Should I offer my MVP for free?
Hi there!
I'm working on a project and trying to determine if I should offer my users a free MVP version of a solution to their problems before providing the paid version with more features. My worry is that transition piece of getting users from a free product onto a paid one. Any advice?
Should I wait and continue to work on the fuller feature product and start off the bat with a paid product? Or release an MVP that doesn't have all the features, doesn't represent the brand as well to collect emails and start letting people know what we're known for?
Thanks for any help!
An MVP should provide enough value that customers are willing to pay.
Feedback from those who won't pay clearer don't have the problem or care enough to do anything about it.
Don't wait put it out in the world and start charging.
That is what I did with https://versoly.com/, we was 5x the price of https://carrd.co/ with a lot less features.
I got rejected 100s of times but learnt why folks didn't want to use it. Slowly we built a solution that actually solved customers problems and now we have paying customers and growing nicely.
Most Indie Hackers are scared to charge for something especially developers as they believe it isn't worth much. But if the product provides enough value folks will pay for it.
With my project, I offer a free version and a paid version. Just offer limited features in the free plan. But make it obvious that the paid plan is more useful. The free plan should include the main points of your service (so they can have a taste).
Believe it or not, people are happy to pay for something if it fixes a big enough problem for them. If your product delivers on its promises, you will actually find that most will thank you profusely for making such a product. They are not doing you a favor, you are doing them one.
Please charge for your MVP.
The goal of the MVP is to validate the three hypothesis for achieving product-market fit: the desirability hypothesis (will people want this?), the feasibility hypothesis (can we deliver a solution?) and the viability hypothesis (is this a business? / will people pay for it? )
A paid component is the best, most directly way for a MVP to test its viability.
MVP doesn't mean useless. If your product is solving even a small subset of the problem, launch it. You will learn a lot more after the launch.
When I launched my product, I extended free trials for all my early customers (up to 42 days). The extended trial helped me to iron out rough edges and show my gratitude for early adopters while making it clear that the product won't be forever free.
Unless you have another way, free users are an way to validate your mvp and their willingness to pay for future features. If you’re worries about taking on too many free customers, put controls in place, but I wouldn’t cross that bridge until you’re there. Always good to remember why you’re launching the MVP is to get feedback.