capacity (or number of documents) limited would probably be the most effective followed by limited time. A freeium that I have bought (LastPass) offers mobile features only via their paid service. Their web based service is free, but I really wanted the mobile feature. In this situation, a limited time offer would probably not have worked, as this is an app that I only occasionally need. I LOVE to have it at my fingertips on my cell, but I never know when I am going to need it, hence a limited time offer has a strong possibility of not being used and therefore, ultimately adopted & paid for. No documents are stored via this app, so storage capacity is irrelevant.

  51. What is your stand on freemiums?  
    I think that freemiums are a good idea because it will increase marketing value to the consumer, and will more likely than not cause someone to click download because it is free rather than to pay for it. Because it is free at first, the customer is more willing to download it than if it were not free. Also if the customer likes it he or she would be more willing to buy it and actually use it.
    Will they continue to grow in popularity?
    I think they will continue to grow in popularity because people are becoming accustomed to have free apps. If fremiums were not available, people would deter from purchasing the app and therefore that company will lose many consumers.
    I think that time limited fremiums show the most promise. I think this is true because it will get the customer used to using the app at it’s full capacity, and when it is no longer available to them, he or she will pay for it in order to continue using it and extend it’s time. If it was feature or capacity limited, the customer may not miss what he or she did not have and therefore it will not be valuable for them to purchase the app.

  52. Freemiums, from my point of view are a great way to acquire potential customers. When providing the consumer an opportunity to test drive the product this gets them accustomed to either enjoying or cause them to become dependent on the product.
    There have been many times that I had an idea of the functionality of a software product that I desired and didn’t solely rely on the description or reviews. I took advantage of the freemiums and was able to choose the one that was most appropriate for what I was looking for.

    This type of marketing can only grow as ideas flourish and products that we didn’t know we as consumers actually need until someone creates the need. We as consumers become dependent on these advances and the means to provide them become more widely available.

    Software product that recently made news is the highly addictive Candy Crush game. This game has produced millions in sales of its additional lives and sales of its tools that allows for more destruction in the game environment.
    The format that shows the most promise is the time limited. I know of other colleagues that have utilized a trial product populated with their information or content then found themselves needing the product after the trial. The company also takes the opportunity to market the consumer more after the trial with additional incentives.

  53. What is your stand on freemiums?
    I feel that on the consumer side of the dilemma, freemiums are great products to use and most of the time that’s all consumers use is the free applications. There is a good amount of freemiums but most freemiums are not the best quality and don’t offer much, forcing consumers to have to purchase the upgraded app. This is good on the companies end of the dilemma. Once consumers realize that the free app doesn’t offer as much as the paid application does then they are then more inclined to purchase the paid app for better use.
    Will they continue to grow in popularity?
    I feel that freemiums will always have growth as new apps become available as they do now. There is a constant flow of new applications being generated to make things in life simpler.

    I feel that the feature limited format is the best way to administer the applications because most of the time you have a good amount of features that you can use of the app to test it out. The more you may want to do with the application is when you have the option to purchase the version with better features.

  54. Freemiums appear to be a great way to market a new product to the general public. Software such as Facebook, Skype, LinkedIn and Dropbox wouldn’t have widespread use if they charged their users an initial fee. Freemiums also help to build and establish consumer confidence with the software.
    Freemiums will continue to grow in popularity. Most software needs to have a free element to it in order to have consumers use their product. For software to be relevant it requires everyone to use it so a standard is established. Once the initial costs of developing the software have occurred it does not cost the software developer much more to add new users.
    The software developer’s benefit by keeping as many people using the product as long as possible, such as to bring in the advertising revenue (example: Facebook) or establishing an industry standard (for example Adobe’s pdf). Therefore, to maintain and develop an industry standard the feature limited freemiums are the best marketing format. One of the best examples of a software company that uses this marketing structure is Adobe. Most people use the free version in order to read the pdf files, however Adobe makes their money and generates profits on the professional upgrades that businesses use. With the professional upgrade you can easily edit and create/modify the pdf file. Most companies pay Adobe a license fee to use the professional versions. The issue with using a time/capacity limited freeniums is the potential the user will not download the product because of this restriction. The sunk cost of developing the software has already occurred -establishing more users either to get some consumers to purchase upgrades or generate advertising income is the real goal for generating profits.

  55. What is your stand on freemiums? I believe that freemiums are a great way to market an app, or have the potential customer use the app as a trial. This way the purchaser can test if the app would be something that they would like to purchase. I use the trial versions of most apps that cost money because I make sure if I am going to pay for it I am going to use it.

    Will they continue to grow in popularity? Yes, I believe that they will continue to grow based on the fact that the world of technology is evolving at such a rapid pace. Soon enough, apps will be controlling and running just about everything we do in life. With having trial versions we are able to see the various approaches one could make with them.

    Which of the three most commonly administered formats show the most promise? I believe that the time limited shows the most promise. This being said because the customer is able to use the product to their liking determining if they indeed will purchase. The other formats limit the use and the content of the app, not fully showing the functions that are offered.

  56. I think freemiums are of great importance as they allow for companies to rapidly acquire a user base as customers are downloading their apps more rapidly when it is free. I believe they will continue to grow in popularity as it would be tough for companies to just start charging for downloads at this point, since not many others are doing it (less than 10 percent of apps). I think the time limited format is the most effective in acquiring more and keeping more users as it will allow a user to get settled in and excited about a program and then in 30 days feel the need to subscribe. The feature limited and capacity limited formats can also be effective, but I think in less situations.

  57. 1) So how do you stand on freemiums?

    As far as mobile applications go, from a consumer perspective, “Freemiums” are a great way to introduce and test a new or newly discovered app. It allows a consumer to use the application in their daily life without making a financial commitment to a product that they don’t know if they will want or need going forward. The ability of a consumer to test a product to determine if they prefer it over other similar competitor’s products will make it much easier to decide if they are willing spend money on upgrading to get access to premium content or not. From a provider’s perspective, allowing for “Freemium” content may bring some lost opportunities for income that could come from certain early adopters, who may be willing to take a chance and pay $0.99 just to see if they like the app. On the other hand, a lack of “Freemium” can potential drive traffic away toward competitors who do provide “Freemium” content. I am in favor of “Freemiums” because it gives a product the kind of traffic and exposure it needs to create “buzz” or word-of-mouth advertising, assuming the content is “buzz worthy” or worthy of word-of-mouth advertising.

    2) Will they continue to grow in popularity?

    I believe they will continue to grow in popularity. For new products that haven’t yet established their brand in their market and don’t provide some type of “Freemiums,” they are at a disadvantage to other competitor products who do offer “Freemiums.” Why spend money on a product you’re not sure about when you can test other products that deliver the same basic things, for free?


    I lean towards time limited formats, if they default to basic “Freemium” content once the timeframe has passed. The ability to have access to all features for a limited time gives the consumer a preview of what they get if they spend money to upgrade. Whether it’s an immediate upgrade or a future upgrade, the user gets a chance to see what they get. Feature limited access makes it so that the consumer only gets to see so much. Why spend money on a product that you’re not able to determine beforehand whether a product’s features are worth paying for?

  58. Freemiums are positive for the app market, it lets users test products, and decide whether they would like the full version. While this is great for potential buyers, it may affect sales of app from developers. The cost of an app is often $0.99, so downloading a bad app would only cause a minor loss. Users who downloaded freemiums may never buy the full version as they may have had if it was $0.99 which might create a loss in terms of apps who will not be sold or kept as trial version.

    With the increasing amount of apps available of the market, freemiums allows users to test the product before buying it, which creates a certain security in the purchase, and can give a competitive advantage to the developers. For this reason I believe freemiums may continue to grow in popularity.

    In comparison I think time limited freemiums show the most promise. These versions allow users to test the full capability of the app for a certain period of time. This is great for users who can fully assess the usability of the app. Feature limited and capacity limited freemiums do not offer this advantage.

  59. 1. What is your stand on freemiums?

    I think freemiums are a great marketing tactic. Often, people will always download the free or “lite” app before they download the non-free one. If a user likes the free app, they will most likely purchase the app to receive even more features in the same, yet upgraded app. Pandora is a great example of this. This upgraded Pandora that is available for purchase is advertisement-free. Also, people are more likely to make in-app purchases if they did not actually purchase the app itself. As a personal example, I downloaded the free Candy Crush app. This app gives me the option to buy more lives and whatnot. I usually do this because I did not actually buy the app.

    2. Will they continue to grow in popularity?

    In my opinion, I think freemiums will not grow in popularity. People are eventually going to get frustrated with constant ads and not being able to use all the features on the free versions of apps. This will eventually make people more likely to just purchase the app to dodge the hassle.


    Feature limited shows the most promise because they are available to everyone and do not expire. This is a nice feature, yet sometimes not having all the capabilities as the upgraded app can become frustrating. I definitely think this format shows the most promise and will continue to grow and the most popular.

  60. I believe freemiums is great way for customers to test out new apps that are in the market, but to a certain extent. This type of strategy can either help or hurt a business based on what their motive is for the app. Certain features that are allowed in a premium version of an app are not going to be available in the trial version. Companies that use this strategy show a motive that looks good on the companies review. Nowadays before people buy anything, they always read reviews of customers who had the product before them. Reviews of freemiums creates an opportunity for companies to fix possible bugs or issues customers had with the free version. If the guest then chooses to purchase the premium version of a freemium app, most problems are fixed.

    If companies continue to use this method going forward, it will cause the freemium app to grow in popularity. When people see the word “free,” they automatically go after it no matter what it is.

    “Time limited apps” shows the most promise when it comes to using freemiums, because it allows the customer to use all of the features for a limited time. If a customer really likes the app and all of the features, they will most likely pay for the full version after the time trial has ended. Having limited time can create publicity for the app, because it allows customers to experience it for themselves and share with their friends. For example, when beats music came out with a music app, they were giving customers a 30-day trial to test out the full version of the app, before they had to actually purchase it.

  61. My standing on freemiums is it’s a great way to get feedback on what’s working and what’s not as far as marketing. A lot of companies in some way or fashion use freemiums and if they are not, they are work on ways of get it incorporated in to their everyday business. It’s slowly become the new thing for just about any business today. I think it will continue to grow in popularity. Ads are be used in variety of ways on a variety of different devices and more and more mobile apps are being created just for that reason. So companies are taking advantage of the use of those different devices. The one most commonly administered formats show the most promise would be capacity limited. It’s giving the consumer limited able to the mobile app. If the consumer wants full access they must subscribe. So if the happy with the limited access then they never have to pay for any mobile app.

  62. I do believe that freemiums are very important with any marketing strategy of organization. The apps that I have downloaded on my iPhone are all free, most of them are easy to use and I’m one click away from checking my bank balance or booking a flight or hotel. Additionally I think that as more companies start to develop more apps for your smartphone, it won’t be long before you’ll be able to turn on your car from your smartphone (if you can’t already).

    These apps will continue to grow in the popularity because they are easy to use, for the most part, and are good when you’re quick and on the run and just want to get an answer or check out something online. One of my favorite apps is when I’m traveling in NY and taking public transportation, I can route out my trip on the app and it will give me an exact countdown of when my train will show up in the station. This is a huge convenience and more and more companies will be creating these apps.

    I believe that the time limited format will show the most promise. That is a great marketing technique for an app. To offer you the product or service for a limited number of time and once you’ve become hooked or it’s features suit your needs, they will charge you for the service or product.

  63. As a consumer, I feel that freemiums offer a great opportunity to test a product before you buy it. As most, if not all, digital apps and services cannot be returned once purchased, I think it is important that consumers feel confident that the app or service is going to fit their needs adequately before making a commitment to purchase it. Despite the difficulty some businesses face in trying to get people to commit to a purchase after using the service for free in addition to freemiums being slow to monetize or more susceptible to being imitated by competitors, I think that the benefits (such as word of mouth about the app from customers, information gathered about the characteristics of users to help tailor their business model to a target audience, and user confidence) outweigh the disadvantages. Plus, many free apps tend to contain a lot of advertisements from companies, which opens up another stream of revenue for the owner of the app. As many consumers have grown accustomed to receiving free services, and offering freemiums aids in the aquisition of high internet traffic, I think that freemiums will continue to grow in popularity as more companies will feel the need to offer freemiums to stay competitive. Of the three most commonly administered formats of freemiums, the time limited model shows the most promise as it allows all users to use all of the features of the app for a reasonable amount of time rather than just a limited set of features like feature limited model or full set of features to a limited amount of people like the capacity or subscription limited model.

  64. I feel that there was a freemium that should be added to this list, the entirely free. For example, banking apps that offer easy mobile banking, loan companies that offer interest calculators and expense calculators, sunglasses company that offer a free weather app, and many more. I feel freemiums are an excellent marketing tactic for most businesses. It allows consumers to benefit from the company without spending any money, this builds a belief that the company is looking out for the consumer instead of just being desperate to make money. This marketing method is also excellent because the consumer will look at the brand name every time they need something that is related to the product. Oakleys is the example I used for the sunglasses company because they provide a free weather app for surfers in California, which are one of their target demographic groups.
    I believe that this method of marketing will continue to grow in popularity mainly because companies are becoming more customer centric. Businesses are slowly beginning to shift their marketing because they are realizing that customers have higher expectations.
    The freemiums that show the most promise are time limited, feature limited, and the entirely free ones. Time limited and feature limited allow consumers to test out apps and companies before they make a commitment. Entirely free apps on the other hand are good for helping consumers feel that companies are looking out for them and also embeds the brand name on their mind because they encounter it so often.

  65. My stand on Freemiums, as a user, is positive. Why wouldn’t a user want the chance to try an app for free rather than wasting money on an app he/she might not like? However, many good points have been made as to why they might not be good for revenue. Yes, people are becoming accustomed to free apps and services. From a business standpoint, freemiums provide the business with the chance to get noticed and allow their skills to make a heavy enough impact for the user to get past the trial period. I very rarely buy apps. So I download many freemiums. Most free apps I download are either not enough and are deleted, or they give me just what I need. For example, some free versions of games do not show enough content to entice me to buy the full version of the game that I will probably get bored with anyway. However, apps like Skype are free and give me everything I need.

    Freemiums will continue to grow in popularity because though they may lose some people who will never want to go past the free trial, they will gain publicity and downloads from the people that love the app. Many people, of not most, love free stuff. So, many people who would not normally look into a certain app, for example, will check into it just because it is free. Freemiums can also give companies a chance to prove market potential. Something that is free also makes people have confidence in the provider. “Free” gives the customer value. Freemiums will only grow, however, with companies that can afford to wait some time for it to monetize and companies that can create something that cannot easily be imitated.

    Time limited freemiums show the most potential because they give people a deadline to make a purchase. The stress of a deadline has the best effect on people. Feature limited freemiums are too limited; they often leave the freemium useless and hide the feature which may sell the freemium the best. Without the chance to experience those features, some people may not give it a chance. Capacity limited is too limited as well because everyone is not given an equal chance, though it is good at creating a desire.

  66. I have paid for applications that when downloaded they are not what I expected at all. This has happened to me a couple of times and I really get mad because I don’t want to spend my money on an application that I will not use. I think freemiums are a great idea for companies with applications. I believe that those companies who are new and are launching their application for the first time should have it for free for the first month or so, so the customer can try it out and experience the application. After the free trial expires, the application should be sold for about $0.99 and the customer decides whether or not they will pay for the application if they liked it.

  67. From a consumer standpoint I believe freemiums are awesome! Sometimes all you need is the limited features they offer and do not ever have to purchase the premium version. However, thinking from a business standpoint, the strategy to approach this type of consumer engagement must be well thought out. Companies must manage to balance how much time free trials should last, what features to provide for free, and what features to consider ‘premium’. If you give the consumer too much time and too many features your revenue will definitely suffer.
    I believe freemiums will continue to grow in popularity as time progresses. Consumers love the fact that they are able to test the products before committing to them 100%. In my opinion, time limited free trials are the way to go. This gives businesses a chance to get the consumers hooked to their product or service. Like I previously stated, limiting features can sometimes fail when all the consumer needs are the basic ones. Like many of the photo editing apps or even LinkedIn. I love these apps but I am satisfied with the basic features provided to us for free.

  68. I think freemiums are one of the best ideas companies with apps could every think of. It is a very good technique for companies who do not have popular names and are trying to get out there on the market and be recognized by people. Of course I am not for giving the application for free completely, I believe that the best strategy for these apps is making it limited time. If the customer likes it he will definitely go for the premium versions. Good examples of these apps are, Beats music app and Spotify music app. They both give a week or so of free music streaming and that is when the user falls in love with the app and then buys the premium version. The good thing about this is that small companies can get recognized without a customer getting mad because they paid for something they did not like. Companies can also use these freemiums to gather feedback from the users that had the free version and did not like it, this is very helpful because any glitch could be fixed thus making people buy the premium version. Freemiums will definitely keep getting more popular in the future. Customers will even download apps just for the fact that they are free but if they like it they will keep using it so there are many advantages to freemiums apps and services.

  69. Personally, freemiums make perfect sense. These free downloadable apps are huge with consumers and numerous apps get a lot of attention because of it. With the whole idea of whether or not it is making any money depends on how the creator of the app is choosing to run his freemium. Various ad companies would love to be a part of a freemium that is doing well and could possibly pay for ad time to be inserted in the freemium.
    Freemiums will absolutely continue to grow in popularity. Consumers cannot get enough of them and they are excited about using these apps. They will never want to stop.
    There are two ways as to how I look at this question. Consumer wise feature limited shows the most promise because consumers will forever have the freemium in their phone and they will always be using it. Marketing wise, time limited shows the most promise if marketers are trying to get consumers to buy their product. This is because when a consumer is exposed to something, but only for a limited amount of time then at the end of their free trial there is a 50/50 chance that they will buy the product and continue to use it or they will forget about it and move on to the next free thing. The time limited freemium has to be so good in that 30 day period that the consumer has no choice, but to buy it for $1.99 or however much the price may be. If the consumer does not buy it, then it will be forgotten about.

  70. I believe freemiums are an innovative way of attracting customers and causing awareness of a product. A negative aspect I foresee, however, is the lack of profit mentioned in the blog above. Companies might lose more money than gain over time with freemiums because of the lack of wanting to pay from consumers and the time it will take for those who do to actually acquire enough money for the companies. I do believe they will continue to grow in popularity despite these possible setbacks because all consumers look for a “Free” option when trying new products. Companies will be able to profit if they are able to provide enough incentive for consumers to want to buy the rest of the package that is included aside from the free version. If the free version is limited enough, but tempting enough, consumers will be curious enough to want more and will be willing to pay for it. Taking this into consideration, I believe that feature limited would be the most successful technique for effectively using freemiums. With limited features consumers will be enticed to do more once they have paid.

  71. When I download an app, I only download free apps. This is because why would I pay for an app when I could probably find one similar for free? There is huge competition when it comes to apps because if your company has an app that is not free vs. companies that have apps that are free, the customer will most likely download the free app over yours. However, if you have an amazing app and you do a free trial or limited features app, it may produce profits. This is because if your app is really fun/useful it may appeal to the customer to buy into the full version.
    The popularity of freemiums will definitely grow over time because more and more people will buy into smart phone that have the app store. Not everyone right now has a smart phone, but with time you wont even be able to buy a phone that doesn’t have all the bells and whistles. It may become standard to have full Internet access and all the apps possible on your phone in the near future. So with the growth of smart phones apps/ freemiums will also grow in popularity.
    Time Limited shows the most promise because it gives them a taste of what they are going to get without them having to pay. Then once time is up it kicks them out and makes them pay. Essentially it weeds out the real customers and the people who just want it because it’s free. Feature limited would be close second because it gives people a test trial of what your product will be like, but with limits. If they use the app enough, they will buy into the full version hopefully. That is the only problem however with the feature limited format. Will the customer upgrade to the full version?

  72. What is your stand on freemiums?
    I completely agree with the use of freemiums. This strategy gives people a taste of what they could have and the extra features are only available through purchasing the product or service. With this people want more and will pay the insane amount for it.
    Will they continue to grow in popularity?
    They will grow because some people cant just have the small portion, they want more and more to feed their addiction.
    The feature limited is the format that shows that people can still use the program for free or upgrade for only certain features that they want instead of the full amount of features

  73. I believe freemiums are effective. Like everything else, they are as effective as the quality of them. I think most customers and app-users prefer to actually try out the merchandise (or app in this case) before they actually buy it. Not that it is the same, but before you make a car purchase you more than likely want to test-drive it and get a feel for what it is like. This is of course a much bigger decision than buying a simple app, but it has some of the same concepts. And like any other purchase; if you like it you will probably buy it.

    I think they will grow in popularity because people like to know what they are buying. It is as if you buy something unseen if you just buy it first. Ratings and comments will only get you limited information and can also be misleading. A product that somebody loves can be something someone else hates. The product is for you and it is up to you whether or not you like it.

    I would say that time-limited freemiums are the most effective. This gives you the full experience of how it is to own it but at the same time puts some pressure on you to buy the whole thing if it something you really enjoy. If you have a feature limited freemium you might be satisfied with what you got and not really have the need for the full services of the app. Based on my own experiences time-limited are the apps I have ended up buying.

  74. 1. What is your stand on freemiums?
    From a consumer stand point, I truly agree that freemiums are a great method for companies to expose their product/service to the public market because they allow app users to obtain an insight on what the application has to offer as well as how it can be used without having to read over pages of reviews. When an app has to be purchased many people will question if it’s worth purchasing the app and then begin to read over the reviews which reviews can be misguiding and this causes many users to not end up purchasing the app. Therefore, they are a beneficial method for a company to promote and advertise their product in order to gain recognition from such a highly competitive market. Since there are numerous apps that are freemiums and are great, people will usually question why an app has to be purchased and will most likely not end up purchasing it since it does not have a trial period. Although, from a company’s stand point freemiums can have a downside to them because companies are not generating revenue or profit from them, it is up to the company to decide what will generate the most benefit.

    2. Will they continue to grow in popularity?
    Freemiums will continue to grow in popularity because more and more consumers are purchasing smartphones. In addition, as newer phones arise in the market the older smartphones become less expensive which allow for lower class consumers to purchase them. For example, MetroPCS now sells many types of smartphones that have access to applications; therefore, more people are able to download freemiums.
    In addition, the popularity and success that freemiums have had will be difficult to outtake because many smartphone users have become accustomed to them and many people already have great apps downloaded on their phones. Many times when one hears about an app they ask, “Is it free?” if you respond, “Yes” then the person downloads it instantly versus an app that one has to purchase.

    There are numerous freemium apps that have gained recognition and popularity because of what they have to offer as feature limited. Apps such as Pandora, Instagram, and Twitter have gained an enormous recognition because of the popularity that app users have given it. These apps are consistently used by all smartphone users, Pandora functions a bit different from Instagram and Twitter because it allows a certain amount of songs to be played until an advertisement appears, and therefore, users who decide to go “ad free” purchase Pandora for $3.99/month, yet users who do not want to purchase the app can still have access to it without any expiration date. This enables app users to constantly rely on the application which then leads the consumer towards purchasing it because value has been added to the app. It is important for a company/product/service to allow a consumer to build a “need and want” for their product, this is what truly generates credibility to that company/product/service.

  75. Freemiums are expanding in the markets of phone apps and computers. Things like netflix and hulu use trials to entice the customers to buy they product, they are in turn utilizing time restriction for their services. Phone apps, especially games use feature restrictions and or time restriction to get the user to pay money in order to play the game. I think freemiums are good for business, and can give a small company lots of traction in their respective market as well. Angry Birds is one example of a freemium gone successful. A small game that has in turn generated so much revenue, and has products with the Angry Birds logo that are anywhere from gummy bears to toys.

  76. I believe that freemiums are an excellent marketing tool as you get to preview a test trial before purchasing the app. I have some of these on my iPhone currently and I really think its a great way for customers to get apps. At first it is promising a free purchase but in the long run you buy add on’s or stuff for the app. I think they do this in a way that they don’t want to scare you with the price of the app but then you get caught with all the buy ins. I do believe that these apps will grow in popularity very quickly. With more and more young kids getting all these games and apps on their phone they will persuade their parents to keep getting them. I feel that feature limited show the most promise as you can keep it as long as you want and it’s not time limited. All in all freemiums are an excellent way for marketers to get you to pay in the long run as apposed to right away when you get the app.

  77. Freemiums is a sound way to provide service to a market with the guise of your product being free. It allows the app maker to make money off of ad revenues, and any pay-to-unlock features. Freemiums are typically seen in game apps, such games like candy crush, and Heroes Trading Card app entice the app downloader to invest time in the game based on the free or basic features given in the game. When they have invested time, they become more inclined to buy certain premium items for their games as well. Apps with trial versions of their products do this as well, in that the full version of the app or software can be bought as a freemium.

  78. From what I’ve read and experienced, freemiums actually do help the business world. I think they are a great marketing tool for companies to launch their products. Eventually if someone loves a product they will be willing to spend money for it. Freemiums offer a “test drive” and people, now more than ever, want to test something before they spend money on it. Also I think it depends on the type of freemimum being offered and what kind of product as well.

    Freemiums will continue to grow because of the success they’ve seemed to have since they became popular. With our economy being the way it is, people want more free stuff. So getting them to purchase a product from the beginning is sometimes difficult. By offering customers a fermium, they get tricked into purchasing the product because they’ll eventually need to keep using it with all of its features. Because they are so effective companies are going to keep using them. Even though they are free, there are still making money off the advertisements, so it’s a win win for the company.

    To me it seems that the feature limited freemium is the most promising because even if the customer doesn’t upgrade, there is still a way to make money with them downloading and only using the free version. Take Pandora for example- they offer a free product with ads and limited amount of listening time per month. Even if the customer kept the basic version, they are still making money for the amount of time people are listening to the ads.

  79. Freemiums are actually a great way of making money and obtaining a very large consumer base. They are economically sound, even though they may not make as much money as an app that costs money, they bring in many more consumers and can use ad power in making their money. These apps can use space on their app for other companies to display their advertisement, earning the app maker money. feature limited apps seem to be the best money maker, as the consumer will most likely be completely hooked until reaching that point in which they need more options unlocked (through payment of course) and they will be much more convinced to spend the money after experiencing the product instead of deciding to pay money right away or not.

  80. I think Freemiums are a great way for companies to get the idea of a product out to the public. Without having the starting point of a freemium, most people would never purchase applications such as Skype and Pandora. I think they will continue to grow in popularity because it is a great marketing technique for the virtual world, and with technology growing as rapidly as it is freemiums will follow suit. I think the most effective form of freemium would be the one with limited features. Companies such as Pandora limit your music usage and pester you with add campaigns, which allow them to still make money off of customers who are not paying for their product. By giving people a taste of what they want, consumers are willing to improve their experience by purchasing the full product.

  81. I believe that freemiums are great idea. Not only does it give people the opportunity to test drive an app before purchasing but it also gives a glimpse into what you can have with the app if purchased. There is a risk with simply purchasing apps you have never tried before based on the reviews it already has, seeing as their experience may be different from the one that you may have. Whether or not you enjoy the app with a preview there is no pressure to purchase it if you don’t want it or no longer need it. They will definitely grow in popularity due to the fact that there are so many apps out there and this is a way to test if are effective or aren’t. People enjoy having the ability to evaluate a product themselves before upgrading. Feature limited apps show the most progress. With time limited, you may not use the app everyday for those 30 days so there isn’t as much of a test period to determine effectiveness. If someone doesn’t know about the app they can’t be one of the certain amount of people that are granted complete access, this limits the amount of people that can be appealed to.

  82. What is your stand on freemiums?
    Freemiums is a great opportunity for consumers to trial and error an app before purchasing it. I have never heard of this app before but reading more about what it has to offer, sure makes me understand why it exist. I believe that freemiums is an app that everyone should use and an app that more companies should buy into. I think the best thing a person could do before purchasing anything whether an app or a phone, they should try it. Freemiums, in my opinion, is beneficial because clients can try it, purchase it, and go and write reviews about the app. With trials this gives clients more opportunity to test the app and get a feel for it. When people hear things like, ” Oh you should download this app it was great.” people actually listen to these types of opinions. So I think freemiums did a good job with allowing the public to see all these apps free of charge instead of people purchasing them without knowing if it is worth it and losing their money. By only being able to purchase an app also makes these companies lose customers. Freemiums makes their app beneficial not only for their company but also for marketers who have great apps.

    Will they continue to grow in popularity?
    I do believe that they will continue to grow in popularity because of their stance right now. Freemiums has become a reliable source to many consumers and marketers and this allows consumers/marketers to use it more. When an app is really good more people tend to download it. I think with time more clients with download especially since it has so much to offer to consumers.

    I believe that time limited is the most commonly administered formats to show the most promise. Consumers can freely use an app for 30 days and get a real feel for the app. Allowing the consumer to use Freemiums for a limited time will help the consumer decide whether they think it is worth purchasing the app. Having a restricted amount of time helps marketers reach their goal as well. If the app is a limited time then they need to purchase it when the time has run out. I think the more companies who allow their product go through this allows them to gain more clients and better reviews. I always go by trying an app and reading on how good it is. If freemiums keeps this routine they will be the app that everyone uses.

  83. Fremiums are very popular now days. App users are use as free marketing for these apps. They grow in popularity as long as consumers find benefits to them. Social networks are used to promote these apps. The fremiums allow consumers to use app over a periods of time giving them the chance to know if they really like it and upgrade to the premium service after the trial time or when needed more features. Some apps are with a time to trial and after, consumers have to pay to keep the services. Others will give a limited service until consumers want more services, then they offer a fee for it.
    There is not a time frame set that will determinate when the consumer has recognize the value and benefits of a specific app. It is also true that after having a consumer use an app for free, it is hard to make them start paying for it, but if during that time the consumer realize the usage and benefits of the app, most likely it will be easy to upgrade to premium service. An example of it is Pandora. Pandora is a freemium. Has being one since the beginning, but last year they decided to add premium service for $3.99 which allows consumers to listen to music without commercials. Not only that but they add more commercials to those with the basic Pandora. Now instead of one commercial every ten songs, you have two or maybe three every six songs. I personally upgrade myself after they added more commercials to the basic service. As a consumer, I realize that I use this app and give me lots of benefits. I also realize as well as others that the price of $3.99 was worth not to have commercials at all.

  84. I have many freemiums on my cellphone and do enjoy them. I do believe they will continue to grow in popularity because of how prominent technology has become in our lives. I think time limited show the most promise because people often depend on freemiums and if they become unavailable but have become a necessity, people may be more eager to buy. For example many texbook companies offer a limited trial period at the start of the semester with premium capabilities such as mobile access. I love that I can do homework on my cell phone and once used to the convenience i considered it a necessity and purchased

  85. 1. I believe that freemiums can be very beneficial for a customer. I think that it is very helpful that the customer be able to experience and try an app before committing to purchasing it. I have seen and used a variety of these apps and I have found them very helpful. Sometimes, the free trials are very basic and to obtain the complete app and its advantages one must purchase it. I believe that such is a good economic strategy, because these trial apps are very basic and if interested the customer will probably buy it for the full benefit, if he or she needs it. However, there are some freemiums that automatically allow you to use all the portions and benefits of the app. I believe that these do not make as much economic sense. Although they do posses a great deal of advertisement, it is not very hard for the customer to simply close the advertisement and continue using the application. 2. I am not sure if they will continue to grow in popularity. I believe that they will probably still be around for a decent period of time. However, I do not think they will tremendously increase in popularity, especially if those who provide them are not obtaining much profit. 3. I believe that all of the formats, feature limited, time limited and capacity limited show some promise because they all limit something that would cause the customer to feel the need to purchase the application. I believe that time limited may be more successful due to the restraint given that would simply impede you from using the app after a certain period of time, causing the person to have the need to purchase it. I believe a time limit would truly allow the person to see what all of the features of the app would be, but once time runs out they must purchase it. If it was useful, I think most of the customers would purchase the app.

    -Maria S.

  86. I think freemiums are a great opportunity for a company to establish themselves and their product. By providing free apps the number of users is high and therefore word of mouth communication helps the company to increase popularity. At the same time the customer is using a free product and that is all they could ask for. I believe that anything that has to do with technology and applications will grow in popularity. People are always looking out for the new, most trendy thing to have and apps are a big part of it. In my eyes, time limited freemiums show the most promise. The customer can use the app with the entire feature set for a limited time. After the time limit is up the customer either likes the app enough to purchase it or is simply not the right fit which is why I think it is a win-win situation for both sides.

  87. Freemiums are great for consumers but on the other hand its a toss up for companies. Consumers get use to receiving the freemium content and become very reluctant once a company decides to place a price tag on the once free service. Example: Pandora Radio once was the only streaming music free app now wants consumers to pay for unlimited, uninterrupted services, however, consumers have gotten so use to not paying for the freemium that they are willing to just sit through a commercial every now and then instead of just paying the fee. I believe freemium will continue to grow in popularity. All though consumers may not be paying for these information packed apps, companies are still in competition for consumers attention. Feature limited shows promise because consumers will only be able to enjoy basic features while companies sale them on the benefits of having the unlimited features. If companies do a good of selling the benefits for upgrading services, then consumer will happily pay the fee without reluctance.

  88. I believe freemiums to be very effective when it comes to the app maker trying to get the word out their on his product and gain recognition in the mobile app community. I think freemiums are great for sampling applications, to know what works for the user and what doesn’t. Nothing is free in life, and people love when they can get free samples of anything. I believe that giving away the entire product for free would not be beneficial but giving it away for limited time or limiting what you can do on the product is profitable in the long run.
    I believe freemiums will grow in popularity based upon the large numbers of applications that are out there. It make it easier to narrow down which apps people enjoy and I do not think this will end anytime soon. I believe allowing an app to be free for a while gives the company a competitive advantage over others.
    I believe all three types can be beneficial in the right markets although I believe it comes down to a mixture of time limited and capacity limited. I do not believe you can give away the entire thing and gain a profit in the long run. If companies have a solid product that works and that users enjoy in the long run I see them buying the priced application after they use the limited one. In the long run this means the company will make money.

  89. Freemiums are a great way for people to “sample” an app before deciding if it’s worth purchasing. Personally, the creditworthiness and value of an app is based on what the free app has to offer. If the freemium app is up to par and to my liking then “upgrading” to the premium app is justified. Freemiums will continue to grow in popularity because it is becoming a standard for marketing a new or upgraded app. Of the three freemium formats, the feature limited shows the most promise. There are tons of apps that allow you to play the free version for as long as you’d like. However, they are very limited in what types of games and selections you can access via the freemium. Time and capacity limits place stronger constraints that may limit the number of interested consumers because when something is free it typically doesn’t have time or capacity limits. Moreover, after a while, the cost of the app is insignificant compared to the benefits of the premium accessibility of the apps features. Freemiums are a great way to get serious consumers from the bottom of the funnel to the top of the funnel. Once a need is recognized for accessibility to more of an apps features beyond what the freemium provides, it is then that consumers are more apt to purchase the full version of the free app.

  90. When I hear the word freemium, I immediately reference Pandora. You can listen to up to 100 music stations and playlists for free, and occasionally have to sit through advertisements as the cost for the “free” music. At $2.99, you can eliminate the ads and make an unlimited amount of music stations. That works out to Pandora’s benefit both ways; and after awhile, most get to the point when they say to themselves “Hey, $2.99 a month isn’t so bad”. I am positive that freemiums will not disappear anytime soon. In order to get attention in a competitive market without a completely innovative product, it’s necessary to give in order to receive. Letting the customer test a product before committing to a purchase just gives a sense of credibility to the company; proving that there’s no gimmick, and it’s worth the money. Of course, this will cost the companies that may not have the budget to give without a return. As time progresses, the barrier to entry will rise higher in e-commerce and internet marketing.

  91. As a consumer I think freemiums are an amazing idea because they provide a preview of their product to their customers. It allows the consumer to try out the application instead of buying them. Depending on how much the consumer needs or want the application they will think twice if they have to pay for it. Once the consumer has had time to preview the trial they might be more inclined to purchase the whole application. I think the only negative thing out of the freemiums is that the company will not make any revenue toward that application, unless they offer a premium application to upgrade. I think that there is a lot of competition with applications so I do feel premium popularity will continue to grow. The most commonly administratered format that show the most promise is the limited feature especially if it’s in regards to a game. The limited feature allows the consumer to use the application to a certain “level” and if they want to continue they will have to buy the upgrade. This allows them to get hooked on the application, to the point that they need to continue playing.

  92. I am confident that freemiums will continue to grow in popularity in the near future. Personally, I do not feel convinced in purchasing an app (even if the cost is low) before I have a chance to try it and really get a feel of its benefits and features. Who doesn’t prefer to play around with an app before deciding whether or not to invest their time in it or look for another one that will better suit their needs?
    Freemiums are greatly appreciated by consumers and if they are worth it, many times people will get so hooked on the app that they are even willing to pay for it once the company starts charging.
    With this said, I believe time limited is the way to go; people will have access to the full set of features from the beginning and this will allow them to get a full experience of what the app is offering. This will be enough for them to make the decision to later on buy it or not. If the company does a good job from the beginning in adding the right features, chances are people will get hooked and will not want to look for an alternative app just because they have to pay a couple of bucks annually.

  93. 1. Freemiums if used effectively can be a great marketing tool for a business to employ. As technology continues to develop, I believe we will continue to see an app driven market. There is an abundance of consumer related data waiting to be discovered thru the tracking of subscription based services and exchange of emails. But the ability to actually track the abundance of data received from these outlets may present itself as a challenge. Often time, the app is used to appeal to the user’s curiosity and some instances challenges their product knowledge creating a brand awareness and potential for fan based followers. This is true in particular where apps deliver a real time experience and make the connection a more personable shopping experience. I believe time limited apps show the most promise for growth. As the profile of users become younger, we will see a shift in the ability of parents to monitor and control browsing and access. Once we reach the bottom of the funnel, we should have some idea of what the spending motivation is according to the analysis of user behavior. At this point we would have also created a friend of mind appeal to the buyer leaving one not so obvious factor…..retention. The long term success of freemium apps will depend on their ability to distinguish itself from other apps. Likewise, if content providers can construct ways to connect the user’s profile with future needs, or forecasting they may have a good chance towards distinguishing itself from other competitors while establishing a good retention record.

  94. Since the introduction of freemiums, companies and target markets have had a number of benefits. I firmly support mobile app freemiums mainly because I do not have to pay for it. Whether the freemium has limitation in terms of Features, time to use or subscription limitation, the app is available for free at its initial or basic stage of use. I believe that freemiums are a key element to the success of companies that have a large install base even if the clients get the apps for free since they offer profits from sales. As a consumer, freemiums have been effective in accessing different brands for products and services. Companies also produce the best products/services since they face very stiff competition. It is however not easy for most companies getting the free users to pay.
    With the growth in mobile apps, smart phone users and competition from different companies, freemiums will grow in popularity. The reasons behind this include their popularity, acceptability in the market and sales profits. People are easily attracted to apps that are popular and offer entertainment, education or facilitate in essential ways. Secondly once an app is accepted into the market it is easy for people to download it since it is tested, upgraded regularly and has a large clientele. Lastly, the companies have an opportunity to maximize on profits once the limited version is upgraded through paying for upgrades of the services or product.
    In my opinion, I believe that freemiums that have time limitation are the most successful ones. This is because time limited apps that are very useful run out and this makes the people relying on them to have to pay for the upgraded version. Time limited freemiums face challenges from downloadable versions of upgraded apps that are uploaded by people and are accessible for free on the Internet.

  95. Freemiums are great! Why wouldn’t they be? A company is giving their customer to try their product before they buy it. Freemiums are great because it allows the customer to get acquainted with a product to make sure it is a perfect fit before they buy. They also serve as teasers to entice a customer to purchase more features. For example, I am a little ashamed to admit, when Candy Crush first hit the app store I was super excited because it reminded me of one of my childhood games. Candy Crush is a freemium because it allows you to play as much as you want for free but you have to purchase certain power ups and lives to keep the game going, or you can as friends to donate them (but who wants to wait for that?) In my opinion, I feel that freemiums will continue to become more and more popular with companies and in particular feature limited freemiums will become more popular. Who doesn’t love free stuff? It’s the perfect way for companies to bring the customers in and “bait” for a bigger purchase. Giving the customer a little taste of what they can have at their fingertips is a great way to keep them coming back for more.

  96. Freemium is a business model by which a product or service is provided free of charge, but a premium is charged for advanced features, functionality, or virtual goods. Freemiums do not work the same as a product does. Since it is free it does not directly generate revenue from sales, and in the case of mobile apps these can still be considered economically feasible even with as little as 10 percent of freemium downloaders actually choosing to spend money for premium services. Freemiums is a very good and helpful concept for companies. It’s all in the getting the attention of customers and people are drawn to the “free” tag. People are unlikely to pay for something if they do not know what the app includes or how it may benefit them. I believe that Freemium will continue to grow in popularity. People are clearly interested in free stuff. If you offer anything for free users will most likely download it. Offering free stuff also means getting to more people more quickly and distribution no longer becomes a problem. A freemium is also an excellent way to get users to try an app or any program and get them hooked in the process. I believe that time limited will be the most popular Freemium. Time limited freemiums gives the customers or users the opportunity to try the product for free first. The customer is then able to explore all its functions and grow an interest in the product. The customers will also be able to see the benefits of the products. Time limited will most likely give costumers the urge to pay for a premium because they are already used to using the product and all its features. It will also attack them to try out more advanced features.

  97. Freemiums are the way to do it. I think that a company needs to have confidence in their product. Let the consumer get a taste, and sure enough if they like it they are going to want more. Freemiums have been around for a while, and their longevity should be a testament to their effectiveness. I believe that they are fair to the customer as well. Many are reluctant to pay for a product without knowing “what does this really do for me”. I feel as if freemiums are only on the rise. As the number of apps increases so will the freemiums given out. I feel as if all companies will try and include some sort of freemium in order to stay competitive. In terms of what sort of freemium is the most effective I would argue for the time limited. This goes back to the issue of a company trusting their product. If they have faith in their products abilities they should provide the consumer with a full taste of it, and make the freemium time limited. A great example of this is “Spotify” a program for listening to and downloading music. They offer a one month free trial of their services. They do not limit any of them. Meaning you can download playlists, access all the music they have in their database, and have all their services as long as you have phone service. All these perks are only alloted for the first month. After that they cut the services unless you sign up and pay the monthly fee. After getting used to using spotify for a month, and realizing the quality of their product the monthly fee seems absolutely worth it. In their case the freemium works very effectively and I believe that other products should follow the time limited freemium model.

  98. Looking at the freemiums from a marketing prospective I would say that they’re a ploy to keep consumers. Music Industry Companies have had to deal illegal file sharing, piracy, and many other forms of bootlegging for years and now their using this form of marketing called freemiums to combat these types of web-entertainment theft. I think that freemiums will be enough to combat these evils but more innovative forms of marketing will be needed to sustain these marketable apps for the long-term.
    With long-term marketing to lead to a sort of exclusivity branding, I think that freemiums will grow in popularity because of how internet and freemiums are all about the web’s social content industry. In my opinion, most popular form of marketing freemiums is the time limited approach. It’s marketed as having the most freedom to content while requiring the least amount of up front obligation from the user.

  99. Based on our daily reality of information overload and abundance of online services, brands and companies are adopting freemiums to attract new users and expand the adoption of their service offering. Freemiums have continued to grow in popularity but the question is whether this trend will continue. My stand on freemium is that there are used as strategic tools to discover worthy informations about customers in order to ultimately acquire and maintain them as permanent customers. Although people just love freebies which almost contradict the business saying” that says there is no free lunch”, the current business environment appear to be inclined to drive this trend forward just because freemiums are free and often present a solution to a given need. Subsequently, I think that fremiums will grow in popularity and companies will have the opportunity to develop strategic methods to help them to be unique while having the ability to make profit.
    On the other hand, many services are offered for free and therefore consumers come to the point of having constant freemiums expectations. In other words, should a company fails to offer a freemium service they automatically turn away significant numbers of potential paying customers down the road. Often potential clients like to try things before making a financial investment.
    Many companies use freemium offers a quick and effective way to lure customers to try or pay with their features to ultimately turn them into paying customers. Therefore, it appears that freemiums are here to stay and companies will lean toward building their business models to effectively take advantage of the benefits that freemiums can offer.
    Personally I believe that Features limited and capacities limited appear to be the most promise to get customers involved Feature limited freemiums offer an opportunity for suppliers to exhibit the added value of the solution in the hope that the customers are willing to start paying for a more feature rich service after trying out the basic version. This method is most often used for games and mobile applications. Additionally they are used commonly for online applications. Capacity limited freemiums offer a limited set of user rights often to pilot users within an organization to showcase the usability and viability of a software solution.

  100. Freemiums are the new standard. It’s the idea of “Free” that is going to always stand out. Even in and out of the business model, freemiums have been able to turn a profit even with out the promotion or up-sale of upgrades. With the use of adware and ad support you can make a profit off of hits alone. Will they continue to grow in popularity? Among customers, absolutely. The option to not have to pay for something is timeless. For the competitive market, I am not so sure. With it’s slow time to monetize and high rate of entry, it’s only a matter of time before it is abandoned. Feature limited clearly shows the most promise in terms of extending the life of freemiums. It keeps control of the app in the hands of the user and gives them time to decide whether or not they need the upgrade. It also keeps them tethered to the app in question. Time limited and capacity limited freemiums, once exhausted, will force a customer to make decisions and ultimately find an alternative that offers a feature they were restricted.

  101. What is your stand on freemiums?
    I am a true supporter of freemiums. It is a good show of benevolence by the app company to allow the user the opportunity the try the product free of charge before making a decision to purchase. If the potential buyer is satisfied with the product; I believe that person will likely buy the app and tell their friends and family about it; furthering the app sales. I would be more than happy to buy an app that lives up to its promise; in fact I hardly ever buy an app unless I can try it out first for free. If I can’t try it out for free then I search the other 1M+ apps for a similar app that allows a free trial period.

    Will they continue to grow in popularity?
    It only makes sense that freemiums will continue in popularity sense there is not the luxury of a tradition product to be returned to the retailer if the customer is not satisfied with the product. Freemiums circumvent the return of the product because the potential buyer has the opportunity to test drive the product before pulling out his/her wallet. This in turns lessens the anxiety of committing to making the purchase. For that reason, I see freemiums continuing to grow in popularity, and I’m all for that.

    Feature limited has the most promise. We want the latest or trending product because technology has subconsciously made us want the hottest, latest, newest thing on the market. So featured limited offers, entice buyers to grab/purchase the trending app so they can have the newest toy on the block.

  102. I believe freemiums has a great future because companies are now adapting to marketing their brands through social media and mobile apps. Freemiums current business model is a great one it offers simple and basic services for free and additional features at a premium price. I think freemium will definitely continue to grow to popularity because of the many benefits that comes along with these free downloadable apps. Just to name a few of the benefits companies will gain from freemium are promotional tool at a reduce rate, customer acquisition, opportunities for market potential, user confidence, and valuable research. Out of the three commonly administered formats I feel feature limited is most promising. People like the word free and with this app being free of charge with limited features it gives the consumer a test run of the product before purchasing the premium price to retain all features for the app.

  103. Freemiums are a new trend in the market, and I think particularly that they are going to stay here for some time. As long as the amount of smartphones sales rises, the apps are still going to be a huge segment to explore. Through the Freemiuns, companies are able to offer a taste of the product/service to the customer, so that the consumer would feel more compelled to finally purchase the product/service after testing it for a time period. It definitely is a great way for the consumer to get familiar with a particular brand or product/service if he/she is not acquainted and explore it. In my opinion, their popularity will continue to grow, bearing in mind that nowadays the consumer wants to be able to get all the information available of a specific product/service, a Freemium is a great tool to get closer to your target audience. Besides all that, it is great way of doing merchandising and leveraging the company’s brand equity.

    I believe that the most promising feature is the “feature limited”, because it awakens inside the consumer a desire to have “all of it”, not just a part. If the customer is pleased with the product/service Freemium, probably he/she will be prone to make the final decision at the bottom-of-the-funnel.

  104. As a consumer, I love freemiums because they offer free services that I would otherwise have to pay for and they are free. Who doesn’t like free stuff? However, as a company I think that in the long run, it could do more harm on revenue than good. The consumer enjoys freemiums because it allows them to keep using services for free, and many of them never intend to purchase the upgraded purchase, and will continue to take advantage of the free service for as long as it they can. From a business stance, this looks great for a company in the short run because they are being exposed to consumers, while consumers are also sharing these free services to their friends and families allowing for more exposure. However, if only a few of them are actually purchasing the upgraded version of their app services, how are they to benefit in the long run? They really can’t. They are however getting more exposure, but some way some how money has to come to prove that freemiums are in fact beneficial for a company.
    I do think freemiums will continue to grow in popularity because they seem to get a lot of attention from people. Whenever people notice an app is going to help them facilitate, entertain, or educate their life, they will be more incline to use it, especially if they don’t have to put in money up front for it. If people do not decline the use of these freemiums, companies will just keep thinking of clever ways to take advantage of this.
    In my opinion, I think time limited freemiums offer the most promise. If someone using an app that is very useful in their life, limiting the time on it usually makes the user want to purchase it if they really need it. Feature limited app does not show that much of a promise because if someone is fine with using the basic, and has no need to upgrade, they will continue to use the basic feature at no cost. The capacity limited freemiums could hold as much weight the time freemiums because at some point if they really want the services they have to purchase more to extend the capacity.

  105. Freemiums are an excellent method of increasing the demand for a product. In an age where consumers are more and more used to free content and applications, the fact of paying immediately for an app is a turn off for many consumers. Free apps are available in almost any context and even if the $2.99 app is far more useful, consumers tend to turn to the free app and wait for improvements .

    However, with freemiums, you can provide a consumer with the free trial for a limited time or free standard content with the ability to try the product and determine if the more advanced features or longevity of usage is worth the fee paid for the app. The try before you buy concept will continue to grow with consumers and is an excellent way for companies or individuals to get their product in front of more users.

    I find feature limited to be the most successful strategy. Time limited can be a turn off for consumers as they use the free trial but either (a) do not use the app in its full capacity for the length of the trial and are not able to determine whether the app is worth it or (b) just lose interest with the amount of usage time and look elsewhere for another free app.

  106. I believe that Freemiums is a good marketing app because it’s a way for companies to promote their product or service. By offering customers a product free of charge will definitely draw in customers and help gain potential customers. By allowing freemiums, customers are able to try out the product or service and decide whether or not they like it without having to worry about wasting money. By letting customers sample the product or service benefits a company because customers will feel more confident in buying the full version of the product or add-ons in which they may need. Freemiums will continue to grow in popularity because mobile usage is steadily increasing. People are attracted to the “free” sign they see in apps and are more than likely going to the download the app. Once they like the product or service, they will eventually buy the full version. People are more prone to the idea of testing out a product before they purchase it. If companies are shifting towards a mobile marketing approach, then Freemiums would be the way to go. Of the three commonly administered formats, time limited and feature limited seems to be the two that are promising. Time limited lets the customer try out the product or service for a limited amount of time before actually purchasing it. This will be effective because customers will have full access to the app and have a certain amount of days to decide whether they want to purchase it or not. The only downfall is that there may not be enough time for the consumer to try out the app and get the full use out of it. Feature limited is also promising because customers are able to test out the app and take their time with learning it, instead of being rushed. The idea behind feature limited is giving customers a reasonable set of functions to start with, which may later on have them wanting full access to the app with the special features and upgrades, in which they would have to purchase to get.

  107. I believe that Freemiums are going to be around for a long time. As you stated above, they provide the developer with many advantages that move the potential customer closer to making a purchase. The benevolence and confidence perceived by the customer at the offer place the freemium offerer above the competition that perhaps does not have a free option. Because of the need to compete it can be assumed that a freemium model will only increase in popularity.

    I believe the format that is the most promising is the time limited model. While as a user I prefer a feature limited app, I can use one of these forever without ever making a purchase and being completely happy with my basic features. However, when participating in a time limited freemium model when registering and beginning use of the app I am already in the understanding that if I enjoy the app I will need to purchase it sometime in the future, I may scrutinize the app more to verify its utility, but I am much more likely to purchase when the time is up. Because of this process, I believe the time limited freemium model has the most potential for creating real gains for the developer as far as increasing the customer base, providing potential customer data, and creating high conversion rates.

  108. My hunch says, “Freemiums are here to stay!” Freemiums have been around since the 1980′s for software. Here we are almost a third of a century later, and the conversation about and the utilization of this model is still very much relevant and increasing. There is a delicate balance of capturing, maintaining, and engaging these potential consumers to ultimately see a profit. It’s risky, but without risk there is no great reward. Freemiums build awareness and as long as, social media is thriving the potential of success is great. I would always want my product/service to be in the customers mind. I am pro Freemiums.

    Freemiums will indeed continue to grow despite the heated debates about their true sales & profit potential. Whether a company is well-established, emerging or brand new Freemiums are always a plausible option to gain exposure/brand awaress. Freemiums are relationship builders providing real engaement with the actual product or service being offered without a commitment from both parties. Let’s face it, I’d rather someone tell me my product/service sucks and it was free…than for them to say they paid for it and it really sucks! This is the prime opportunity to gain insights about what the consumer likes or dislikes. This may be the opportunity to integrate or upgrade the product or services being offered. Either way, Freemiums will continue to grow in popularity.

    In my opinion there is a tie between the feature limited & the time limited format. The feature limited format is like hors d’oeuvres…a prelude to multi-course meal. The hope is that the consumer will like/love the product or service in its current state, but when provided with the true full features of the product/service they find it necessary to pay for that access. Having access to all the offered features is value added and makes the consumer experience (in their eyes) more useful and enjoyable. The time limited format may be a catch 22, but it offers the consumer full features from day 1 of the trial. The consumer knows the true value of the product. The hook question is…does the consumer find the product/service useful enough to pay a monthly fee for it. The product/service usinng this format has to be confident about the feature set and benefit that their product/service offers. I would personally utilize either one of these formats.

  109. I stand to say that freemiuns are here for the long haul. Freemiuns, allow the company to get into the customers hands without a charge; it allows for the customer to grasp understanding or possibly spark an interest in the product or service the company is offering. When I see the word “free”, “it’s for me.” In other words, customers are now looking at free apps to generate an interest of the companies message, thus if the app fits their personal interest, they would then look forward to discovering what benefits the app can provide before the purchase. Freemiums will continue to grow and become even more popular as more and more companies decide to shift to the mobile platform. If you were to look into Apple’s App Store app, you will find a majority of app’s featured on the front page to be “Free” with few having price points. The strategy behind this allows for the customer to try the product and reach a certain point before it asks for a financial commitment or “in-app purchase”.
    I believe the most commonly administrated format to show the most promise would be time limited. Time limited allows the customer to freely engage with the app as if it was already owned. This allows for the customer to typically use every feature for a limited time and after the trial to decide if they would continue to purchase otherwise they would be restricted to limited features. Most companies who participate in this manner tend to gain more attraction and better reviews.

  110. I believe freemiums are a great way for companies to get potential customers interested in their apps. I would be crazy for companies not to allow customers to test out there apps especially in today’s media age with all the piracy occurring. Companies mind as well try to capitalize on allowing free trails to gain customer loyalty. I personally believe freemiums will continue to grow in popularity because it allows potential customers to try out apps and see if they like them or need or want them without having to commit to a purchase right there on the spot. This concept kind of goes back to our discussion on benevolence and giving away information and trade secrets for free. Honestly, why should anybody have to purchase a product without first knowing how it works or what it can be used for. Furthermore, I personally believe time limited fermiums show the most promise. The reason for this is because at least will a full access free trail you now exactly what you are going to get and whether or not you need that particular version or an upgraded version or basic version.

  111. Fremiums offer consumers a gateway to various types of applications at no cost. It is an effective way of generating a much larger customer base while utilizing bottom of the funnel marketing. Most consumers will not pay to purchase an application unless they feel that the particular app will benefit them tremendously. This is mainly a result of most applications being offered for free as well as the enormous variety of substitutes available. In order to continue growing and retain customers, applications should be free in order to allow consumers to try out the service being provided and come to a decision of whether paying for an upgrade would be favorable to them.

    Freemiums will continue to grow in popularity, which is evident by the over 1 million (and growing) iPhone apps in the market. Consumers are much more motivated to download applications when they are free of charge. Freemiums will continue to grow and evolve through market research and technological breakthroughs in order to reach broader audiences and increase purchase impulses.

    Of the three most commonly administered formats, the “Time Limited” format shows the most promise. Giving customers the ability to try the entire set of features for a limited time gives them the full experience and will keep them wanting to continue. If companies only offer the “Feature Limited” format, consumers will not have experienced everything the application has to offer, so in a sense they will not feel that they are missing out on anything. Moreover it allows consumers to feel more comfortable in their purchase decision since they will know what they are paying for in advance. This in turn will decrease buyer’s remorse while increasing positive word-of-mouth marketing that will draw in even more customers in the future.

  112. I think freemiums are a great digital marketing tool to reach target audiences. By allowing a customer to essentially sample the app before purchasing it, users will be more willing to purchase the full version feeling secure in already knowing they will enjoy it. Additionally, I believe freemiums build trust and loyalty with the brand. If a consumer has an app from a brand they enjoy, they might be more inclined to purchase other products from the brand as well, since the brand is already in their mind as something useful to them.
    As mobile usage continues to grow, I expect freemiums to continue to increase in popularity as well, especially as brands learn how essential the mobile medium is to their business. Apps are even being introduced onto Shark Tank, further justifying its credibility and potential.
    I believe that, of the three most commonly administered formats, time limited freemiums show the most promise. Since users are able to get the full experience of the app for free, once their time has run out they are more likely to want to continue using the app. Getting the full experience is unlike the two other formats, where you only get the full experience once you’ve committed to paying. With time limited freemiums, users have enough time to get attached to the app as well as enough time to determine if its actually of use to them. If so, once the app’s time has run out users will most likely still want access to the app.

  113. Despite the negative effect freemiums can have on companies and their products, I support the overall idea. Freemiums really show consumers/customers that a company cares about them and not just about their own profit. Freemiums allow their consumers to try out a product without having to pay which I believe shows a great amount of care toward their consumers. It can also increase loyalty for the company because they are allowing free trials of their products via apps, etc. I definitely think these freemiums will grow in popularity. People are always looking for the next best thing and freemiums are a great opportunity for people to try different things without paying and then deciding which product they like best. If companies are smart, they will continue to push freemiums to help their customers. I think that the time-limited approach is the best because it gives ALL the features instead of just some. I think this really allowed the user to try out every aspect of the app/product before buying it. This way they know they are not being “cheated” into a product that really does not have everything they need. There are no shortcuts or lies to this approach, and although the time trail is limited, so companies cannot trick their customers and people will appreciate this more.

  114. I think that nearly all companies can benefit from freemiums, whether services or product based. These free apps allow customers to get a feel for the product/service and the company as a whole. There is so much free content out there these days that customers are much less willing to pay for something unless they have confidence in the company first. Freemiums are the fastest and most efficient means of building a user base and showing benevolence to potential customers.
    I believe that freemiums will continue to grow in popularity. The internet and mobile content today yields much more competition in all industries and companies will need to have free mobile apps to stay profitable. With the fast growth of mobile users worldwide there is no reason to doubt to continuing growth of mobile app freemiums. Companies will offer these apps in more languages to a wider customer base because once the initial apps are developed it is less expensive to make additional feature changes.
    The main decision that needs to be made by companies is whether to offer feature limited, time limited, or capacity limited freemiums. There are pros and cons to each of the three and the best course of action will depend on the product/service and the timeframe or objectives of the company. As a user, I prefer feature limited apps because it takes me a while to get a feel for the value of the offering. Time limited freemiums may force the potential to make a decision before getting a true understanding of value and capacity limited apps may not reach enough users. But companies need to understand their constraints (financial, time, etc.) before choosing the how to limit the application.

  115. This is the first time I’ve heard of this expression. Freemiums is when you download a free app from the app store or from Google play store depending what phone you have and the app is promised to be free forever. For example, the trick is that the game is designed for customer to spend real money. Spending real money might be to buy yourself more lives, or move up in level or buy add-on to your games other things. Providers know that this is the way to make money out the customers because customers want to continue to play. They don’t want to wait for the unblock time to expire. Instead of scaring customers off with the price of the App, they can attract more people to download the game when it’s free. Even if just a half of those customers regularly buy into the game content, the developers are making more money. There are many apps out there that you can buy free but if you want more stuff you will have to upgrade the app which will cost money.
    In my opinion, I think they will grow in popularity especially the games. Like I said before gamer’s really get into the game and they will pay the money. I am actually one of those gamers that get into the game and actually pay the money for add-ons or power ups. I also think that Freemiums is a great for providers to get themselves known even though it might be slow process to make money it’s still great way to advertise yourself.
    I think time limited will be the most promising because customers are able to try the full version for 30 days. Customers know what they want if a customer is satisfied with the app they will want to buy it because they want to lose out on the great stuff the app has to offer.

  116. Three most commonly administered formats showing the most promises:

    Top grossing apps – a review of the top grossing apps on Android will realize over 50 percent of them are free. The same thing is happening with iOS in the games chart. It’s worth mentioning that this phenomenon could be largely limited to games, but then again, games are also the most popular category of apps. Reportedly, the freemium model is gradually being adapted for some non-game apps and in-app purchases are definitely going to grow more and more important. Reportedly HIS predicts that in-app purchases will account for estimated 65 percent of total market revenue by 2015, compared to 39 percent in 2011. The revelation is a whopping high percent of all smartphone apps downloaded during the past years, which of course were free. Fremiums are standing out in crowded markets as the competition in the app market gets fiercer. It is reported that both Google Play and Apple’s App Store boast well over thousands apps and games. It’s tough to get noticed if you don’t hit the top app charts; hence many developers are resorting to gaming the app rating system. They will not cease to ask: What is the better way to secure a bigger audience other than to give your app away for free?

    Freemium is a telltale of dual models. For instance, in giving an app away, you either sell advertising space or you create in-app purchases. You could offer a free app with advertising and then charge money for an ad-free version. Typically, the premium versions of free apps would include some extras that may be ad-free versions of the same presentation. A free demo system of the game is offered with full functionality, you may need to pay only for the extras. Many early releases on Android enjoyed tremendous success within such a model. Now that in-app purchases are becoming standard, the transition to paid content is handled smoothly within the app. We are unlikely to see two separate versions (one free and one premium) quite as often. In-app purchases are fast becoming the model of choice. The app or game is free, with little or no advertising. There’s additional content that you can unlock for a small fee though. It works well for some apps where content can be packaged and sold. But niche apps are largely sticking with an upfront premium.

    Expect to see more variations on the freemium model in the future and whatever works best will naturally rise to the top. Freemium is here to stay and we see it play a role in the risising social media stars. Freemium business model is a stratplan transition of a forward move for Instagram, it can be argued. With over millions registered users of Android, Instagram’s success continued to grow positioning both as rising stars of the most popular apps for iPhone with Android. Yet despite their success, the company hasn’t clearly settled upon a viable business model. Although there are a number of different routes the app can take such as incorporating adverts into the experience, the freemium model is one that may not have received sufficient attention despite its growing popularity. The reasons why such as business model are worth exploring are: There is no barrier to the downloading – the Instagram free to download app could be one of the reasons why so many people have downloaded it. I believe that a twist to a paid app would slow down Instagram growth and it may be perceived as punishment to users who didn’t download in the first instance.

    The purpose of a freemium model is that the entry of downloading is free whilst premium content must be paid for. In adapting this model will mean that the app will continue to be free to download. Those unfamiliar with the service can test it out and, if they like it, can invest in additional content. One of the main problems with placing adverts in apps is that they usually stick out like a sore throat. While this is the case for many free apps (in main source of revenue) and being noticed is the entire purpose of advertising; it could potentially put off a number of casual users who prefer not to be bombarded by adverts. To determine the best place to showcase these ads is the challenge, and other or Instagram is no exception. The potential two places that they could place adverts is either in their news stream, taking inspiration from Facebook’s mobile strategy, rather place an ad on the sharing page at the bottom. Yet the problem with either approach is that they can be perceived as jarring and ultimately distracting from the main experience. In the event the user base is loyal, they become the cornerstones to any social app community site, something Instagram definitely have. While this doesn’t necessarily mean that these same people will all start purchasing content, the perception is Instagram has a very solid foundation to work from and can be assured that the majority users will stick around if any significant changes are made. People will buy content provided there’s an incentive. As long as the content on offer enhances the experience in some way, then it’s very possible to have a viable business model.

    I cannot overemphasize that the freemium model is most prominent in games considering how this works The most quoted is Angry Birds’s venture on Facebook. Devising a different strategy for each format is essential (browser game is free, iOS version is a paid app, Android version is free but has ads). Rovio is said to have decided to make the game free on Facebook, instead allow players to purchase additional content to make the game easier. With immense active users and a substantial amount of content to purchase from, the freemium format could be argued to have been successful so far.

    The marketing content of Instagram could choose to make payable additional filters as an opportunity to branch out further into other areas. Incorporating editing tools such as cropping, focus and blurring into the service, that could give another dimension and could potentially add more value to the service. A growing number of new businesses are following in the footsteps of successful companies such as Dropbox Inc., Linkedln Corp, etc. These give away their products and services free to build a customer base. There is a growing number of new businesses are giving away their products and services for free to try and build a customer base. However, it must be noted that the Freemium strategy often takes a long time to build and show desirable results, and can be tough to pull off. The strategy can as well turn out to be higher on operational costs for freeloaders. In mind is Chargify LLC, – a provider of billing-management software to small businesses, which used the freemium business model during 2009.

    In sum, freemium app model have a means to pave the way to profits, the model can work very well; realistically argued it shines in conjunction with other free to play-based business models.

  117. Will Freemium continue to grow in popularity?

    Yes. As indicated in the earlier posts the Freemium idea of micro-transactions is caught up in the video games industry after MMO game developers offered a game free version, and inserted small fees for additional features in-game content. Reportedly, giving the game away for free generated a massive user base and loads of publicity. Even though only a small percentage of dedicated users splashed out on micro-transactions – profits soared, it has been reported. Since, the blend of free and premium slowly took off in the traditional gaming market. It grabbed the mobile market and never let loose. Free apps became counter-intuitive because developers devote resources to developing them and wanting to see a return to compete. The free app trend started out experimentally but the number of apps being released for free with an alternative monetization strategy has grown dramatically over time proving freemiums as a successful business model to reckon.

    The freemium model works best for games because players cannot only buy new content, but they can pay to advance in the game. Games work because of an addictive hook they hold that can create a powerful urge to buy. People might not be willing to spend a cent on a casual smartphone game up front, but once they get hooked onto playing and they’ll spend the money to advance. Once they are invested they are more likely to spend more cash and end up paying out a lot more than anticipated.

    With freemiums is advertising. Mobile advertising is still on the rise. App advertising spending across all mobile devices are skyrocketing and could reach $7.1 billion by 2015 (Juniper Research Report). That is a major increase from $2.4 billion in 2012. While marketers may be driving business directions onto the mobile advertising bandwagon they could be missing a key point too. I read that people don’t trust mobile advertising to the extent that even banner ads on websites rank higher (Nielsen Report, 2011). The one area where mobile advertising is constantly proving successful is social media. Regardless, the prospect of integrating advertising into own app is quite different.

    With Freemium there is no one-size-fits-all. Most in-app purchases on iOS and Android are for virtual currency for games. What you can actually do varies, you can begin selling consumables so that players can use them in-game, to entice them to return to buy more, that would make business sense. Any game looking to make the change from paid freemium should plan carefully. It’s easy to turn off users and turn them away for good. In-app purchases should offer tangible benefits without ruining the experience. Paying extra for more content makes perfect sense.

    Notably, conversion rates range, at about 1/5% – allowing a vast majority of user to not make an in-app purchase. It is vitally important to cater for free users and those wanting more features to exercise their need and desires. That way, growth is inevitable. A free app for a game change would be a success. The big freemium successes have managed to combine good conversion rates with high retention, so that people continue to play the game for long periods in a way for a business gain. This could as well be the reason they are earning significantly more than a host of high quality premium games. Read is: high profile successes started out as premium apps and then adopted a freemium model later to revolutionize their stratplan as they squeeze more revenue from their release.

  118. 1. Standpoint on Freemiums

    The Internent is a roundup of low cost freemium with a key goal to fit the mailer’s creative strategies. Prior direct marketers used all manner of freebies in their direct mail efforts to stand out and to elicit a response. Otherwise, it was common to see varying products packets, wallet-sized calendars, paperback books etc on topics related to the marketer’s offer. Then direct mail costs went on the rise, making less expensive e-mail campaigns and Web sites quite appealing. With the Internet influence, medium has become far too crowded for anyone’s message to easily stand out.

    Through the years, direct mailing lost favor with marketers but seems strongly resurrected. Evident is the acquisitions of new customers through telemarketing and e-mail; it does come via trials and tribulations. Once again mail could become a many direct marketers’ medium of choice for customer acquisition. Who would not notice and acknowledge that with Internet brought significant changes in consumers, resulting in the change of the effectiveness of Freemiums. Espoused by Herschell Gordon Lewis The Web has corrupted the word ‘free’ beyond any evils [direct mailers] smashed onto it in the past. People expect to get something for nothing.

    The free offer component could be the reason why hardly any Freemium is working as it used to. However, the fact is, whilst Freemiums may not outperform past experiences, they do work and may do better again in time. The trick is in finding the freebie that is cost effective, i.e., any item you insert into a mailing that increases the ROI. If it costs $5 and returns $6 plus a new customer, it’s your bonus. The strategy is working. Freemiums still work, it could be argued. For instance, certain enterprises have integrated sheets of address labels into their customer acquisition efforts. The trick on address label stickers is to make them a little larger and format them to be used as identification personalized tags.

    In low-cost Freemium, reference imprints/cards are informational tools recipients would want to keep handy making a number of other service providers in the direct marketing industry give out postage rate cards. Ideas may be tipping guides, calendars, sports team season schedules, etc. Whether they carry important information or are just plain fun, the trick may work. For instance, stickers tend to do the job for longer, even in political campaigns. November 2008 political campaigns, Yes We Can, Obama/Bidden, McCain/Palin were a business and became popular stickers on vehicles and can still be spotted today. A new idea was instilled. Freemiums are inexpensive. Whilst it is easy to print making them functional is the magic Freemium popularity could be seasonal too. You ought to develop a relevant idea to tie it into your offer to harvest.

    For instance, food or environmentalist can develop a campaign theme that connects to food and or flowers. The perceived value of seed packets can boost the average performance. I recently received a Freemium pen that is flexible and thin enough for the mailing. The pen had rates imprint with a message. Depending on your audience, Freemium creates enthusiasm and might generate intrigue. By ensuring a free gift to not raise safety concerns you are building a desire to partake.

  119. Freemium simply is a business model of giving away core services for free intended to attract and grow users to become paying customers. It is a part of the mouthing strategy.

    The little irk is that future costs maybe hidden in the freemium marketing strategy.

    However, at its core, freemium is a choice model for attracting users through confidence in the user’s experience of the product rather than through traditional marketing campaigns. It is a signal of trust in a product and in the users of the product. It is a simple strategic model whose approach has been used by many different types of businesses from Adobe’s Acrobat PDF viewer to the Internet driven phone service Skype.

    In reading PDFs, you can use the free version of Acrobat, you need more effective tools for creating and modifying PDFs, you will realize an upgrade is available at some little cost. If you need to phone other Skype-users through the proprietary software, the service is free, but for a price you can phone people on their other phones using the same software.

    The freemium model has been adopted in many arenas, with increasing success in the gaming industry. It has been of variant use, reportedly in Angry Birds and Star wars etc. All parts of the gaming market have a share of freemium games’s model. Xbox Live system is built on a freemium model with silver membership available for free and gold being a paid version with more features.

    Therefore, it goes without saying that the freemium principle is driving revenue to greater heights. Over 60% in 2011 revenue is reported in the U.S. App store for iOS Games is accounted for by the freemium games increase. The model, despite skepticism from opponents, has proven profitable.

    Understandably, by simply making a game to give it away and sell a premium version is not a guarantee of success. Success is in the strategic details and the manner of execution of the simple principle. The goal is to have as many monthly active users as possible and convert into paying customers. You may want to ask: how do we go about achieving that goal? Understand that every game has its specifics and details. Each scenario needs careful attention. Experts will advise application of the five-step plan of principles across all genres and platforms.

    The fact of the matter is, you ought to create a great core and super niche product to match the super niche needs of the client. No business plan can sell and make profit of what no one needs. This does not mean consumers are already aware of their needs. It is part of the freemium business plan to make it easy for consumers to recognize that your game fulfills a need that they did not realize before; as they get aware of it, experience and know they can try it (the product/service) for free.

    It is importance that the core product be a part of your game that is free to play. That is a great stratplan to the freemium’s endeavor. To succeed in such a model, never should you design a great game, then remove features and let people try a lower/‘tuned-down’ version for free. Experts advise that the free core game should feel like the full game and the content or features that are opened up should make a rich and full experience richer and fuller. Deciding what is free and sticking with it should never reduce the amount of features that come with the game.

    By offering free service is perceived as benevolence. In its return is trust, a relationship bond has been created, and the urge to interact frequently is inculcated. You have earnestly declared that there are aspects of the product that client/customers can have for free. This way freemiums are bound to do well.

  120. Today it is almost a fact that internet users are addicted to free content. We are used to free tools such as free email, free social networks, free online banking, just to mention some popular ones. The same applies to free apps; they are here to stay for a long time. They are beneficial to users and companies as the article explains. In my opinion this concept should be embraced for every company that can afford it, since it is a tool that collects important information from target markets that can be later converted into customers. Nowadays companies will have a hard time trying to sell an app that did not start as a freemium.
    These applications have grown rapidly and are expected to follow the same path. This growth is a consequence of companies recognizing the need to give first before they expect a sale. Businesses expect from targeted markets to appreciate the free content and tools given, developing a sense of loyalty and trust to the brand. A key feature of free apps that would keep boosting their growth is the fact that users who like them often will recommend these apps to friends via social networks.
    In my opinion the feature limited app is the one with more potential growth. It provides users with a first taste of the product and hopefully wanting more, enough as a final push to close the sale. Then the option to pay to access all the application features does put pressure on customers, instead it feels as a fair alternative. The negative part from the business perspective is of course the cost associate with developing, running, and supporting the application.

  121. Free downloadable apps or Freemiums are a very popular way for companies to showcase their products. Most users whenever they see a “free” sign on a product are automatically attracted to it or at least curious to see what the product is all about. As a user of free apps myself I believe its a great way to try out something new and see if it fits your needs, so a freemium is a great approach in my view. I believe they will continue to grow in popularity because its a fast way to go viral and have many people know and try your product. That said, I don’t think the “subscription limited” can be the most effective in converting a free trial user to a paying user. The second least effective I believe is the “Limited features”, because if a product is very good with limited options when they offer more features, users will be interested in testing the other features by paying the price, but maybe they will lose interest all together. So in my view, the most effective way to converting free trial users to paying users is “Time limited” since the user may not get enough time to test the product and also it is very useful when you have a ticking clock telling you to hurry and make up your mind about something. It creates an urge to buy, this is what will make people pay for an app because they wont be able to use the free app anymore after 30 days. If you want to use it, you have to buy it.

  122. Freemium is a pricing strategy gives something away such as a product or service free of charge. However, money is usually charged for additional features. Freemiums can be seen in many places from Facebook, LinkedIn, Evernote, Apple Apps (Specifically games) etc. I believe Freemium is an excellent way to introduce your product to the consumer without them making a financial purchase. I believe freemium will grow in popularity as the consumer is more enticed by free products and services. Once the consumer is using the products their more inclined to pay for additional features. The downside is the company is missing out on revenue by offering their product for free; however, one could argue revenues increase due to more users using the products and purchasing upgrades than if their product was not offered free. I believe time limited will be most popular due to the ability for the consumer to try the product for free and company to not miss out on revenue. Whereas feature and capacity limited still allow the consumer to use the product to some extent.

  123. Today’s economy has shaped consumers into liking more and more free things. One of these free things we so much like are freemiums. A freemium (coined from the words ‘free’ and ‘premium’) is an application, game, or any service that a company provides free of charge but with the view to eventually make money from it by charging for upgrades, improvements or additional services. I believe these are very helpful for new companies or ones that already exist but have low customer exposure. By having freemiums these companies can get their products known recognized by their intended target market. I am not a big fan of giving away the product completely free. I think it is a good idea to give it free to a certain extent. Just enough for the consumer to get their appetite open for that certain product. These also create trust and build a connection with the consumer. A great example of this is the application “AngryBirds”. This application started out as a totally free application. The developer saw that the comments were so great and the download rate was so high, they created a premium version of the application. Any minor glitch the app had they fixed within hours of it being commented on. Since they had built a powerful connection with the consumers from the free portion of the game, more than 87% of the people who downloaded the free version got the premium when it was available.

    I believe that freemiums will continue to grow in popularity amongst consumers. Today’s economy is a very competitive one. Some companies will need to be different in order to get the proper customer exposure they seek. If customer try the freemium and are satisfied with them, they will probably buy the premium version once the free one expires as opposed to buying something blindly without first “testing it out”. Some freemiums work on a time expiration basis and some are the actual application but the features are unlocked only to a certain extent. By doing this companies are creating a need in the customers life for the use of their application and if customers are satisfied with the “trail” version, they will upgrade or buy when the trail time is up.

  124. I am for freemiums I think this concept is very helpful for companies to get their name and product known and recognized. Of course giving away your whole product or service for free does not pay off but giving a short trial or part of the product builds the customers trust in you and the product. For example just like LinkedIn gives their standard service for free most people want to do more with their profile and networking which makes them start paying for those additions. Freemiums also show the company what customers like and don’t like and I believe this is a great indicator of what will be successful in the market. In my opinion they will continue to grow in popularity since competition is growing and companies are looking for the factor that makes them different and favorable to the customers. By offering a freemium the customers can get to know the brand and if the product is really good the customers will keep coming back to you instead of paying for something they have never tried. Time limited shows the most promise since this gives customers the product or service for free for a certain amount of time and if your product is useful to the customer they will definitely be willing to pay once the trial is over. This gives the customer the luxury of trying the product before they pay. They key is to create a sense of urgency for the customer and create a need for your product that way they will definitely pay to continue receiving your product.

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