If your service starts life as a free offering, you’ll be well aware of the challenges when it comes to ensuring customers take the necessary steps up the subscription ladder. Convincing your customers isn’t always easy.
This is most commonly found in the world of software. Subscriptions start from a free tier, relying on as many people as possible upgrading in order to become a sustainable business.
It’s hard work, but email marketing can ease the burden a little.
By leaning on automation and a little know-how, you can use platforms like mailingmanager to gradually increase brand advocacy to the point where people feel compelled to start spending money with you.
In this post, we’re going to look at an email I received from Grammarly. They are a web-based writing tool to which I subscribed for free recently. This company is a masterclass in convincing your customers.
As you’re about to find out, the key lies (as always) in simplicity!
Reel ‘em in with the subject line
Grammarly chose the following subject line for this campaign:
Write Like a Pro. Here’s 40% Off Grammarly Premium!
As subject lines go, this is a free lesson. Firstly, I’m told what benefit I’ll receive from opening the email (“write like a pro”), secondly they’ve used a number (“40%” – numbers are always eye-catching) and thirdly, the offer sounds compelling.
So, of course I clicked through!
The opener
Grammarly correctly brands this email in the most simple way possible. Notice an appropriate logo appears at the top without any fanfare. This makes for a nice quick load and instant brand recognition.
The header text reaffirms the offer. And, goes one step further by telling me how long it lasts (just two days – so, plenty of urgency).
The “You’ve earned it” strap line is nothing more than a cheeky bit of brown-nosing, but we’ll let them off that.
The ‘convincing your customers’ call-to-action (CTA)
The CTA in this email is immediately present in the preview pane of my email client and again confirms the 40% saving on offer:
It’s also preceded by a great piece of copy that uses personalisation and short, sharp sentences to reel me in. It’s full of urgency and makes me feel warm and fuzzy, but if I need any more of a reason to click that CTA, I only need to scroll down a little further…
The pay-off
Some (ok, lots of) free subscribers will require a bit more of a push to dip their hands into their pockets, which is why it’s vital to include as much detail as possible about the benefits on offer.
The key is to do away with as much text as possible and instead compliment what remains with eye-catching imagery. Like this:
Wrapping up
Convincing people to part with money is tricky – particularly when they’re used to a free service – but if you can be inspired by the techniques above, you’ll be able to build the trust required to turn ‘freemium’ contracts into ongoing revenue.
