If you’re asking this question, you’re already ahead of most product leaders. You recognize the problem. But here’s what many miss: conversion is a symptom, not the root cause of the problem.

SaaS churn often happens before users ever consider paying.

It’s common for users to hit friction points you didn’t know existed. They encounter gates that make no sense in context. They drop off at moments when just a bit more clarity could have kept them engaged.

The good news? You can fix this. But not by guessing. Not by copying what Dropbox or Notion does. And usually not by adding more features.

What you need is a systematic audit of your free or anonymous user experience. One that reveals exactly where users hit walls, why they bounce, and what you can do to keep them engaged long enough to see value.

This article walks through a five-step framework that SaaS product and growth leaders can use to audit their free experience and reduce churn. It’s the same approach we use with clients, adapted so you can run it internally. Fair warning: this takes work. But if you’re serious about improving SaaS user retention, it’s worth every hour.

Why your free experience impacts your retention rate

Before we get into the framework, let’s be clear about what we mean by “free experience.”

This includes any interaction where users engage with your product without paying. That could be a free trial, a freemium tier, anonymous tool usage, or limited feature access. It’s the first impression, the test drive, the “try before you buy” phase.

And it matters more than you think.

Most SaaS companies obsess over free-to-paid conversion rates. But conversion is a lagging indicator. By the time a user decides not to convert, the damage is already done. They disengaged days or weeks ago. They just didn’t tell you.

The real opportunity sits upstream. If you can identify and remove friction in the free experience, you don’t just improve conversion rates. You improve activation rates, engagement, time-to-value, and long-term retention. You build a user base that actually wants to pay because they’ve already seen the value.

Here’s how to find those friction points.

Step 1: Review your data for drop-off points

Start with what’s already happening in your product. Before you talk to anyone or look at competitors, you need to know exactly where users are getting stuck.

Dig into your product analytics. You’re looking for three things:

Activation drop-offs: Where do users abandon the onboarding flow? Which steps have the highest exit rates? If 60% of users drop off when asked to invite teammates, that’s a signal.

Feature engagement patterns: Which features do free users actually use? Which ones do they try once and never touch again? Are there features you’ve gated that users don’t even attempt to access?

Time-to-value analysis: How long does it take users to complete their first valuable action? And what percentage of users never get there? If your median time-to-value is three days, but 70% of users churn within 48 hours, you have a problem.

Set up a dashboard that tracks these metrics by cohort. New signups this week versus last month. Users from different acquisition channels. Free trial versus freemium. The patterns that emerge will guide your optimization priorities.

Layer on session recordings and heatmaps to see exactly what’s happening at key drop-off points. Numbers tell you where the problem is. Qualitative data tells you why.

Watch 20-30 sessions of users who churned in their first week. What did they try to do? Where did they get stuck? What confusion or frustration is evident in their behavior?

This isn’t just a data review. It’s detective work. You’re building a picture of where your free experience breaks down.

Step 2: Talk to users (both active and churned)

Now that you’ve identified drop-off points in your analytics, it’s time to understand the human story behind those numbers. Conduct 10-15 interviews, split between two groups:

Active free users (people still using your product but haven’t upgraded): Why are they still here? What value are they getting? What would make them pay? What’s holding them back?

Churned users (people who tried your product and left): What were they trying to accomplish? Where did they get stuck? What made them give up? What would have kept them engaged?

Keep these conversations short (15-20 minutes) and focused. You’re not selling. You’re learning.

Sample questions for active free users:

• What problem were you trying to solve when you first signed up?
• Walk me through how you use [product] today.
• What features do you wish you had access to?
• What would need to change for you to consider upgrading?
• If we removed [specific free feature], would you still use the product?

Sample questions for churned users:

• What were you hoping to accomplish with [product]?
• Where did you get stuck?
• Was there a specific moment when you decided it wasn’t for you?
• Did you consider other tools? What made you choose them instead?

Record these conversations (with permission) and transcribe them. The exact language users employ to describe their experience reveals friction points you’d never spot in analytics alone.

Pay special attention when users mention alternatives they considered or are currently using. This context becomes critical in the next step.

Step 3: Map what your users are being offered in the market

You now understand what’s happening in your product and why users make the decisions they do. The next question is: what are they comparing you against?

Your users don’t evaluate your free experience in a vacuum. They’re weighing it against every other tool they’ve tried, every competitor they’re considering, and every product they wish yours worked more like.

This step isn’t about copying competitors. It’s about understanding the full landscape of options your users are navigating.

Create a comprehensive inventory of how other products in your space (and adjacent to it) handle their free experiences. Document what your users are seeing elsewhere.

Here’s what to capture in a Figma or Notion file.

Set up a page with one row per product. For each one, document:

• What features are available without registration
• What requires an email address but remains free
• Where the hard paywalls sit
• How they communicate limits (countdown timers, credit displays, etc.)
• Placement and messaging of upgrade prompts
• Onboarding flows and activation sequences

Don’t limit yourself to direct competitors. Look at the tools your users mentioned in interviews. If they’re comparing your productivity tool to Notion, your design tool to Figma, or your automation platform to Zapier, study how those products handle free users.

Pro tip: Screenshot everything. Your database should include visual documentation of every monetization touchpoint, limit notification, and upgrade CTA. These screenshots become invaluable references when you’re making decisions about your own experience.

This exercise typically takes 8-12 hours for a thorough analysis of five to seven products. You’ll surface approaches you hadn’t considered and identify industry patterns that users have come to expect.

The goal here is context. When a user hits a limit in your product, they’re mentally comparing that experience to how Dropbox handles storage limits, how Canva displays upgrade options, or how Grammarly shows premium features. Understanding those reference points helps you design a free experience that meets or exceeds market expectations.

Step 4: Run a verb scoring exercise

With data, user insights, and market context in hand, it’s time to systematically evaluate your own product’s free experience. This is where verb scoring comes in.

Verb scoring evaluates the discrete actions users can take in your product and assigns each one a “score” based on the level of friction required. The six verb scores are:

• Anonymous – Users can take this action without providing any information
• Limited Anonymous Use – Users can take this action without registration, but only a limited number of times
• Free with Registration – Users must register (email + basic info), but can take this action unlimited times for free
• Limited Registered Use – Registered users can take this action, but with caps or restrictions
• Trial with Payment – Users must provide payment information to access this action (even if they’re not charged immediately)
• Gated – Only paying customers can take this action

List every meaningful action users can take in your product. Not features, but actions. “Create a document” is a verb. “Edit collaboratively” is a verb. “Export to PDF” is a verb. “Share via link” is a verb.

Then score each one. Where does it fall on the spectrum from Anonymous to Gated?

This exercise reveals your actual monetization strategy, not the one you think you have. You’ll often find that verbs are gated inconsistently, or that you’re giving away too much (or too little) at critical moments.

For a detailed walkthrough of verb scoring, including decision trees and examples, see our guide on verb scoring for product strategy.

Create a verb scoring matrix that maps all your verbs against these six scores. This becomes your baseline. It shows exactly where friction exists in your free experience, allowing you to compare it directly to what you documented in Step 3.

Step 5: Connect the dots between data, users, market context, and verb scoring

This is where the audit comes together. You now have four layers of insight:

1. Quantitative and qualitative data: Where users drop off and what they’re doing (or not doing)
2. User feedback: Why they drop off and what they’re thinking
3. Market context: What alternatives they’re comparing you against
4. Verb scoring matrix: Where friction exists in your own product

Lay them side by side. Look for patterns.

Here’s what you’re hunting for:

Friction without reason

Look out for verb scores that create unnecessary barriers relative to market norms. For example, if your data shows 40% of users bounce before registering, user interviews reveal confusion about what your product does, and your market analysis shows that competitors allow anonymous exploration, you’re likely losing users before they experience value. Your verb scoring can reveal that you’re gating too early.

Value leaks

Check for free features that users love but don’t move them toward conversion. If your most-used free features have no connection to paid capabilities, and users in interviews can’t articulate why they’d upgrade, you’re building a user base that will never pay. Your verb scoring might show you’re giving away too many “Free with Registration” verbs without strategic “Limited Registered Use” prompts.

Invisible gates

Paywalls that users hit without understanding why. Your data shows sudden drop-offs at specific upgrade prompts. User interviews reveal confusion about value or poor timing. Market analysis shows competitors explain premium benefits more clearly. Your verb scoring identifies which verbs are gated, but not whether those gates make sense to users.

Poorly timed friction

Limits or gates that appear before users have experienced enough value. Data shows high bounce rates at the first upgrade prompt. User interviews reveal frustration: “I hadn’t even figured out the basics yet.” Market analysis shows that similar tools delay friction until after activation. Your verb scoring might reveal that you’re using “Limited Anonymous Use” or “Trial with Payment” too early in the journey.

Market misalignment

Patterns where your verb scoring differs significantly from market norms, and your churn data supports that this matters. For instance, if every competitor allows free PDF exports but you gate this behind payment, your churned user interviews will likely mention this as a dealbreaker.

Create a prioritized list of friction points based on:

• Impact (how many users are affected, based on your data?)
• Confidence (do your user interviews confirm this is a problem?)
• Effort (how hard is this to fix?)
• Market expectation (is this friction standard, or are you an outlier?)

This becomes your retention optimization roadmap.

Why this framework works

This five-step audit framework delivers three specific outcomes that improve SaaS user retention:

Get a clear path to higher retention rates: No more guessing. You’ll have a prioritized list of friction points ranked by impact and effort. Fix the top three and you’ll see measurable improvement in activation, engagement, and conversion.

Make data-driven decisions: Create a culture of user-centered decisions rather than those based on the highest-paid person’s opinion, historical choices, or a gut feeling. When you combine quantitative data, qualitative research, market context, and systematic verb scoring, arguments become easy to settle.

Prevent feature flop: Validate changes before implementation. You’ll know which gates to remove, which features to add to your free tier, and which upgrade prompts to reposition, all before you waste valuable development resources.

Teams that run this audit consistently report two things: first, they’re surprised by what they find. Assumptions they’d held for months or years turn out to be wrong. Second, the fixes are often simpler than expected. Sometimes all it takes is moving an upgrade prompt, clarifying messaging, or ungating a single feature.

Running this audit takes time (and that’s the point)

Let’s be honest: this framework requires a meaningful investment. Between data analysis, user interviews, market research, and verb scoring, you’re looking at 40-60 hours of work.

That’s assuming you have the right tools, know how to set up proper analytics, can recruit and interview users effectively, and have experience interpreting qualitative data.

For many SaaS teams, that’s exactly the problem. You know you need to audit your free experience. You know churn is killing growth. But your product team is building features, your growth team is running acquisition campaigns, and nobody has the bandwidth or expertise to run a proper retention audit.

That’s where The Good’s Digital Experience Optimization Program comes in.

We’ve run this exact process dozens of times for SaaS companies between product-market fit and scale. Companies like yours with $1M-$30M ARR and pressure to accelerate growth while battling churn.

Our team conducts the full audit, including data review, user research, market analysis, and verb scoring, and delivers a prioritized roadmap of friction points with specific recommendations. Then we help you implement, test, and optimize the changes.

The result? Clients typically see measurable improvements in activation and retention within 60-90 days. More importantly, they build an optimization discipline that compounds over time.

Want to see where your free experience is bleeding users? Schedule an introductory call to discuss how we can help you reduce churn and improve SaaS user retention.

FREE RESOURCE

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How Top AI Tools Turn Free Users Into Paying Customers

The post Why Are Free Users Churning? A Growth Leader’s 5-Step Guide To Auditing The Free User Experience appeared first on The Good.

Yet lots of companies treat their existing users as endpoints instead of starting points. They focus on acquiring new customers rather than leveraging the growth potential already sitting in their user base.

There are plenty of strategies to maximize your existing user base, including leveraging the power of growth loops and positive network effects as covered in other articles, but today I want to touch on how strategic feature creation that drives collaboration is an underrated revenue opportunity.

Why account expansion through collaboration can beat traditional sales tactics

The traditional approach to account expansion relies on sales teams identifying upgrade opportunities and convincing decision-makers at a company of the value. However, a new group of buyers is not accounted for in this model.

“Citizen SaaS buyers” now influence 40% of all company SaaS spending. These aren’t IT decision-makers; they’re everyday users who either A) find tools so valuable that they eventually buy them for their teams or B) see how much more effective it would be if more team members used them, so they advocate for upgrades.

These users typically start as single-seat or individual account holders, and instead of a traditional path to account expansion, their user journey finds upgrade paths via team or collaborative features. This style of collaboration-focused expansion makes upgrading feel like an extension of getting work done. It focuses on what naturally happens when users find real value.

How does it work in action?

This model of account expansion creates self-reinforcing cycles where user actions naturally drive more user actions. Unlike traditional sales funnels that end with a purchase, growth loops turn a user interaction into a potential expansion opportunity.

Here’s how a collaboration-driven growth loop works:

• User finds value → Individual user discovers your product solves a real problem
• User enhances value through collaboration → To maximize the solution, they need to involve teammates
• Collaboration creates shared investment → Team builds workflows, templates, and shared resources
• Shared investment increases dependency → Team becomes reliant on collaborative workflows
• Dependency drives expansion → Team needs more features, seats, or capabilities
• Expansion enables bigger problems → Larger teams tackle more complex challenges
• Bigger problems require more collaboration → Loop repeats at a larger scale

This isn’t just theory. We’ve seen this pattern drive expansion in everything from design tools to project management platforms. The key is designing features that naturally create more collaboration opportunities. Eventually, revenue grows through authentic value creation rather than time-intensive upselling.

Understanding the types of collaboration and team features

Before diving into strategy, it’s helpful to understand the different types of collaboration features that SaaS companies use to turn individual users into team advocates. These features work best when they feel like natural extensions of your core product value rather than bolted-on additions.

Sharing and access features

These are the foundations of most collaboration strategies. Users can share specific content, projects, or workspaces with colleagues. Examples include shared documents, project folders, dashboard links, or design files. The key is making sharing feel essential to getting work done rather than optional.

Notion has clear shared workspaces, allowing groups of individual users or “teams” to share documents, templates, and files.

Invitations

Direct invitation systems let users add colleagues to their accounts or workspaces. This includes features like “Add team member,” workspace invitations, or role-based access controls. The most effective invitation systems make it obvious why adding someone will improve the work for everyone involved.

Google Meet offers pre-meeting invite capabilities and makes it simple to add new attendees to a meeting with multiple invitation calls-to-action, and even provides suggestions of individuals you can add.

Real-time collaboration

Features that let multiple people work on the same thing simultaneously. This includes co-editing documents, collaborative whiteboards, shared design files, or synchronized data entry. Real-time collaboration often creates the strongest expansion pull because it makes individual work feel incomplete.

Figma is a masterclass in real-time collaboration, with shared files, “jam sessions” or timed working sessions, and even name tags on cursors to see where collaborators are in the file.

Communication and feedback tools

Built-in ways for team members to communicate about shared work. This includes comment threads, @mentions, approval workflows, or status updates. These features keep conversations contextual to the work, making your product the natural hub for project communication.

Airtable offers commenting, tagging, and assignment features throughout the tool, allowing teams to notify each other and host conversations in relevant project spaces.

Permission and role management

Systems that let users control who can see or edit what. This includes viewer/editor roles, department-level access, guest permissions, or approval hierarchies. Good permission systems make it safe and easy to include external stakeholders in workflows.

TLDV clearly outlines the sharing permissions on videos with levels of access, including “my team,” “my organization,” and individual users. There are also general access links if you want to share beyond account holders.

Workflow and process sharing

Features that let users create templates, processes, or automated workflows that others can use. This includes shared templates, workflow automation, or standardized processes. When teams build shared workflows, they create a collective investment in your platform.

Canva has brand kits, controls, and templates that can be shared amongst your team to help standardize and speed up your design workflows.

Social and activity features

Elements that show what team members are working on and create visibility into collaborative work. This includes activity feeds, presence indicators, or team dashboards. These features help teams stay coordinated while showcasing the value of collaborative work.

Slack offers great visibility into who is online with the green or transparent status dot next to users in the sidebar, giving easy indicators of who is available for active collaboration.

7 tactics for building collaboration features that drive account expansion and keep users around

The good news is you don’t have to pick just one type of collaboration feature. You can combine multiple types to create comprehensive collaborative experiences that make teamwork feel natural and essential. Here are some essential tactics to help you do just that.

1. Make sharing more valuable than working alone

The biggest barrier to collaboration isn’t technical, it’s behavioral. Users default to working alone unless collaboration is obviously easier and more valuable than individual work.

Design your product so that collaborative features provide immediate, obvious benefits that individual work can’t match. Don’t just make collaboration possible; make it essential for getting the best results.

For example, Figma revolutionized design by making real-time collaboration the default experience. Instead of designers working in isolation and then sharing static files, Figma made the design process inherently collaborative. Stakeholders could see work in progress, provide feedback in context, and feel involved in the creative process. This didn’t just improve design quality; it naturally expanded usage to include project managers, developers, and executives who previously only saw final designs.

2. Build features that create shared investment

When users invest time in building collaborative structures, they create switching costs that extend beyond individual preferences. The more a team builds together, the harder it becomes to leave your platform.

Provide tools that enable users to create shared resources, templates, and workflows that become more valuable as more people contribute to them. Make it easy to start collaborative structures and painful to abandon them.

A good example is Notion’s template system, which creates significant shared investment. When a team builds a comprehensive project management template with custom properties, linked databases, and automated workflows, they’re not just organizing their current work; they’re creating a system that becomes more valuable as more team members contribute to it. Removing team members from the workspace breaks the system, creating a natural resistance to downsizing.

3. Make collaboration visible and desirable

When users see colleagues accessing information, participating in decisions, or benefiting from workflows they can’t access, they naturally want to be included. Visibility drives demand for inclusion.

Make collaboration visible and valuable. Show users what they’re missing when they’re not part of collaborative workflows. Create transparency around who’s involved in what work, and make it easy to request access or suggest inclusion.

One example is Slack’s channel system, which creates visibility that drives expansion. When important decisions happen in channels users can’t access, they naturally request to be added. When they see colleagues sharing resources, celebrating wins, or coordinating work in channels they can observe but not participate in, they want to create their own channels for their work. This visibility drives organic expansion as users advocate for broader team adoption.

4. Include stakeholders who don’t use your product daily

Most SaaS tools start with individual users and try to expand outward. A better approach is to identify who needs to be involved for your primary users to be successful, and then build features that naturally include those stakeholders.

Map out who needs to be involved for your users to achieve their goals. Design features that make it easy to include those stakeholders in workflows, even if they’re not primary users of your product.

Miro understood that successful brainstorming sessions require diverse perspectives. Instead of building a tool just for facilitators, they created features that make it easy to include participants who might never use Miro independently. Guest access, simple sharing links, and intuitive contribution tools mean that workshop participants don’t need to be Miro experts to add value. This naturally expands usage to include executives, clients, and cross-functional team members who become advocates for broader adoption.

5. Recognize when users need help and suggest collaboration

The most effective collaboration features activate automatically when users hit natural collaboration points in their workflow. Instead of requiring users to remember to invite colleagues, smart systems recognize when teamwork would be valuable and make it easy to initiate.

Identify the moments in your user workflows where collaboration would be most valuable. Build features that recognize these moments and proactively suggest or facilitate collaboration.

Canva’s team features activate when users create designs that would benefit from collaboration. When a user creates a brand template, the platform suggests inviting brand managers. When they start a campaign design, it recommends involving marketing team members. When they build a presentation, they offer to share it with stakeholders for feedback. These suggestions feel helpful rather than pushy because they activate at moments when collaboration genuinely improves outcomes.

6. Support different work styles and schedules

Not all collaboration happens in real time. Some of the most powerful collaborative features work across time zones, schedules, and work styles. Asynchronous collaboration features often drive more expansion because they’re less dependent on coordinating schedules.

Build collaboration features that work when team members aren’t online simultaneously. Focus on features that let people contribute when it’s convenient for them while maintaining context for others.

Loom’s video messaging creates asynchronous collaboration opportunities that naturally expand usage. When someone creates a video explanation of a complex process, they often need to share it with multiple stakeholders who weren’t part of the original conversation. The video becomes a shared resource that multiple team members reference, comment on, and build upon. This creates natural expansion as teams recognize the value of asynchronous video communication for knowledge sharing.

7. Use access control as an expansion tool

Most SaaS companies think about permissions as security features. The smartest ones also use permissions as expansion features. Well-designed permission systems create natural opportunities for users to expand access as their needs grow.

Design permission systems that make it easy to grant appropriate access to new stakeholders without overwhelming them or compromising security. Use permission requests as expansion opportunities rather than barriers.

For example, Dropbox’s permission system creates natural expansion opportunities. When users want to share folders with specific access levels, they’re guided through options that often result in upgrading accounts to accommodate more users or storage. The permission system protects files and creates moments where users recognize the value of bringing more people into their workflows.

Ready to organically drive account expansion?

Collaboration-driven account expansion isn’t just about adding team features to your product. It’s about understanding how work really gets done and building features that make collaboration feel natural, valuable, and necessary.

The SaaS companies that master this approach turn every user into a potential growth engine. They create products so collaborative that teams can’t imagine working any other way. When collaboration becomes essential to how work gets done, account expansion becomes inevitable.

At The Good, we’ve helped SaaS companies identify and build collaboration features that drive meaningful account expansion. Our Digital Experience Optimization Program takes a systematic approach to understanding user behavior, designing collaborative experiences, and optimizing for sustainable growth.

Ready to transform your users into your most effective growth engine? Let’s explore how collaboration-driven expansion can accelerate your growth.

The post How to Drive Account Expansion with Collaborator & Team Features That Stick appeared first on The Good.

This thinking is not only wrong, but also expensive and potentially harmful to your product strategy.

Today’s SaaS products exist across multiple “surfaces,” not just desktop and mobile apps, but also mobile web, browser extensions, widgets, and even smart TVs. Each surface represents a different way users can interact with your product, and each can serve a distinct purpose.

After working with dozens of scaling SaaS companies and analyzing surface strategies across hundreds of products, we’ve discovered that the most successful companies don’t aim for feature parity. Instead, they make deliberate, strategic decisions about which surfaces serve which purposes in their ecosystem.

Here’s the framework that’s helping product leaders at companies like Adobe, Slack, and emerging SaaS startups rethink their entire multi-surface strategy.

Organic growth spurs feature parity

The pressure to achieve feature parity stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of how users actually interact with different surfaces. Product teams often default to replicating their experience across surfaces without considering the strategic implications.

“Most products start with just one surface,” explains Natalie Thomas, Director of Strategy & UX at The Good. “Adobe started with a desktop app, and YouTube started on the web. Then they often bleed into other surfaces. The family of surfaces is likely to grow over time, and they are of different strategic importance.”

This organic growth pattern creates a dangerous assumption that every surface should eventually do everything the original surface does. But here’s what we’ve learned from analyzing successful SaaS ecosystems: the most strategic approach isn’t about matching features. It’s about defining distinct purposes.

The four strategic surface types every product leader should know

Rather than thinking in terms of feature parity, successful SaaS companies categorize their surfaces based on strategic purpose. This categorization is based on our analysis of high-performing SaaS ecosystems.

1. Replica surfaces

These are true feature-parity experiences where users expect identical functionality across platforms.

Example: Workplace productivity tools where users frequently switch between devices. Slack exemplifies this perfectly. You can upload documents, chat, huddle, and access virtually every feature across web, desktop, and mobile.

For collaboration tools, inconsistent experiences create friction in team workflows. Users expect to pick up exactly where they left off, regardless of device.

2. Utility surfaces

These platforms fundamentally can’t work without each other. One surface serves as a critical utility that supports the primary platform.

Example: TLDV’s Chrome extension functions as a utility for their web-based recording platform. “In this situation, we’re not really looking for feature parity in the Chrome extension because it really does serve as a utility that adds a lot of functionality and depth to what we are able to get out of the web experience,” notes Natalie.

Don’t waste product development resources building standalone functionality in utility surfaces. Their entire value comes from integration with the core platform.

3. Accessory/companion surfaces

These add value to the main platform but can’t function independently.

Example: Figma’s mobile app serves as a companion to their desktop design tool. Users can’t create designs on mobile, but they can preview prototypes and test user flows on actual devices.

You can’t do anything without the main surface, but the accessory/companion adds value. The mobile app enhances the design process without attempting to replicate the full desktop experience.

4. Growth lever surfaces

These exist primarily to acquire new users, not to provide comprehensive functionality.

Example: Adobe’s free web tools, like online PDF converters, serve as growth levers. Users get limited functionality for free, experience the brand value, then convert to paid desktop or mobile experiences.

“A surface, especially one with very, very limited capabilities, can exist solely as a strategic growth lever. It doesn’t have to exist just to get feature parity or to add value to an existing platform. It can exist just to try to get new customers in the door,” explains Natalie.

What it looks like to intentionally limit feature parity

One of the most instructive examples of strategic surface limitation comes from Instagram’s deliberate choice to restrict posting capabilities on desktop. While it can frustrate users, it actually reveals Instagram’s strategic genius. By limiting posting to mobile, they:

• Maintain their mobile-first brand identity
• Prevent the platform from becoming a business publishing tool
• Keep content creation spontaneous and authentic
• Reduce operational complexity

Mobile-first continues to dominate 2025 SaaS trends, with companies prioritizing mobile user experiences over desktop feature replication.

The lesson? Sometimes the features you don’t build are more strategically important than the ones you do.

How to start building a surface strategy that avoids the feature parity trap

So, with all of this in mind, how do you build a great surface strategy? Instead of blindly building features across all surfaces, successful SaaS companies have a few strategies in common to make smarter surface decisions.

1. Let platform economics shape your strategy

Understanding how users discover and purchase your product should directly influence your surface strategy. The path differs dramatically between mobile apps and web/desktop experiences.

Mobile considerations:

• App store optimization becomes critical
• Apple retains approximately 30% of subscription revenue
• Updates require user opt-in and are often batched
• Attribution becomes increasingly difficult

Web/desktop considerations:

• Direct-to-payment journeys possible
• Immediate updates without user intervention
• Better attribution tracking
• More flexible pricing models

These fundamental differences should influence not just your pricing strategy, but also which surfaces you prioritize for different user segments.

2. Build where your users engage

How users engage with surfaces could shape your strategy. For example, mobile users are significantly more likely to opt into push notifications than desktop users.

While working on surface strategy for a leading SaaS company, our client shared, “Opt-in rates for push notifications on desktop are so low that the only avenue to do outreach to those existing dormant customers is through emails.”

In this case, the ideal was to build any push notification functionality into mobile because on desktop it was practically useless. The learning can be applied across the board. Build your retention features on surfaces where users actually engage, not where you think they should engage.

3. Design for authentication, not attribution

Cross-device attribution is getting harder thanks to privacy changes and cookie deprecation. Instead of fighting this trend with complex tracking, design surface experiences that get users logged in quickly.

“Once someone is logged in, all bets are off; we’ve got good information about them. But until then, they are anonymous and we’re generally not able to attribute data,” says Natalie.

This means prioritizing authentication flows over extensive anonymous functionality. In this case, depending on your growth initiatives, your surface strategy may prioritize guiding users toward logged-in states rather than providing comprehensive experiences for guest users.

4. Match your tools to your strategy

Most SaaS companies default to familiar tools like Google Analytics and Hotjar because they’ve historically focused on web experiences. But scaling to multiple surfaces requires different technology approaches.

Web-Focused Tools:

• Google Analytics
• Hotjar
• Traditional A/B testing platforms

App-Optimized Tools:

• Amplitude: Combines analytics and testing specifically for app experiences; allows product managers direct data access
• Pendo: Integrates surveys, heat maps, and onboarding flows for mobile apps
• Adobe Journey Optimizer: Enables in-product testing across surfaces

Choose tools that support your surface strategy rather than forcing your strategy to fit your existing tool stack. Surface strategy is a business decision that should be driven by user needs, revenue models, and competitive positioning, not technical capability.

5. Define success differently for each surface

A growth lever surface shouldn’t be measured the same way as a full-featured replica surface. Define success metrics that align with each surface’s strategic purpose:

• Growth surfaces: Conversion rate to core platform; cost per qualified lead
• Utility surfaces: Integration success rate; core platform usage lift
• Companion surfaces: Feature adoption in main platform; user satisfaction
• Replica surfaces: Cross-device workflow completion; feature usage parity

Stop measuring everything the same way. Different surfaces serve different purposes and should be evaluated accordingly.

6. Start with purpose, not capability

The wrong question: “Can we build this feature on mobile?” The right question: “Should this feature exist on mobile given our strategic purpose for this surface?”

Before building anything new, clearly define what strategic purpose each surface serves:

• Growth lever: Limited functionality to drive awareness and conversion
• Utility: Essential support that makes the core platform more valuable
• Companion: Unique value that leverages platform-specific capabilities
• Replica: Full feature parity for seamless cross-device workflows

Once you’re clear on purpose, feature decisions become much easier to make.

Building everything, everywhere, isn’t the answer. Many product teams default to feature parity because it feels “fair” to users. In reality, this often creates mediocre user experiences across all surfaces instead of excellent user experiences where they matter most.

Getting started with a surface strategy that doesn’t over-emphasize feature parity

The companies winning in the multi-surface SaaS landscape aren’t the ones with the most features across the most platforms. They’re the ones making the smartest strategic decisions about where to focus their development resources.

If you’re struggling with where to start, here are a few ideas:

• Start with one surface audit. Pick your least strategic surface and honestly evaluate whether you’re over-building functionality that doesn’t serve your business goals or user needs in the name of feature parity.
• Question your assumptions about user expectations. Users might actually prefer a focused, excellent user experience over a comprehensive one that is mediocre.
• Align your team around surface strategy. Make sure product, engineering, and growth teams understand the strategic purpose of each surface, not just the feature requirements.

The goal isn’t to build less, it’s to build more strategically.

Ready to optimize your SaaS surface strategy? At The Good, we help scaling SaaS companies make smarter product decisions through data-driven audits and optimization. Our team has guided companies, from Adobe to emerging startups, in creating multi-surface user experiences that actually drive growth, rather than just checking feature boxes.

Schedule a strategic consultation to discover which surfaces are driving growth and which are consuming resources without strategic return. Let’s turn your multi-surface challenge into your competitive advantage.

The post Why Feature Parity Isn’t Always the Goal: A Guide to Cross-device SaaS Strategy appeared first on The Good.

While it’s essential to focus on features, user experience, and growth metrics, something many SaaS founders often underestimate is the significance of cognitive biases in pricing architecture. Understanding a few key principles of human psychology can help you guide users toward higher-priced plans.

When done correctly, psychological pricing strategies create genuine win-win scenarios where customers feel confident in their decisions while businesses optimize for sustainable growth.

The basics of SaaS pricing

The software industry’s shift from one-time purchases to subscriptions fundamentally changed consumer behavior. Unlike the old model, where companies had little incentive to maintain previously sold software, the subscription model encourages continuous updates and feature additions, benefiting the consumer.

Customers now feel a sense of ownership over the experience, and there is an inherent ongoing value perception that companies must meet. Ideally, companies take the monthly subscription fee and put it back into the product, upgrading or adding features to their software.

For companies, switching to the subscription model significantly boosted valuations. It also opened up opportunities for tiered pricing that wasn’t relevant for the one-time purchase model. It allows businesses to cater to different customer segments and extract value based on usage or features.

Successfully structuring SaaS pricing involves more than just crunching numbers; it requires an understanding of consumer psychology. By aligning pricing strategies with how users perceive value, make decisions, and react to choices, SaaS companies can craft pricing that not only attracts but also retains customers.

An overview of SaaS pricing models

The SaaS industry employs various pricing models beyond simple monthly or annual subscriptions, often adapting to the value delivered and the specific use case.

Subscription-based (annual recurring revenue)

This is the most common model, where customers pay a recurring fee (e.g., monthly or annually) for access to the software. Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) is a key metric for SaaS companies, representing the total revenue expected from all active subscriptions over a year.

As mentioned above, the subscription model benefits consumers by providing ongoing updates and improvements, rather than a one-time purchase that quickly becomes outdated.

Companies that offer subscription-based pricing: Netflix, Hulu, Spotify (premium), Apple Music

Seat-based

This model charges based on the number of users or “seats” that have access to the software. Pricing scales linearly with team size, making it predictable for both the company and customer. This model works particularly well for collaboration tools and enterprise software, where value increases with the number of users.

Seat-based pricing aligns cost with usage in a way that feels fair to customers—small teams pay less, larger organizations pay more. It also creates natural expansion revenue as companies grow their teams.

Companies that use seat-based pricing: Slack (per active user per month), Zoom (per license), Asana (per team member), Monday.com (per user), Microsoft 365 (per user license)

Freemium or feature-based

A freemium pricing model offers a basic version of the product for free, with limited features or usage, while charging for advanced features or increased functionality.

Companies that use a freemium pricing model: Canva (access to limited features by giving an email address), Spotify (free model with ads and limited functionality), Figma (three free designs before payment is required).

Skill-based

A pricing model that is driven by AI tools, skill-based pricing up-charges for advanced knowledge versions of the product rather than just features. Companies offer different tiers that represent varying levels of the tool’s competency, from basic automation to expert-level performance. Pricing reflects the sophistication and accuracy of the work delivered.

Companies implementing skill-based pricing: ChatGPT Plus ($20/month) vs. ChatGPT Pro ($200/month for higher capability)

Usage-Based / Tokenization

Another option emerging with AI tools, this model charges based on the value delivered, such as the number of hits, credits consumed, or output produced (e.g., minutes of video). This often supplements a base subscription.

Companies on a token-based model: Opus, a video clipping software, where you buy “tokens” to produce content.

Hybrid Models

Many companies combine these approaches into a hybrid model. For instance, a base monthly subscription might include a certain number of “tokens,” with additional tokens available for purchase.

How consumer psychology plays into SaaS pricing

Within these different pricing models, there are usually tiers of service offered.

Consumer psychology plays a crucial role in both how pricing models are perceived and how the tiers of your plan are chosen.

In Jon MacDonald’s book, Behind The Click, which explores the psychology behind user behavior, he says, “what feels true is often more real than what is actually true,” highlighting the power of emotional appeals over pure logic in decision-making.

People make quick decisions based on mental shortcuts. Pricing tiers should align with these shortcuts rather than creating friction. “The less effort it takes to process information, the easier we can make decisions and move on to the next task,” says Jon.

To better understand the connection between consumer psychology and SaaS pricing, consider these principles.

Key Psychological Principles in SaaS Pricing

• Anchoring Bias
  • Meaning: People overly rely on the first piece of information they encounter (the “anchor”) when making subsequent decisions.
  • Impact on SaaS Pricing: The initial price presented, or the first tier a user sees, can heavily influence their perception of value for all other tiers. Companies should carefully consider which tier to highlight first. Avoid leading with discounts if the goal is to establish premium value.
• Priming Effect
  • Meaning: Subtle cues (words, images) can influence subsequent thoughts and actions.
  • Impact on SaaS Pricing: The language, imagery, and overall design of a pricing page can introduce or “prime” customers to associate certain emotions or benefits with different tiers. For example, using visuals of a simplified workflow for a basic tier and a thriving, collaborative team for an enterprise tier.
• “Bye-Now” Effect
  • Meaning: Merely reading the word “bye” can subconsciously nudge people to think of “buy.”
  • Impact on SaaS Pricing: Although subtle, this suggests that carefully chosen words in calls to action or surrounding copy on pricing pages can have a minor,subliminal influence on conversion.
• Ikea Effect
  • Meaning: People feel more attached to items they’ve created or had a hand in assembling.
  • Impact on SaaS Pricing: If a SaaS product offers customization, highlighting how users can tailor features or workflows can increase their sense of ownership and commitment, making them more likely to subscribe and retain.
• Decision Fatigue
  • Meaning: The more decisions made, the more mentally drained one becomes, leading to poorer decisions.
  • Impact on SaaS Pricing: Limit the number of choices presented on a pricing page. Use clear distinctions between tiers, recommend a “most popular” option, and provide comparison charts that simplify complex information.
• Less-Is-Better Effect
  • Meaning: People might prefer a lower-quality item when presented alone, but their preference can flip when compared to better options.
  • Impact on SaaS Pricing: When presenting tiered options, strategically place a slightly less impressive (but still functional) tier next to a desired middle-tier option. This makes the middle tier appear more valuable and appealing.
• Decoy Effect
  • Meaning: Introducing a clearly inferior “decoy” option makes a target option seem more attractive.
  • Impact on SaaS Pricing: A common strategy is to offer three tiers: a basic, a slightly more expensive but much more valuable middle tier (the target), and a very expensive, feature-rich tier (the decoy). This nudges users towards the middle.
• Bundling Bias
  • Meaning: People tend to overvalue bundled packages, even if they don’t use all the components.
  • Impact on SaaS Pricing: Offer feature bundles or user bundles within tiers. This makes customers feel like they are getting more value, even if they don’t utilize every single element.
• Loss Aversion
  • Meaning: The pain of a loss is more intense than the joy of an equivalent gain.
  • Impact on SaaS Pricing: Emphasize what customers gain by choosing a higher tier, or what they avoid losing (e.g., time, efficiency) by upgrading. Guarantees and clear refund policies reduce the perceived risk of a “bad” purchase.

SaaS pricing strategies that convert

Here are a few ways you can start turning your new psychological knowledge into revenue via your pricing strategies.

Offer pricing tiers

The way you present your pricing tiers significantly influences user perception and choice. This is where choice architecture comes into play.

People tend to avoid extremes and gravitate towards the middle option. Offering three tiers —a low-priced, feature-limited option, a mid-priced, balanced option, and a high-priced, feature-rich option —often leads users to choose the middle tier. This is because it feels like a safe and reasonable compromise.

Prioritize the customer needs

Ultimately, the most effective SaaS pricing strategy is one that is tailored to the specific needs and preferences of your target audience.

Talk to your users, understand their pain points, and learn how they perceive the value of your product. Then, experiment with different pricing tiers and messaging to see what resonates best with your target audience.

The goal is to make the right decision for them as much of a no-brainer as possible. This means understanding what problems customers are trying to solve and how each tier addresses those problems.

Segment customers

Successful pricing tiers align with customer identity and use case psychology, not just feature differences. Adobe does this well by segmenting products and pricing based on three audiences: personal/at-home, student, and professional. These are the buckets of software you can choose from, and grouping them and the prices based on how you self-identify will support users in autonomously picking the right option.

Conduct a verb-scoring exercise

If you need competitive inspiration for how other SaaS companies are feature-gating their products, try a verb-scoring exercise. Though it is pricing strategy adjacent, understanding customer expectations based on competitors can help you decide what sort of pricing model or feature-gating strategy you’d like to adopt. When done correctly, verb-scoring can help you find ways to monetize, mitigate “free trial abuse,” and acquire new users.

Frame pricing

Don’t just give a total annual or monthly cost. Emphasize the savings for upgraded plans, slice the costs differently by showing how much it costs per day or per use, or compare plan outputs. By framing the pricing differently, you can help customers see why these plans matter.

Simplify choices

More isn’t always better, and that is especially true for pricing strategy. Reduce the number of decisions customers need to make. Curated collections, clear comparison charts, and simplified product descriptions within tiers can combat decision fatigue.

Leverage social proof

Show that others are successfully using your product and how they are benefiting from it. This includes customer testimonials, reviews, “bestseller” indicators, and even real-time purchase notifications.

Don’t ignore the details

Even subtle changes to your pricing can have a significant impact on user perception. Ending prices in .99 instead of .00 can make them seem significantly cheaper, even though the difference is minimal.

In some cases, removing the currency symbol (e.g., just “30” instead of “$30”) can make the price seem less salient and more appealing.

Finally, visually highlighting the plan that offers the best value can draw attention to it and increase its adoption rate. A badge or a different color can do wonders here.

Review your pricing strategy for more conversions

Successful SaaS pricing is a blend of art and science. By strategically applying the psychological principles and strategies outlined, SaaS companies can design pricing tiers that not only make economic sense but also resonate deeply with the human element of decision-making. Doing so logically leads to higher conversions and sustained customer loyalty.

Start by auditing your current pricing through a psychological lens. Are you creating clear choices without overwhelming options? Does your tier structure align with customer identity and use cases? Are you leveraging social proof and strategic framing?

When you have some ideas for improvement, test them with your users to see what should be implemented. And if you’re looking for other monetization strategies, get in touch.

The post The Psychology Behind Successful SaaS Pricing appeared first on The Good.

For most SaaS companies, a high feature adoption rate is linked to increased upgrades, retention, and loyalty. When users fully adopt a product, they integrate it into their daily workflow and continually find value.

But alarmingly, a reasonable feature adoption rate in SaaS is between 20% and 30%, and similarly, only 20% of launched features are used. We can all understand that some features won’t hit the mark, but should we really accept that up to 80% of the features we build will go unused?

I don’t think so.

By refining the prioritization process, we can make sure you’re working on the right features that will drive value for users and improve feature adoption rates. And it starts with understanding your user.

Reasons for low feature adoption

As product teams focus on developing innovative capabilities and addressing technical debt, the gap between feature development and feature adoption widens.

Underperforming features are a drain on your company’s time and resources. But what causes low adoption rates in the first place?

• Lack of awareness: The new feature isn’t presented/marketed to users in a compelling way
• Wrong messaging: The marketing message doesn’t resonate with users, and they’re unaware of the benefits
• Bad feature: The feature doesn’t actually address a user’s need or pain point

While these are the three most commonly cited reasons for low feature adoption, we’ve found that these symptoms often stem from underlying issues with how features are prioritized for development and release. Teams let internal assumptions, stakeholder requests, or competitive pressures (rather than genuine user insights) drive priorities. In turn, the wrong features are released, spurring feature bloat, low adoption rates, and more.

Think of that ‘AI-powered suggestion’ feature that no one uses. Was it truly solving a user need, or just a cool tech demo?

We’ve seen firsthand with clients how prioritization directly impacts performance. When companies prioritize effectively, they stay focused on what is proven to deliver results. And when they don’t, the opposite happens.

What is user-centered prioritization?

There are plenty of ways to address low feature adoption, but user-centered prioritization might be the Trojan horse you didn’t see coming.

User-centered prioritization is an approach that places the user at the heart of every decision regarding feature development and enhancement.

It’s a systematic way to ensure that the features you build truly solve your users’ problems, meet their needs, and provide the most value. This contrasts with traditional prioritization methods that might heavily weigh internal opinions, market trends, or ease of development.

With user-centered prioritization, you leverage user research, behavior analytics, and feedback loops to make data-driven development decisions. By understanding not just what users say they want, but how they actually behave, product teams can make more strategic choices about which features to build, when to release them, and how to position them for maximum adoption.

User-centered prioritization is the first step to higher feature adoption rates

We’ll get to some specific strategies in a minute, but for now, I want to provide some additional context on why user-centered prioritization is the first step to higher feature adoption.

It’s more than just a method; it’s a mindset. The core idea is to build products and services that truly solve user problems and provide a positive experience.

When faced with a long list of potential features or improvements, user-centered prioritization helps teams decide what matters most. It can:

• Identify pain points and focus on features that directly address user frustrations or obstacles.
• Hone in on the most frequent and important tasks users want to accomplish, then prioritize content and features that support these tasks.
• Visualize the user journey and break it down into actionable user stories, prioritizing those with the highest potential impact on user satisfaction and business goals.
• Classify and prioritize usability problems based on their impact on user task completion, frequency, and ease of fix.

To make any of this happen, you need a deep understanding of users. Prioritization begins with thorough user research. Use various methods such as interviews, surveys, observational studies, usability testing, and analyzing user data to gather insights. Try to build an understanding of how and where users will interact with the feature.

In essence, user-centered prioritization ensures that product development efforts are aligned with what users truly need and value, leading to ethical and successful products.

Strategies for improving feature adoption rates with user-centered prioritization in the customer journey

So, what does it look like in action when a user-centered approach dictates feature development and deployment? Here are eight strategies.

1. Build the right features

The foundation is to build the right features, and to ensure you don’t do it in a vacuum. As we have covered, you need user research to understand the problems you are trying to solve.

Before moving to development, test concepts and prototypes with real users to ensure the feature addresses a need and has a clear value proposition.

Prioritize features that will deliver the most significant value to users, not just those that are “nice to have” or technically interesting.

2. Be clear about the value proposition of your feature

Users need to understand why a feature is beneficial for them and how it solves a problem, not just what it does. Articulate this clearly in all communications.

Each feature should address a distinct user pain point or enable a new, valuable capability. Ideally, use language that has been tested and proven to clearly convey the value of the feature.

3. Make onboarding frictionless

Segment users (by role, industry, goals, etc.) and tailor onboarding experiences. A marketing professional might need a different introduction than a developer.

Guide users to the core value of the product and its key features as quickly as possible. This is the moment they realize “this product is for me.”

Instead of static tours, interactively prompt users to take the desired action so that you’re teaching them while they accomplish tasks.

4. Create context in the app experience

Use subtle, in-context cues to highlight new features or explain specific UI elements when a user is in a relevant area.

For more significant feature announcements, use in-experience banners or modals that appear at relevant moments. Behavioral triggers can also deliver guidance based on what a user is currently doing or has done.

When a feature’s area is empty, use this space to explain the feature’s purpose and guide the user on how to get started. Make it easy to find the features your user is looking for.

5. Educate and clearly communicate with users

As mentioned above, prioritize in-app methods for immediate context, but be sure to supplement with marketing materials like:

• Targeted emails that announce new features, explain their benefits, and link directly to the feature in the product. Segment these emails to ensure relevance.
• Blogs that add in-depth explanations, use cases, and technical details for those who want them.
• For complex or high-impact features, host live or recorded webinars to demo features and answer questions.
• Social media, including short, engaging content (videos, graphics) to announce features and drive interest.

6. Personalize the feature

Not all features are for every user. To be sure the right features are being shown to the target user, you can hide or highlight features based on a user’s role or permissions.

Allow users to tailor their experience, making the most relevant features easily accessible, and use machine learning to suggest features or workflows based on a user’s past behavior or similar user segments.

7. Gather data and feedback

Instead of relying on just feature adoption rates, gather supplemental data and feedback to understand why users are or aren’t adopting the feature. Use micro-surveys (e.g., after a user interacts with a new feature) to get immediate feedback on usability and value. Monitor overall satisfaction with NPS & CSAT surveys, conduct regular user interviews, and look for recurring issues in support tickets.

Make sure to analyze all this information across different user segments to identify differences and tailor strategies.

8. Iterate on the feature

Don’t just launch and leave a feature; you can continue iterating on the experience and messaging post-launch until you figure out what works. Test different onboarding flows, in-app messages, or feature designs to see what drives higher adoption.

Feature adoption is an ongoing process. Regularly review data, implement changes, and measure their impact. Don’t stop promoting after the announcement.

By adopting these strategies, SaaS companies can move beyond simply launching features to truly integrating them into their users’ workflows, maximizing the value delivered, and ultimately driving sustainable growth.

A good feature adoption rate is always improving

We’ve often touted the uselessness of benchmarks. And while they are meaningless for setting goals, they can help to paint a picture of industry averages and to set expectations. In the case of feature adoption rates, if you’re below that 20% mark, you should strongly consider building a more user-centered prioritization process.

Incorporating user feedback early and often can significantly reduce development time and costs. Instead of building features based on incorrect assumptions, you’ll focus resources where they’ll have the most impact, leading to higher ROI.

The direct link between user-centered prioritization and feature adoption is clear.

The days of simply building features and hoping for the best are over. If you’re ready to take a different approach, our team is available to support.

The post How User-Centered Prioritization Helps Improve Feature Adoption Rates appeared first on The Good.

Don’t get me wrong, A/B testing is incredibly powerful. It’s the gold standard for high-stakes, high-traffic decisions where statistical significance matters most. But when it becomes your only tool, you create unnecessary constraints that can paralyze decision-making and slow innovation.

The reality is that different decisions require different levels of rigor, confidence, and investment. Luckily, there is a complementary approach that fills critical gaps in your experimentation toolkit. By understanding when each method is most appropriate, teams can make faster, more informed optimizations while maintaining the rigor needed for their most high-stakes decisions.

Creating “experience rot”

A/B testing borrowed its methodology from medical intervention studies, where 95% confidence intervals and statistical significance aren’t just nice-to-haves; they’re life-or-death requirements.

But we’re not rocket scientists, and we don’t always need the same level of assurance in product decisions to move towards the right outcome.

A/B testing can be overkill for the decisions product teams need to make daily. Yet teams have become so committed to this single methodology that they’ve created what researcher Jared Spool calls “Experience Rot,” the gradual deterioration of user experience quality from teams moving too slowly or focusing solely on economic outcomes.

The costs of slow testing cycles are tangible and measurable:

• Market opportunities disappear while waiting for test results
• Competitors gain ground during lengthy testing phases
• Development resources get tied up in prolonged testing initiatives
• Customer frustration builds as issues remain unfixed
• Decision fatigue sets in as teams debate what to test next

But the problem runs deeper than just speed. Many teams face contexts where A/B testing simply isn’t feasible. Regulatory challenges in healthcare and finance, low-traffic scenarios for B2B products, technical constraints, and organizational politics all create barriers to traditional experimentation.

By the time a test idea passes through all the bureaucratic loopholes and oversight at an organization, it’s often no longer lean enough to justify testing. Without an alternative testing method, teams are left without any data at all.

So, how do we:

1. Circumvent the challenges of A/B testing, and
2. Prevent experience rot?

Enter rapid testing

Rapid testing isn’t about cutting corners or accepting lower-quality insights. It’s about matching your research method to the decision you’re trying to make, rather than forcing every question through the same rigorous, but often slow, process.

Like A/B testing, rapid testing helps you understand if your solutions are working. Unlike A/B testing, rapid tests are conducted with smaller sample sizes, completed in days rather than weeks or months, and often provide qualitative insights that A/B tests can miss.

“The speed at which we obtain actionable findings has been impressive,” says Gabrielle Nouhra, Software Director of Product Marketing, who leverages rapid testing with The Good for research and experimentation. “We are receiving rapid results within weeks and taking immediate action based on the findings.”

The key is understanding when each approach makes sense. Not every decision requires the same level of rigor, and smart product teams create systems that allow critical insights to move faster.

A framework for decision making

So, how do you decide when to use rapid testing versus A/B testing? The decision starts with two critical questions: Is this strategically important? And what’s the potential risk? With those two questions in mind, you can map your ideas on a simple 2×2.

High Strategic Importance + Low Risk = Just Ship It. If you can’t explain meaningful downsides to a change but know it’s strategically important, you probably don’t need to test it at all. These are your quick wins.

Low Strategic Importance = Deprioritize. Not everything needs to be tested. Some changes simply aren’t worth the time and resources, regardless of the method you use.

High Strategic Importance + High Risk = Test Territory. This is where both A/B testing and rapid testing live. The next decision point becomes: Can you reach statistical significance within an acceptable timeframe? Are you technically capable of running the experiment?

If the test isn’t technically feasible or traffic constraints make the time-to-significance longer than is acceptable, rapid testing becomes your best option for de-risking the decision.

Rapid testing in practice

Rapid testing encompasses various methodologies, each suited to different types of questions. Here are just a few examples:

First-Click Testing helps confirm where users would naturally click to complete a task. Perfect for interface design decisions and navigation optimization.

Preference Testing goes beyond simple A/B comparisons to evaluate multiple options, often six to eight variations, helping teams understand which labels, designs, or approaches resonate most with their target audience.

Tree Testing reveals where users might stray from their intended path, using nested structures to understand navigation behavior without the distraction of full visual design.

The beauty of these methods lies in their speed and specificity. Rather than testing entire page redesigns, rapid testing allows you to validate specific hypotheses quickly. Which onboarding segments will users self-identify with? Where should we place a new feature to maximize engagement? Which design elements increase trust among new visitors?

Rapid tests can also guide our A/B testing strategy. If we’re entertaining multiple options for new nomenclature within an app experience and we’re just trying to understand which label users think would be most accurate or most likely to represent those outcomes, running a rapid test can narrow down those options and help us decide what to A/B test.

Building a rapid testing practice

Implementing rapid testing effectively requires more than just choosing the right method. Teams that see the best results follow several key principles:

1. Impact pre-mortems: Before testing, clearly define what success looks like and what impact you expect if implemented. This helps connect testing activities to business outcomes and prevents post-hoc justification of results.
2. Acuity of purpose: Keep tests focused on specific questions rather than trying to evaluate everything at once. A/B testing often encourages comprehensive evaluations, but rapid testing works best with precise hypotheses.
3. Pre-defined success criteria: Establish clear benchmarks before you start testing. If 80% of users can complete a task, is that a win? What about 60%? Define these thresholds upfront to avoid moving goalposts when results come in.
4. Mute context: When testing specific elements, remove unnecessary context that might distract from the core question. Full-page designs can overwhelm participants and dilute feedback on the element being tested.
5. Sunlight: Even experienced researchers benefit from collaborative review of test plans. Transparency builds confidence in the process, and a peer review of test designs helps identify potential issues before execution.
6. Share: Circulate your impact, what you’ve learned about your audience, and get people excited about the work. The goal is to build visibility, create a case for why this work is valuable, and encourage people to make decisions with data.

The compound effects of speed

Teams that successfully implement rapid testing alongside their existing A/B testing programs see remarkable results. Our clients report 50% improved A/B test win rates, better customer satisfaction scores, and significantly faster time-to-insights.

But perhaps most importantly, they report better team morale. There’s something energizing about seeing results from your work quickly, about being able to iterate and improve based on real user feedback rather than lengthy committee discussions.

It’s never too late to pivot. The idea is to move from long-term decision making, where we send something through the whole development and design cycle only to come up with a lackluster outcome, to form a process that helps us get quick, early signals.

Making the transition

The goal isn’t to replace A/B testing. It remains the gold standard for high-stakes, high-traffic decisions. But by adding rapid testing to your toolkit, you can accelerate the decisions that don’t require months of statistical validation while still maintaining confidence in your choices.

As decision scientist Annie Duke writes in Thinking in Bets, “What makes a great decision is not that it has a great outcome. It’s the result of a good process.” Rapid testing gives teams a process for rational de-risking that emphasizes both speed and quality.

The question isn’t whether you should test your ideas; it’s whether you’re using the right testing method for each decision. In a world where speed increasingly determines competitive advantage, teams that master this balance will consistently outpace those stuck with only one tool in their kit.

Ready to accelerate your decision-making process? Our team specializes in helping product teams implement rapid testing alongside existing experimentation programs. Get in touch to learn how we can help you cut testing time without sacrificing insight quality.

The post How To Make User-Centered Decisions When A/B Testing Doesn’t Make Sense appeared first on The Good.

Many leaders think the solution is straightforward: “Just scale up!” they say.

In truth, it’s not that simple. Product-market fit isn’t a single moment in time. It’s a state that you must maintain, even as the market and your customers change. If you’re not careful, you could lose it.

Let’s explore product-market fit and what to do once you’ve found it.

Product-Market Fit Definition

Before we get too deep into the post-product-market fit part of your lifecycle, let’s get on the same page.

Product-market fit is the point where your product satisfies a strong market demand. It happens when your target customers recognize your product as the ideal solution to their problem. This recognition leads to organic growth.

Essentially, it’s the point where you’ve created something people want and are willing to pay for.

There is a misconception that product-market fit happens at the $1M ARR mark, but product-market fit is not a revenue stage. It can happen at any income level.

A trusted way to gauge if you have found product-market fit is the 40% test by Sean Ellis. It is a pretty straightforward assessment using a customer survey question, “How would you feel if you could no longer use [product]?”

If more than 40% of your surveyed customers answer “very disappointed,” then you have found product-market fit. It’s a leading indicator of what portion of users really value your product.

Product-market fit is often considered the milestone that signals your product is ready to scale. It’s not just about acquiring customers, though—it’s about retaining them because your product consistently delivers value.

What Comes After Product-Market Fit?

Once you find your place in the market, the next obvious step is to scale up. But that comes with a caveat: You have to scale without losing product-market fit.

“Product-market fit is a key milestone to reach, but it’s often misinterpreted as being a static moment in time,” say Fareed Mosavat and Casey Winters, product leaders from companies like Eventbrite, Pinterest, Grubhub, Instacart, and Slack.

“The reality is that your customer base is always changing and consumer expectations are always growing. Once you get [an] initial product-market fit, you not only have to keep it, but also expand it.”

If you focus too hard on acquisition and fail to refine your product, there’s a chance you could lose product-market fit. Obviously, that’s disastrous.

Smart leaders who find product-market fit are wise to protect it to avoid losing market share. They continue to iterate on their product so customers always see it as the ideal solution.

Sean Ellis, head of growth at companies like Dropbox, LogMeIn, and Eventbrite, and the guy who coined the term “growth hacker,” says it perfectly:

“The mistake that many marketers make is that they are optimizing for short-term conversions. They think it’s all about maximizing clicks and sign-ups. But if the product isn’t truly great at delivering on the promise, then you will likely lose these people anyway.”

Strategies for After Product-Market Fit

All of this begs the question: How do you scale up without losing product-market fit? It requires a shift in thinking and a bit of strategy.

Step 1: Reassess Your User

In some cases, product-market fit can be fleeting because the users who loved the early version of your product aren’t the same as your long-term users.

We call this the “early adopter problem.” Early adopters love to try new products, especially when those products promise to disrupt existing systems or ways of doing things.

However, those early adopters are also likely to move on to the next big thing. If too many of your customers are these early adopters, your customer base might bleed away until you lose your share of the market.

“The problem is, the early adopters are only ever a small percentage of the overall market,” says Marc Andreessen. “And so a lot of founders, especially technical ones, will convince themselves that the rest of the market behaves like the early adopters, which is to say that the customers will find them. And that’s just not true.”

Early adopters aren’t your only challenge. It’s counterintuitive, but if your product-market fit is good, you tend to grow fast, and your customers raise their expectations.

“Slack had [an] extremely strong product market fit from the early days and ended up growing so fast,” says Fareed Mosavat, VP Programs and Partners at Reforge. “It was extremely difficult to keep up with the rising expectations of our customers over time, and took us a while to launch things like WYSIWYG editing, better ways to launch apps vs. just text commands, and simplified channel discovery that were important for our newer, less-technical users.”

Once you find your place in the market, turn your attention to your users. Continue to conduct research to understand how to meet the needs of customers who aren’t the early adopters.

Step 2: Build a Data-Driven Culture

The need for robust customer research should come as no surprise to any growth-focused company, yet too many leaders take their foot off the metaphorical research gas pedal once they achieve product-market fit.

Maintaining product-market fit and scaling up both require a culture that makes its decisions based on data and research. Scrappy startups can rely on quick, intuition-based movements, but scaling companies can’t ignore their data.

The first step to a data-driven culture is to establish your shared growth KPIs early and ensure your team is moving in the same direction.

Next, dig into your customer research. Conduct interviews, analyze data, and gather feedback to identify pain points, features, and reasons for churn/low engagement. Ideate on improvements to address those challenges.

Finally, rapid test or A/B test changes to your website, marketing, and product to understand if investing resources makes sense.

The key to building a data-driven culture is to make it a habit. You can start small by scheduling a few user/customer interviews each week, as expert human-centered product leader Emma Leyden suggests, and then build on that. With more and better data, you can more easily fold it into your process.

The good news is the value of your data continues to grow as you read this article. A bigger user base and more sessions mean more data points, which makes trends and patterns more apparent and reliable for decision-making.

Step 3: Shift Your Hiring Priorities

With product-market fit, your team and priorities will naturally evolve. You have new scale goals and likely a growing team that needs oversight.

Strong leadership is key here. You’ll likely also struggle at this stage with balancing team support for your growing user base while optimizing your product. Admittedly, that balance isn’t easy to achieve. It requires clear prioritization. Sometimes, newly hired leaders make the mistake of assuming their product is “built” and devest product design and development to work on other initiatives.

It can help to leverage an external pod of product experts to fill in any gaps and help prioritize changes.

The Good is a great option to supplement your product team post-product-market-fit. We can help you simplify decision-making by staying laser-focused on research, data, and goals through our Digital Experience Optimization Program.

Step 4: Start Building a Feature Moat

A feature moat is when a product offers such unique and superior product features that the competition can’t quickly replicate them. There’s literally a gap—a moat—that your competitors will be scrambling to cross.

Think of it like this: If your product is a great solution, it will change the lives and work of your users. Their needs and preferences change. They develop new problems that you’re positioned to solve. Each solved problem represents a widening moat between you and your competitors.

How do you create this advantage? By continuing to drill deep into user needs and pain points even after you’ve achieved product-market fit.

Don’t rest, satisfied that you’ve learned enough about your users. Continue to leverage generative and evaluative research to uncover new insights into their behavior and needs. Ultimately, this is key to developing a customer experience that evolves with the user.

Step 5: Stop Obsessing Over Registration

Registration is just one moment in the user lifecycle. It’s a big moment, for sure, but too much focus on new users can cause you to ignore your existing user base. After you have product-market fit is an ideal time to level-set with your team about initiatives beyond registration.

This is the time to work on your product-led growth strategy. Focus on improving the rest of the customer experience after registration, including onboarding, activation, engagement, expansion, and evangelism. These stages not only increase growth (through new users and retention), but they also give you a roadmap to iterate on your product moving forward.

Use research in the post-product-market fit stage to lower the cost of acquisition by considering that every user who doesn’t churn is an opportunity to spread positive word-of-mouth.

Step 6: Consider Market Expansion

Your product evolves as you introduce new features, achieve more growth, and scale up your platform. But eventually, your current product will reach a saturation point where growth reaches the limits of the market.

In this case, the only way to grow is to expand your product-market fit by expanding into adjacent products or markets to find new potential customers.

Expanding product-market fit doesn’t necessarily mean building new features. It’s a turn from fulfilling your users’ problems to anticipating their next problems. Expanding usually happens in three ways:

• Same product in a new target market, e.g., Instacart expanding into pharmacy delivery.
• Same market with an adjacent product, e.g., Lyft expanding to bikes and scooters.
• New product in a new market, e.g., Amazon launching AWS.

This kind of expansion does not happen incrementally. It typically happens in bursts when you recognize a new market, vertical, or user to serve. And in nearly all cases, it requires taking bigger bets.

Support for Post-Product-Market Fit

When your entire organization is built around finding product-market fit, the switch to a post-product-market fit strategy can be challenging. It requires a new way of thinking for this new stage in your company’s lifecycle.

In these cases, outside perspective is more important than ever. Our Digital Experience Optimization Program brings the pieces you need to build a better digital product. Our team can help you scale up without losing product-market fit. We bring the tools, technique, and expertise that you just can’t find in a single hire.

The post What Comes After Product Market Fit? appeared first on The Good.

Standing up a product with a proper mix of free and paid features is no small feat.

Free features are great for acquisition, but give away too much free value and you risk carrying a bunch of free users who never convert to paid.

Paid features are an important part of monetization, but some products have value that’s hard to realize without users at least trying the full feature suite.

I’ve often felt that there’s a lot of nuance to feature-gating that goes unspoken. This is in part because we don’t have a great taxonomy to discuss it.

That’s where verb scoring comes in.

Verb scoring is the first step

If you read last week’s article, you’re already familiar with verb scoring, a method we developed to evaluate actions that users can take in your product and then score them based on the limitations and entitlements required to perform the action.

Here’s a refresher on the six verb scores.

Before undertaking a verb-scoring exercise, you’ll have to build your verb-scoring vocabulary. Then, you can move on to scoring your and your competitors’ verbs. Once you have a verb scoring matrix, the artifact that comes from your exercise, you can use it to address your product strategy.

Considerations for feature-gating as a product strategy

But, with a verb scoring matrix in hand, there is still an important unanswered question on how to use feature-gating as a way to encourage user conversions.

How to gate features has never been a simple equation, and there are several factors to consider when deciding what to offer users.

• Feature Complexity: While some features will only matter to users with a niche use case, others are built to acquire novices. As such, product people can use information like a feature’s target audience to make thoughtful choices about what verbs to give away for “free” and which to guard more tightly.
• Maturity: The maturity of your product and your brand’s reputation plays a role as well. Newcomers in an established product space might be looking to increase brand awareness, while a legacy brand with near-market saturation might care more about improving retention and reducing churn. It’s easy to imagine how a company’s status as either a newcomer or a market leader might impact their feature-gating strategy.
• Up-time and integration complexity: The complexity of your product’s setup can also impact your strategy. Significant up-time or complicated technical integrations might factor into whether you give away any or all of your product’s features in a grace period during the setup window.
• Novel technology: Many industries are shy of truly differentiated competitors. But for companies that have truly novel tech, restricting access to paying customers is a much easier decision than for companies with clearer competition.

Feature complexity, maturity, up-time, and novelty are just a few examples of what we might consider when standing up a paywall strategy. The list goes on.

It can be overwhelming to consider the seemingly endless number of factors that may contribute to a strategy. While it is crucial to keep these considerations in mind, it can also help to review specific scenarios of how verb scoring turns a company’s priorities into a product strategy.

How can I use verb scoring to craft a meaningful product strategy? It starts by understanding your goals.

Let’s take a look at nine use cases for verb scoring guided by common digital team goals.

1. If you’re looking to increase your share of voice

If you’re struggling to get in front of relevant audiences, you might want to consider if there are Anonymous verbs you can offer.

Especially for web-based products, search engine results pages (SERPs) are a frequent gateway for those looking for a feature.

Take, for example, online PDF conversion. One Google search yields big players like Adobe Acrobat, but it also shows leaner companies like SmallPDF and e-signature tools like PandaDoc.

Example: PandaDoc uses an anonymous conversion tool to get their document signature products in front of those with PDF use cases.

• From a Google search, PDFConvert promises Free Online PDF Conversion.
• On the website, users can take the action for free as many times as they like.
• Each time they complete the action, they see an offer to try PandaDoc for free.

By giving away a bit of value to users in their target audience (PDF users), PandaDoc is able to compete with big players in the PDF space and increase its visibility among people who have demonstrated a need for PDFs.

2. If you want to acquire new free users

While Anonymous verbs are good at building share-of-voice and awareness, limited Limited Anonymous Use (LAU) verbs can also transition top-of-funnel website visitors into registered users.

Example: Language learning app Duolingo allows users to complete their first few lessons without creating an account. Once users have completed one or two lessons, the app then asks them to create a profile to save their progress. These pages, which they refer to as “soft walls,” prompt users to sign up but still allow them to hit “Later.”

While the ask may start out soft, the requirement to Create a Profile eventually firms up. Users eventually hit a “hard wall” that requires sign-up to continue, which is why the approach is called “delayed signup.”

This delayed signup approach worked for Duolingo. The team found that soft paywalls not only increased DAU (daily average use) by 20% but also improved the performance of the hard paywall.

By offering lessons to anonymous users, they reduced the friction early on. But by limiting anonymous use to only a few lessons, Duolingo carves a path to growing its free user base. It’s a great example of how delaying friction and allowing some Limited Anonymous Use use can be an avenue to acquiring new free users.

3. If you’re hoping to increase monthly or daily average use (MAU, DAU)

It’s one thing to acquire a free user. It’s another thing to keep them engaged with your product on a monthly, weekly, or daily basis.

One strategy for increasing monthly active use (MAU) or daily active use (DAU) is to give away free features to registered users via Free with Registration verbs.

Companies often choose a select few core features to give away for free. In Adobe Acrobat’s case, users can read a PDF, highlight, markup, and share with others for comments without any restriction on the number of PDFs or the amount of highlighting.

These Free with Registration features are a great way to provide dependable, friction-free value to registered users with limited needs.

4. If you just need to turn free users into paying customers

If you already have a stable of free engaged users, you’re likely looking for ways to turn them into paying customers.

Limited Registered Use features are a great way to do this. While users generally need some free value to build a habit of using a product, most “free” products have features available to free users, but only in a limited capacity.

Spotify, for instance, allows free users to listen to entire records, but only on shuffle. Paying customers can hear the album in the order intended by the artist. Try to deselect the shuffle icon, and you’ll see a paywall asking you to upgrade to premium.

Productivity tools often do this with storage, reserving a certain number of videos, documents, or files for paying customers.

Example: See this example from Loom. Once a user has created 25 videos, they either need to delete or upgrade to record more.

We also see this with export functionality.

Example: Canva allows users to export designs in PNG, JPG, or PDF. However, Canva reserves the use of SVG, which has more professional use cases, for paying customers.

These Limited Registered Use features are a way to put paywalls in front of engaged users, while still offering a baseline of value. They keep free users happy with some functionality while using strategically placed friction to encourage engaged users to buy up.

5. If you want to introduce prospects to novel features that really “sell”

When you have a complex product with a novel feature set, it may not make the most sense to follow a typical “freemium” model. If the limitations of “free” are not enough to sell the paid product, you may want to consider using a Limited Registered Use approach to most, if not all, features–for a limited time. This time-based approach is what Elena Verna, Head of Growth at Dropbox, calls a Reverse Trial.

The Reverse Trial […] starts every new signup on a trial—usually without needing an opt-in or a credit card—and gives customers access to all or a select set of paid features.

– Elena Verna, Head of Growth at Dropbox

Reverse Trials give the users the full or near-full feature suite simply by registering. Often there’s no upsell pitched, and no credit card required to get started. Users can experience the free trial immediately upon registration.

Example: Airtable does this with their project management tool. Users who register are given a team account where they can play with advanced features like automation and advanced account management for a 14-day trial. Once the trial period is over, the user is downgraded to a Free plan and they lose access to advanced features.

6. If you’re hoping to acquire customers despite significant perceived “investment cost”

A key aspect of the Reverse Trial is that it’s time-based. Offering users the ability to try out the full feature suite gives them the ability to have that “aha” moment, while the ticking clock (often displayed prominently in the product’s navigation) imparts urgency on the user to make a buy/no-buy decision before the trial period ends.

But that time-based approach may not work for products where up-time is considerably long.

If you have an extremely complex product, one that many stakeholders will use, or that requires significant integrations and up-time in order for users to take full advantage of. In that case, it may make more sense to lean on an Open Trial strategy.

Open Trials are when products offer just about everything for free to registered users but gate the most important features with a hard paywall.

Example: Take for example Stripe. Simply by giving their name and a few details, Stripe users have access to nearly unlimited features. Users can set up integrations, add branding to invoices, and even create product inventory to streamline the invoicing process. However, a hard paywall blocks the user when it comes time to actually send an invoice or accept payment.

7. If you want to mitigate “trial abuse”

Open Trials and Reverse Trials are useful when we want to shorten the time-to-value by removing barriers like credit card signups. But for some products, the up-time isn’t a concern and time-to-value is relatively quick.

For products with a quick time-to-value, it might not make sense to offer a low-barrier Reverse Trial or Open Trial. If there’s no need for users to go through a lengthy discovery period, and they can understand the value through engaging for days or even minutes, it might make sense to leverage Trial with Payment (TwP) verbs.

TwP verbs are reserved for users who have provided payment information. Users must provide some form of payment (collected at a later date) to access the feature.

This gives the user an opportunity to use the feature, but by adding a credit card step, we create slightly more friction than in Free w/ Registration verbs mentioned earlier.

This has the added benefit of all but ensuring that users don’t engage in “Trial Abuse” – creating multiple accounts to access unlimited features.

8. If your tech keeps evolving

While some products have a highly complex feature matrix that can justify a complicated tier system, others might be more suited to a simple line in the sand for truly gated features.

Gated features are especially useful for truly differentiated technology.

Example: Take for example ChatGPT. While they built an audience with their free version (currently 3.5), OpenAI continues to advance their Language Learning Model and reserves the latest releases for paying customers.

Because each new version of the LLM is purported to be miles ahead of the last, gating the latest release is a great way to monetize an already popular product that’s getting significant publicity, word of mouth, or buzz.

9. If your product is best sold by a sales representative

Gating entire products (or releases of a product) is also an established way to generate leads for sales-led companies.

While some products simply explain themselves, complicated software vetting processes are still common at large enterprises with complex needs.

If your product needs excessive buy-in and compliance before you land the deal, your product might benefit from gating all features. Use calls to action like “Talk to Sales” or “Get a Demo” in this prouct strategy.

Sometimes a sales conversation is the only way to ascertain and assuage the prospective customer’s needs, so feature-gating across the board is an appropriate solution in some instances.

Align on verb scores and your goals to formulate a meaningful product strategy

Hopefully, by now, you can see why verb scoring can help you build a meaningful and effective product strategy.

Let’s review what we’ve learned so far:

• Giving prospective customers some features they can use while remaining anonymous (Anonymous) is a great way to build share of voice and gain visibility in the marketplace
• Offering limited utility to anonymous users (Limited Anonymous Use) is a great way to speed up time-to-value while working to acquire a free registered user
• Giving away features for free to registered users (Free with Registration) is a powerful way to build a stable of potential paying customers
• Giving users limited access to deeper functionality (Limited Registered Use) is a good way to showcase your product’s capabilities but create a sense of urgency to purchase
• Reserving some features for users who have shared payment information (Trial with Payment) is a great way to filter unserious lookie-loos and prevent trial abuse
• Keeping your most coveted features behind a hard paywall (Gated) is appropriate in B2B enterprise sales or for technologies that are complex or innovative

Whether your goal is to gain share of voice, build a stable of free users, monetize existing ones, or connect with leads, defining your goals is the first step to formulating a meaningful product strategy.

Verb scoring can then help you see where your tactics fall short and provide a foundation from which to build an intentional acquisition and monetization strategy.

The post 9 Use Cases For Verb Scoring To Support A Successful Product Strategy appeared first on The Good.

• Customization allows customers to make your product their own, and offering product customization is increasingly common among ecommerce retailers.  
• When done right, product customization can help you increase conversion rates and brand loyalty by delivering exactly what customers want. 
• There’s no one right way to approach ecommerce product customization, as every brand and every customer is different. There are strategies and examples that can help you find your own way. 

Imagine you’re browsing through several shops looking for a new backpack. You see some tempting options, but they’re similar to the ones your friends and coworkers already carry. Nothing seems special or calls out to you.

But one shop you enter has an array of choices—and they offer to embroider your name or initials on your new backpack. Suddenly you’re ready to make a purchase because you can make your new bag truly yours.

That’s the power of product customization.

In this Insight, we’ll cover everything you need to know about ecommerce and online product customization, including how you can use this powerful tool to increase conversion rates and drive customer loyalty. Let’s get started.

What is product customization?

Advances in digital and manufacturing technology now enable brands to offer customization to buyers at scale. A customer can order a custom item with a few clicks online, the brand can produce it on demand, and the item can be delivered in a few days.

Instead of buying a standard off-the-shelf item, like sneakers or a couch, online product customizers let buyers choose their own design, color, and add-ons to create exactly the piece they want with a few clicks.

Having only a few standard options isn’t enough to satisfy many customers now—they’re accustomed to making purchases their own. Ecommerce enables companies to build online product customizers so buyers have a range of choices and can personalize their products.

The benefit of customization is that it further strengthens the user experience for the customer by inviting them to become partners in the product creation process. The better the user experience, the better the opportunity for conversions and building customer loyalty.

Retailers with a digital footprint supporting customization already have a significant competitive edge. To remain competitive long term, customization needs to be on every retailer’s technology roadmap.

Product customization is a differentiator and it’s here to stay

Nike has been at the forefront of product customization for quite a while now. The brand constantly runs experiments with digital in their flagship stores and partner retailers, with a lean toward in-store or online product customization.

Nike is actively selling customized products both online and off and has been for years. While many brands aren’t ready for this level of manufacturing and staffing coordination, they need to see the writing on the wall. Product customization is here to stay, and companies in a wide variety of industries must determine how to offer enticing product customization options to stay competitive.

Customer experience in ecommerce is a crucial differentiator for brands. Allowing your buyers to build exactly what they want on your ecommerce website in minutes offers more than simply a transaction—it’s an opportunity to build and strengthen your relationship with them.

You are not just selling them a product; you’re enabling them to express their uniqueness to the world.

The way Gen Z has approached the iconic LL Bean Boat and Tote product, by adding tongue-in-cheek words or phrases instead of the classic monogram, is a great example.

Image credit @ironicboatandtote on Instagram

LL Bean allows them to update an icon with their own twist, building name recognition and loyalty with the next generation of buyers. And this experience has paid off in profits too, as LL Bean experienced their highest summer sales spike in a decade.

Customers will pay a premium for customized products

Customization is about more than just offering fun options—it can also increase your conversions. Allowing buyers to create their own unique versions of your products can even increase the amount they’re willing to spend.

In fact, research from Deloitte reveals that 1 in 5 customers who want personalized products are willing to pay a 20% premium for them, and more than half of consumers want personalization and customization options. If your company can offer product customization at scale, your customers will buy more often and possibly even spend more.

6 brands with unique online product customizers

Of course, customization will look different for every company depending on your industry and products. But these product customization examples can give you some inspiration for what successful execution might look like.

Medelita

Medelita offers tailored lab coats for scientists and doctors who want to look sharp while at work. And they offer chic customization options on their website as well, so their buyers can add their name, department, and logo to make the coat truly their own.

The best product customization websites, like this example, allow customers to see exactly what the customization will look like in real life once it’s delivered. Ensuring this view is accurate will make your customers happier once they receive their new custom product from your ecommerce site.

Pottery Barn

Pottery Barn offers customization options on some of its most classic bedding and towels. These options help customers build spaces in their homes that are truly their own.

They offer many options for their monograms to ensure customers can find an option they love, including different arrangements, fonts, and thread colors. The ability to make home basics like sheets and towels elevated and special with customization is a compelling offer and likely drives customer satisfaction.

Starbucks

Starbucks is a hugely successful company that is also a leader in offering product customization options for customers. They can choose exactly how they would like their drinks, leading to those sometimes amusing very long orders (venti vanilla half-caf extra-hot skim latte, anyone?).

This kind of ordering is very easy with their great mobile app, but even before that came out they’ve been champions of the highly custom drink order. While most other coffee shops will simply ask you if you want that latte with whole or skim milk, they go far beyond and offer customers a special experience.

Chik-fil-A

Chik-fil-A’s popular Chicken Biscuit looks simple at first glance—a juicy piece of fried chicken on a biscuit. But when you head online to place your order, you’re offered a slew of customization options so you can create precisely the sandwich you’re craving.

With extensive choices for sauces, toppings, and add-ins like bacon, honey, and Colby Jack cheese, customers can build their own perfect sandwich with just a few clicks. And if that’s not enough, they even let you add special instructions in case you want to customize further.

Inkbox

Inkbox offers a wide variety of stick-on temporary tattoos for those who want to experiment with body art without the commitment of going under the needle. But in a truly innovative twist, they also allow customers to upload their own images and make them into a stick-on, with their choice of size and color as well.

This product configuration option allows customers to try out their own tattoo idea to see if they want to commit to it or to create customized tattoos for a special occasion or event. Allowing customers to create these kinds of hyper-personalized products helps Inkbox stand out from other temporary tattoo retailers and get more conversions.

Knoll

Knoll sells high-end, highly customizable furniture for homes and offices. They offer so many custom options, in fact, that their case study serves as an excellent guide to other companies in a similar position.

When they underwent a Comprehensive Conversion Audit with The Good for their online store, they found that having so many options (while necessary for their upmarket clientele) also made customers abandon their shopping carts when faced with too many choices right away.

Being thoughtful and strategic about how you present your customization options is just as critical as having them available—there is such a thing as too much choice.

But with a few smart moves like numbering the options, letting customers email their cart to a spouse or boss, and saving their cart so they could come back with ease to finish, their conversion rate skyrocketed.

Product customization and beyond: building a better digital experience

While a good first step, simply offering customized products online isn’t enough on its own to increase conversions in most cases. Here’s how you can take it one step further and create a 360 degree personalized experience.

Use data to personalize more than just products

The trend toward digital customization may start with products but it definitely does not stop there. Digital also connects the experience a customer has in-store or on-site to the continued brand relationship, by providing more interesting content and follow-up offers based on past purchasing behavior.

With all of the data that companies collect on buyers, it’s no surprise that customers expect a more personalized experience.

Offering them meaningful personalization with customization of products, targeted offers, and loyalty rewards gives customers a better experience. Customization isn’t enough to build a better customer experience on its own, so be sure to continue building that strong relationship with customers throughout the post-purchase experience.

Anticipate future needs

Product customization allows your customers to get exactly what they want, and it benefits your business as well. You can use data on what customers are choosing for customization options to anticipate their needs and preferences in the future as well.

For example, let’s say you notice that pastel shades are suddenly a super-popular choice in custom orders for shoes, particularly pink and blue together. You can use this information to create a new non-custom product in pastel pink and blue and see if they take off as a new trend.

Or you might observe that customers are abandoning their shopping carts while personalizing an item once they need to choose a strap length option for your bags. You can conduct a survey or focus group asking potential buyers what strap lengths they would prefer, and introduce a new option to see how it performs.

Running tests in retail makes it easy to find out which options are most helpful for which customers, and is a great way to gather actionable data that can help anticipate future needs.

Test and improve the customer experience

Ecommerce platforms that offer product customization—Shopify, for example—make setting up your own product customization function for your ecommerce store simple.

Increased ease and functionality means you can scale your customization options, even for smaller items. Your buyers get a better customer experience without requiring as much in-person customer service assistance, which is a win all around.

To ensure your customization options are optimized to increase your conversion rates, test your product customizer with real users. Get their candid feedback and make data-backed decisions on how to improve.

Transparency around pricing and shipping times is important too, as customization typically increases both. Make sure you include these details before, during, and after checkout. We have found that using benefits-focused language like “made for you” can help ease the pain of a longer wait time.

Planning and coordinating for product customization success

This level of sophistication in customization is the product of coordinated efforts of multiple departments and requires a good deal of planning to create something valuable to customers and the business.

Brands must keep up with what their customers want, and today’s buyers have come to expect more and more customization options, especially in the ecommerce space. Simply put, making it easy to create what they want will keep customers coming back.

Determining how you can provide these experiences at scale can increase both your conversion rates and customer loyalty rates—the foundation for a strong business.

The post Product Customization: How Ecommerce Businesses Can Get It Right appeared first on The Good.

You must master the demonstration and communicate how your solution helps your customers manage questions and concerns related to your products, bolster their interest in your product and solidify their decision to buy from you. Without this skill, you’re losing out on leads and (worst of all) sales.

In this article, we’ll review: 

• What product demonstrations are and why you should use them
• Common questions about product demonstrations
• The types of product demonstrations 
• How successful SaaS and ecommerce companies use product demonstrations in their sales strategy

What is a product demonstration? 

A product demo is a sales presentation to prospective customers on your product’s core functionality in hopes of closing a sale. Product demonstration occurs in the middle of the sales funnel in the consideration stage after qualifying a lead. Once you determine where your leads are in the funnel, you can set up a product demonstration. 

What are sales demos, and are they the same as product demos? 

Product demonstrations are also called sales demonstrations, sales demos, SaaS demos, or simply “demos.” Hubspot differentiates between product and sales demonstrations, saying that sales demos provide demonstrations to prospects, whereas product demos provide demonstrations to current customers.

However, thought leaders in the SaaS industry like Jacco van der Kooji consider them to be the same. In this article, we don’t differentiate between the two terms.

What are the different types of product demonstrations?

Product demonstrations can be live or recorded, delivered in person or through a digital medium, and given to one lead or to many at once. Several product demonstration methods convince your prospects to buy from you that you could be using today. They are: 

• Product demonstration videos. These illustrate how your product functions and to help prospective and existing customers obtain relevant information to make a purchase decision. 
• Store demonstrations. These demonstrations allow brands to showcase and promote products in-person to encourage immediate sales. 
• Trade show product demonstrations. Just like in-store product demos, these allow brands to demonstrate products in real-time and allow sales reps to connect with prospective customers directly. 

Why is product demonstration important?

Product demonstration is your chance to show potential customers why your product solves their problems. 

Here are several additional product demonstration benefits: 

Speeding up the purchasing process

Signing up for free trials or calling your sales team takes time and time is of the essence when persuading your leads to buy from you. Three-quarters of leads complete a sale within an hour of visiting your website, so you need to demonstrate the value of your product fast. 

Product demonstrations are no-commitment, no sign-up solutions that save time for your leads. In just a few minutes, they can see how your product can solve their specific problem, and that’s worth a lot more than another sales pitch. 

Allaying customer fears

According to Gerald Zaltman, a Harvard Business School professor, humans make 95% of their purchasing decisions subconsciously, meaning you must achieve a positive experience with your prospect. One way to do that is by talking directly to their pain points. 

When giving live product demonstrations, leads have the opportunity to ask questions and offer product-related concerns.

They provide a rare opportunity to address your prospect’s main problems and offer potential customers a chance to see the product in action and experience how it works. This can be the deciding factor in whether or not they make a purchase. 

Giving customers a sense of buying power

Customers don’t want to be forced into a sale; they want to be inspired into a purchase. Product demonstrations put the decision-making in the hands of the customer. 

When customers see a product in action, they can imagine themselves using it, becoming the one in control of the product. Vividly imagining how your future would be better after purchasing the product can be a persuasive sales technique, which is why the test drive is the foundation of car salesmanship. 

Enabling your sales team

Your best weapon for successful product demonstrations is: your salespeople. Your salespeople are highly-skilled professionals who know how to use the product to its best advantage and as a result, know how to sell it. A product demonstration is an excellent way for your sales team to seal the deal with prospective clients.

What should a product demonstration include?

A product demonstration must give prospects a clear idea of what the product does and how to use it.

To this end, your demo should be well-organized and concise, covering the most important points in only a few minutes. 

The demo must be visually engaging, with clear imagery and an appealing design. But, of course, aesthetics and presentation are only part of the equation–the product itself must be compelling and offer value to potential customers. 

What are the steps involved in a product demonstration?

There are several steps involved in creating a compelling product demonstration.

Choose the right format for your audience

Product demonstrations done right are a powerful marketing tool; done wrong and you lose out on potential sales. The first consideration is choosing the correct format. 

Will you demonstrate in-person, through a video, or live stream? Each option has its own advantages and disadvantages. 

In-person demonstrations allow you to build rapport with potential customers and answer their questions directly. However, they can be logistically challenging to coordinate unless you have your own storefront. 

Video demonstrations can be watched easily by a wider audience but lack the personal touch of an in-person demonstration. 

Live streams offer the best of both worlds, allowing you to interact directly with viewers while reaching a large audience. 

Ultimately, the best format depends on your specific product and goals. You can ensure a successful product demonstration by taking the time to choose a suitable format. 

Plan ahead

Without preparation, your meeting will fall flat. You must tailor your demo to the audience you’re addressing, which means understanding their company, values, challenges, goals, and any additional helpful information. Identify at least 2-3 value propositions for your prospect.

Research who you’re meeting with, what role they have in the company, and cater your demonstration to how your solution addresses their needs and helps them meet their goals. 

Establish a schedule

No one wants to go into a meeting without knowing what to expect, so don’t do this to your prospect. Instead, send all demo participants the presentation agenda in advance through email.

If you’re giving a live stream or in-person presentation, create social media posts in the week leading up to rev up your audience. 

Include the demonstration’s run time as well as an outline of the meeting. This way, you won’t waste your prospect’s time or yours.

Allot time for questions

After you present your demonstration, allow time for questions. This way you can address any questions or concerns your prospects have. Then, ask your prospects questions about their goals, and current problems, and follow this up with ways your product’s features can help your prospect meet these goals and solve problems. 

Questions might look like:

• “What is the top challenge you’re facing with your current solution provider?”
• “Your goals are A, B, C, has your current solution helped you attain these goals?”

Then, you can take the answers to these questions and follow them up by describing how your product’s value proposition solves their problems and helps them achieve their primary goal.

For example, you can say, “You mentioned A, B, C, are your goals. Here’s how our product helps you meet these and how you can achieve X result.”

Then, provide the prospect with further explanation for why the offered functionality is valuable. 

Clarify the next steps

Once you finish your demonstration, ensure you have your prospect’s contact information, preferably email so that you can follow up in the next few days. 

Send an email with details about what you discussed in your demo and remind your prospect of the unique value proposition your product provides for them. 

You’ll move your prospect further down the sales funnel if all goes well. Integrate product demonstrations into your strategy to help increase conversions. 

What are the qualities of great product demos?

Good product demos take your potential customers on a journey. 

1. First, you introduce the product. 
2. Then, you inform your prospects of its value proposition.
3. Last, you persuade your prospects to act. 

However, all three are pointless if you don’t convince your prospect that your product can solve their problems. 

5 Stealable SaaS, B2B, and Ecommerce Examples of Effective Product Demonstrations 

With the product demonstration basics down, we’ll examine compelling product demonstrations from different brands. 

Once you see the principles of effective product demonstrations in action, you’ll be ready to prepare your own. 

1. The Interactive Product Demonstration: cPanel, a B2B company

cPanel is a web hosting control panel software providing website management and automation tools. Their demo is a classic example of a practical product demonstration. Here’s why: 

• There’s no sign-up required to try it out. Prospects can interact with the demo immediately.
• What you see is what you get: the demo is exactly what a paid user’s control panel would like. 
• Prospects can play around with the demo, testing out email forwarding, adding files to the public_html folder, and more.

cPanel provides a real-time, fully immersive customer experience without any gimmicks or marketing. 

This works because it puts your product directly in the hands of the consumer, allowing them to imagine themselves using the product as if it were their own installation. There’s no guesswork for the prospect. All of their answers lie in the demonstration. 

2. The Product Tour CTA: Marketo, a SaaS company

As soon as you land on Marketo’s landing page, you’re greeted with a CTA button for their interactive product tour. 

This CTA does two things:

1. It takes the user directly to the product video demonstration.
2. Once users land on the page, it immediately asks for their contact information.

This clever exchange gives both Marketo and the prospect what they want: Marketo can collect the lead’s contact information to follow up, and the prospect can view the product tour video. 

Although it isn’t the only strategy, it is one of the best strategies since collecting lead data presents logistical challenges if you don’t have a plan in place. Put your CTA too low, and your customers may leave your site before they see it; leave your CTA out entirely, and you risk never gathering any lead information. 

Once a lead types in their contact info, they land on the product video demonstration page:

Marketo’s video walks users through common problems marketers face, use-cases, and its best features. Once viewers finish this quick three-minute video, users can scroll down to view additional use cases.

This allows potential customers to choose the video most relevant to their use case to see the product in action. 

3. The Demo Webinar: LeadDyno, a SaaS company

LeadDyno is a leading affiliate software program allowing users to manage and track their affiliate marketing efforts. On their demo page, LeadDyno offers prospects an option. 

1. They can join a live webinar.
2. They can view three different videos showcasing LeadDyno’s features: a high-level overview, the affiliate dashboard, and the affiliate website. 

This is great because users can choose the demonstration method they prefer. 

If users opt for the live webinar, they have the chance to ask questions about how LeadDyno’s software can solve their problems. And you have the chance to answer any questions your prospect may have. Offering a live webinar is a perfect chance to get to know your customers and build trust, a leading purchasing factor for customers. 

Users who opt for the video walkthrough get a quick overview of how the product works (and if they still have questions, they have the option to sign up for a live webinar).

In addition, webinars provide an opportunity to showcase your product or service and drive more interest from potential customers.

4. The Detailed Product Demonstration Video: Patagonia, an ecommerce company

Patagonia is a leader in sustainable outerwear. They use product demonstrations in two ways. 

The first way is through imagery. On their product pages, they show models of varying heights and sizes so customers can compare sizes and visualize themselves in the clothes.

Not every man who orders this jacket will be 6’0” and wear a size medium, so they cover their bases by comparing it to another model wearing a larger size than the first.

Then, they include a video of another model wearing the jacket and turning around to give customers a 360 view of what the jacket looks like when worn. This way, customers don’t need to use their imagination. The jacket is right before their eyes so they can see what it will look like when they wear it. 

5. The Traditional Product Video Demonstration: Solo Stove, an ecommerce company

Solo Stove sells stainless steel wood-burning stoves for campers. 

This is a quintessential example of a product demonstration video. It has all of the qualities of an effective demonstration: 

• It gives prospects a clear idea of what the product does and how to use it: while explaining Solo Stove’s main features, they show scenes of different people in their target demographic (campers) using the product. 
• It’s well-organized and concise: In only 2 minutes, it explains what Solo Stove is and what it does as well as who uses it. 
• They show videos of actual customers using them as social proof to build trust. 
• They introduce a problem and follow it up with a solution: spending time with our loved ones is becoming more difficult so here’s how Solo Stove solves this problem.

They also use a lifestyle showcase technique where customers visualize themselves in the video, with their loved ones, using the product. They’re saying Solo Stove isn’t only a product, it’s a lifestyle and if you use our product, you can have this lifestyle too. 

You can use this technique with your products, showcasing your products in a demonstration video as a part of the natural environment. For example, if you’re a makeup company, you can create a video showing various individuals wearing your makeup in different environments. Or if you’re a clothing brand, show individuals in different situations wearing your clothes. 

Show customers what it’s like to experience your product so they can’t imagine a life without it. 

Winning with product demos

Product demonstrations are an effective sales tool, moving leads through your sales funnel and closer to a purchase. If you can master the demonstration and communicate how your solution solves your lead’s problems, you will likely close the sale. 

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