????最近，游戲《憤怒的小鳥(niǎo)》（Angry Birds）的開(kāi)發(fā)商Rovio和在線音樂(lè)服務(wù)商Spotify這類(lèi)以消費(fèi)者為中心的公司大獲成功,，證明免費(fèi)+增值這一商業(yè)模式在消費(fèi)領(lǐng)域無(wú)往不利,。問(wèn)題在于：這種模式的魔力是否能對(duì)企業(yè)級(jí)用戶奏效。
????這一問(wèn)題也是今早財(cái)富科技頭腦風(fēng)暴（Fortune Brainstorm Tech）圓桌早餐會(huì)所討論的議題,，參加該討論的主要人員包括在線網(wǎng)絡(luò)調(diào)查公司Survey Monkey的首席執(zhí)行官大衛(wèi)?哥德伯格,、社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)Ning公司首席執(zhí)行官杰森?羅森賽爾、Index Ventures科技風(fēng)投公司合伙人邁克?沃爾皮以及ccLoop軟件公司首席執(zhí)行官邁克?沃爾非,。
????“我覺(jué)得這種模式與用戶是企業(yè)或還是消費(fèi)者無(wú)關(guān),，”羅森賽爾說(shuō)。他的社會(huì)媒體公司（很大程度上）已經(jīng)從消費(fèi)者轉(zhuǎn)向了公司客戶,，相應(yīng)的,，其運(yùn)作模式也由原來(lái)的靠廣告費(fèi)支撐的免費(fèi)模式變?yōu)閱渭兊氖召M(fèi)模式。這一轉(zhuǎn)變帶來(lái)了豐厚的回報(bào),。Ning去年的付費(fèi)客戶數(shù)量由17,，000名增加至100，000名,。在會(huì)上,，羅森賽爾還透露，公司的年收入增加了500%,。
????人們普遍認(rèn)為付費(fèi)高級(jí)用戶模式同樣也適用于以業(yè)務(wù)為中心的企業(yè)和服務(wù)業(yè),，但是前提條件是公司需要有一個(gè)合理的架構(gòu),。對(duì)于Ning來(lái)說(shuō)，它的免費(fèi)服務(wù)之所以沒(méi)有取得很好的成績(jī)是因?yàn)楣咎峁┑拿赓M(fèi)服務(wù)的價(jià)值太高,。這一理論也得到了其他與會(huì)人員包括職業(yè)社交網(wǎng)站Linked In（LNKD）公司產(chǎn)品及用戶體驗(yàn)部高級(jí)副總裁迪普?尼沙爾的響應(yīng),。
????“如果你給予客戶的價(jià)值是十分有限的，而且免費(fèi)與收費(fèi)之間的界限設(shè)置得不合理,，（這種模式肯定行不通）,，”尼沙爾說(shuō),，“我認(rèn)為問(wèn)題在于這個(gè)界限的設(shè)置,，如果免費(fèi)模式能為消費(fèi)者帶來(lái)恰到好處的甜頭，就能打動(dòng)人們接受免費(fèi)+增值模式”,。
????此次討論曾多次提及文件共享服務(wù)商Dropbox公司,，將其視為免費(fèi)+增值模式的成功典范。Dropbox公司是由朱?休斯頓和阿瑞希?弗道斯共同創(chuàng)建的公司,，主要提供文件同步服務(wù),。據(jù)最近的報(bào)道顯示，該公司深受用戶的青睞,，已擁有2,，500萬(wàn)名用戶，其中包括美聯(lián)航（United Airlines）,、紅牛（Red Bull）,、甚至哥德伯格的Survey Monkey公司。Dropbox公司的運(yùn)營(yíng)模式就是：用戶可免費(fèi)獲得2G初始存儲(chǔ)容量,，每月付費(fèi)9.99美元即可獲得50GB的容量,，每月付費(fèi)19.99美元即可獲得100GB的容量。沃爾皮說(shuō)這個(gè)模式之所以能行得通是因?yàn)槠湟?，?jiǎn)單明了,；其二，不同的價(jià)格對(duì)應(yīng)不同的容量,，因此客戶對(duì)于花錢(qián)所享受到的服務(wù)也就一目了然,。像Dropbox這樣的公司在提供免費(fèi)服務(wù)時(shí)會(huì)確保適可而止，因?yàn)樘峁┑拿赓M(fèi)項(xiàng)目越多,，對(duì)付費(fèi)項(xiàng)目感興趣的用戶就會(huì)越少,。
????“放之四海而皆準(zhǔn)”的免費(fèi)+增值模式是不存在的，但是有幾點(diǎn)必須銘記于心,。其中之一要杜絕的是這樣的點(diǎn)子：用戶可免費(fèi)試用本產(chǎn)品30天,。對(duì)于用戶而言，他們更愿意為核心功能之外提供的附加功能掏錢(qián),，而不是在試用期內(nèi)湊合使用某款產(chǎn)品,。
????做好準(zhǔn)備,，開(kāi)始嘗試——而且是反復(fù)嘗試，盡管這一觀點(diǎn)看起來(lái)可能很抽象,。
????沃爾夫曾說(shuō)過(guò)：“人的行為很難預(yù)測(cè),，所以每次都得嘗試不同的做法?！?/p> |
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????With consumer-focused companies like Angry Birds developer Rovio and Spotify proving that freemium is a valid business model in the consumer space, the next question becomes: can freemium also work its magic with enterprise?
????That was the theme of one breakfast roundtable earlier this morning at Fortune Brainstorm Tech, featuring Survey Monkey CEO Dave Goldberg, Ning CEO Jason Rosenthal, Index Ventures partner Mike Volpi, and ccLoop CEO Michael Wolfe.
????"I don't think it's a business or a consumer thing," said Rosenthal, whose social media company (largely) pivoted from consumers to corporate customers, and in doing so, also switched from a mostly free ad-supported model to a an all-paid premium one. The gamble paid off: Ning went from just 17,000 paid customers last year to 100,000, and Rosenthal said during the panel that revenues are up 500% year-over-year.
????The general consensus appeared to be a "freemium" model can work for business-focused companies and services, but only if it's structured just right. For Ning, the reason its free tier didn't work was because the company offered up too much value for free, a theme echoed by others in attendance, including Deep Nishar, LinkedIn (LNKD) Senior Vice President of Product and User Experience.
????"[It doesn't work] if your value is very finite in terms of what you're giving users, and you don't draw the right boundary to get over that critical threshold," said Nishar. "I think there's a critical threshold issue, and if you give just enough of a taste of what's possible with that free model, then you can move people to freemium."
????Dropbox came up several times during the discussion as a freemium-based success story. The popular file-syncing service co-founded by Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi recently reported 25 million users -- including businesses like United Airlines, Red Bull, and even Goldberg's Survey Monkey -- relying on a model where the first two gigabytes of storage is free, $9.99 a month for 50 GB, and $19.99 a month for 100 GB. Volpi says that model works because it's very simple, and each price plan represents a big step up in storage so users can easily justify ponying up more money. A company like Dropbox also doesn't give away too much utility for free because as he sees it, the more a company generally gives away gratis, the smaller their potential paid userbase becomes.
????There isn't a "one-size fits all"-type freemium model to follow, but there are a few things to keep in mind. One idea to seriously avoid: giving users say, a 30-day limited-time free trial. Users are more comfortable eventually paying for services that say, offer additional features around a core utility, rather than having a short time frame to tinker with a product.
????And while it may sound abstract, be prepared to experiment -- a lot.
????Said Wolfe: "People don't behave the way you think they might, so you'll have to test everything." |
