Transitioning from a free to paid model

Hello all!

I'm the founder of Enketo, a real-time free poll-making platform that I developed about a year ago. Initially, Enketo was conceived as a tool for anyone in need of quick, on-the-spot polling, and it's been successful in its own right with a good CTR on our search campaigns, and a decent conversion rate of users creating free polls.

But there's a limitation – our users mostly have a one-time need, making it challenging to develop a sustainable business model or create long-term relationships with customers. That's why I haven't monetized Enketo in any way. I ran an experiment by offering a premium version that came with advanced features such as multi-step polls, password protection, and results export, aiming to test the waters for monetization. The response was almost negligible. It seems that due to the transient nature of their needs, most users don't even bother reading what the paid version has to offer.

To address this, I've begun developing a Google Slides Add-On that will enable users to embed their polls directly into interactive presentations. I'm considering expanding this feature set to include audience Q&As, Word Clouds, and more. My expectation is that these users are more prone to becoming long-term users, and I plan to offer it for free initially, so I can gather more data and user feedback. The Google Marketplace for Add-ons should also be a good source of traffic.

However, we're not alone in this space. There are several established competitors like Slido, PollsEverywhere, and Vevox, and they're not small players. This brings me to my current challenge: how can I differentiate Enketo to stand out and eventually attract paying customers?

If you've faced a similar situation or if you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks in advance for your insights!