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Going Freemium: One Year Later

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Oct 13, 2010 15:45 EDT

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www.mailchimp.com/blog/going-freemium-one-year-later/

Going Freemium: One Year Later
By Ben Chestnut
MailChimp Co-Founder
 
 
On September 1st, 2009 we announced that MailChimp was going freemium. On that day, we had 85,000 users. Now, slightly more than a year later, we have more than 450,000 users. We grew our user base five times in one year.
Earlier this month, we actually doubled our freemium plan from 500 subscribers to 1,000 subscribers. So now, even more people can take advantage of MailChimp’s powerful email marketing and social features. We had been averaging around 30,000 new users per month (about 1,000 per day), but since we increased the freemium plan this month, we’re seeing +2,000 new user days.
Another thing that’s increased dramatically since going freemium is the number of lunches I’m invited to; seems entrepreneurs and VCs really want to “pick my brain” about how freemium is doing for us. Usually, it’s because they think freemium might be that silver bullet they’ve been searching for. It can be, but you’ve really gotta be careful not to point that bullet at yourself…
 
See, I’ve heard a lot of discussion about MailChimp’s success with freemium, but it’s scary that people would want to model their companies around us. I say it’s scary, because they don’t know our history, and they don’t know our motivation. I came across this article recently: Why Free Plans Don’t Work. They actually mention MailChimp in a positive way, but the discussion in the comments show that people really need a little insight into what drove us to go freemium. So here goes…
 
(Click on the link above to read the whole article)

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Going Freemium: One Year Later

Relevant Subject and Topic
Business and Entrepreneurship, Career and Life Skills, Economics

Types
Blog
Lecture or Seminar

Features
Informative, Educational, Persuasive, Experiential, Competitive, Text

Format
Document
Blog

Copyright Owner
Ben Chestnut
MailChimp

Most Suitable For Use By
Instructors, Learners, Entrepreneurs

Age Appropriateness
Adult(19+)

Grade Appropriateness
Postsecondary, Graduate, Adult General, Professional

Geographic Suitability
All or Non-Specific

Language
English

Education Standards Maps

Version History

Date Edited
Notes
Oct 13, 2010 15:45 EDT
PNR
Oct 13, 2010 15:44 EDT
PNR
Oct 13, 2010 15:44 EDT
PNR

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