How to convert Internet Free users into toll users

The free mode of internet means to provide free service for all users and charge users who need advanced features.

This model is not uncommon, QQ is one of the typical, rely on the free strategy to obtain a large number of users, a few users choose to pay, to buy VIP, QQ Show and other personalized services, supporting the huge business QQ.

This blog has previously mentioned the note software Evernote is also walking free mode, only by Word-of-mouth spread, has now developed to 3 million of users

Evernote's entrepreneurial Experience

As a regular user, you can use it to store articles, photos, videos, and so on for free, and to sync between multiple computers or mobile devices. And the paid version provides more advanced features, such as more storage space, off-line features, 2% of Evernote users choose to pay 5 dollars a month to get better service.

Recently, Evernote CEO Phil Libin introduced the core of the implementation of the free strategy:

1. 1 million users are attracted to free use

The best way to get 1 million users is to use--libin for 1 million users free of charge

Figure 1:evernote's user growth curve, reached 1 million users for 14 months, is still in a high growth period

2. Convert active users to paid users

The longer the user uses the product, the stronger the desire to pay, and your product's value with the time it uses.

Figure 2: The length of time spent using Evernote and percentage of paid users

1 months: 0.5%

6 months: 1%

24 Months: 5.5%

Two years after the use of Evernote, 5.5% of the users turned into paying subscribers, a considerable

3. Balance single user costs and benefits

Figure 3: Monthly cost per User: USD 0.09 VS Revenue: 0.16 USD
By this figure, Evernote has made a profit

4. Clear positioning and strategy

When Phil Libin to do Evernote, he set himself a principle: not to choose the smart business model.

"I hate data analysis, promotion, advertising, and I want to make a smart product available to millions of people and make sure 99% of the users are free to use"

Provides the best free version, obtains the user the Word-of-mouth dissemination effect, this is the Evernote type promotion.

Now, he wants Evernote's free and paid subscribers to grow at a rate of 5%, and if not, is that free version is not good enough, and what about charges?

The free model is popular among Silicon Valley start-ups, and Facebook and Twitter represent them. The biggest challenge of this model is how to balance free and fee-based boundaries?

American social Network Ning is a failure example, its users are rarely willing to pay for advanced features, resulting in its free mode is not tenable, its CEO in April issued a statement, will gradually stop the free service.

We should pay more attention to the premium service. Advanced social networks hosted on the Ning Web site, such as friends or enemies, LinkedIn Park, shred or die, and many other similar networks contribute 75% of the monthly traffic in the U.S. The creators of these networks need and are willing to pay for the many services and functions we offer. We will gradually stop providing free service, the existing free network can choose to pay to upgrade to advanced services, or transfer to other sites

Flickr's free model also has no good results, and it has to rely on advertising to make a profit. As a result, Wall Street investor Lincoln said, "The free model is a digital game, and most companies end up with failure."

Apparently, Evernote is winning the game.