Pricing Models for Digital Products: Subscription, Freemium, and More
The primary goal of most businesses is to be profitable. As such, businesses are constantly seeking the best ways to monetize their products and services. With a growing number of pricing models available for digital products, it can be difficult to choose the one that best suits your business. There are many popular pricing models, including subscription, freemium, one-time purchase, pay-as-you-go, and tiered pricing. We’ll explore the pros and cons of each to help you make an informed decision.
Subscription Model
With the subscription model, users pay a recurring fee (usually monthly or annually) to access a product or service. The subscription pricing method is most commonly used with services as opposed to products. Businesses like Amazon, Spotify, Netflix, and Adobe, all use the subscription method with their services. The subscription model provides a predictable revenue stream to businesses helping to ensure stability and more accurate financial planning. Long-term subscriptions help businesses build relationships with their customers that, if properly cultivated, can lead to greater customer retention and loyalty. The subscription model does have a negative side. It often causes businesses to miss out on customers that are looking for a one-time service or a more casual experience. There is also the inherent risk of a high churn rate. Subscription fatigue and competition can lead to users canceling their subscriptions, impacting a business’s revenue. As we have seen with streaming services, if the service falters in quality, it can quickly lose thousands of subscribers.
Freemium Model
The freemium model offers a basic version of the product or service for free. However, if the customer wants access to additional features, content, or functionality, they would have to upgrade to the premium version for a fee. This model succeeds where the subscription method fails in that it attracts a large user base and encourages users to upgrade for a better experience. If users aren’t familiar with a service, they probably won’t make the jump to purchase. Lowering the risk makes customers feel more comfortable experimenting. When a product is freemium, people are more likely to recommend it to others or promote it on social media. Canva’s new ai photo editor has gone viral on TikTok and led them to gain new users that they would likely not have gained without a free version. The downside to this model is obvious. Many users may never upgrade. Low conversion rates can be costly for your business and stunt growth if income is not supplemented with something like ad revenue.
One-Time Purchase Model
This model is incredibly straightforward. Users pay a single fee to access the product or service indefinitely. This is common for software, digital downloads, or online courses. A lot of users appreciate knowing exactly what they are getting and how much it will cost. A major benefit of this method is higher upfront revenue which can then be used to fund other projects. Some issues that you will run into with this model are limited long-term revenue and difficulty funding development and support. Unless you expand upon your product or service, there may be little opportunity for future revenue once customers have purchased the product. If your initial revenue is not enough, you may not be able to fund the support you need to keep your product up and running.
Pay-as-You-Go Model
The pay-as-you-go model charges users based on their usage of the product or service. This is commonly used for cloud services, utilities, or software-as-a-service (SaaS) products. A major advantage to this model is that users feel more comfortable paying for a product when they feel they are getting their money’s worth. If you entice users to use your product more, your business will scale and your revenues will go up! The pay-as-you-go model has similar issues to the freemium model. This model also features unpredictable revenues and may lower cost potential by customers using the product less in order to pay for less.
Tiered Pricing Model
The tiered pricing model offers multiple plans with varying levels of features to suit a variety of customer needs. The great thing about this method is that it is flexible. Users can choose a plan that suits their unique needs and budget. By offering a variety of options, you can appeal to greater audiences and potentially gain more customers. That being said, users may favor more affordable tiers which can pull away from potential revenue if they were to choose higher tiers. A pricing plan is like a wedding cake, too many tiers can really cost you. Managing so many tiers may also require more resources and raise your costs.
The Main Idea
Ultimately, what pricing method is best depends on your business and the unique needs of you and your users. A SaaS company may favor pay-as-you-go or a subscription method like Adobe. To find the right pricing method, you will need to invest in user research to find out what your target audience is willing to pay and how to market your decision to them. It takes time, but the right pricing strategy can take a business to new heights of profitability.
Camber Creative is a digital product design and development company, headquartered in Orlando, Florida. We’re an all-expert, fully-distributed team specializing in digital products for mobile, web, and the internet of things. We work with clients ranging from multibillion dollar enterprises to bootstrapping entrepreneurs. Come say hi on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook, or tell us about your new project.
