When should you kill a product? 4 lessons from GitLab’s subscription change
1. Be generous in your transition offer to help bridge change
Not only can GitLab customers on the canceled plan choose to remain on the same tier until the end of their subscription period, but they can also renew at the current price for one additional year or upgrade at a significant discount.
2. Avoid pushing upsells
GitLab actually encouraged users of the canceled plan to investigate their free plan! This is a much better way of converting paid customers because it asks users to actually re-evaluate how they use the product, rather than just making a blind pitch to pay more.
3. Listen to your customers
As they explained inthis excellent video, GitLab solicited lots of feedback (on a confidential basis) from customers and internal team members alike before the launch. GitLab then invited its customers to offer feedback in aspecial sectionof their community forum on launch day.
4. Move towards pricing simplicity, not away from it
GitLab’snew pricing pageis simple, intuitive, and does an excellent job of communicating value.
And all of this brings me back to my original argument:less is more.
Story byTien Tzuo
Tien Tzuo is the author of “SUBSCRIBED: Why the Subscription Model Will be Your Company’s Future - and What to Do About It.”
Zuora is a p(show all)Tien Tzuo is the author of “SUBSCRIBED: Why the Subscription Model Will be Your Company’s Future - and What to Do About It.”
Zuora is a platform that helps companies launch and manage subscription offerings. The company works with 1,000+ customers including Zoom, Fender, GM and Caterpillar.
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