Behind the scenes (update fall 2024): why Navattic just launched a free plan
How it's going and what broke along the way
“Oh no, this better be good, because we just blasted the internet about it”
That’s what Natalie Marcotullio (the Head of Growth at Navattic) shared during our conversation right after Navattic publicly launched their freemium plan this fall.
“The initial launch number look great” she shared. “But so many things broke right after we went live. We knew our first version wasn’t going to be perfect. But when people see a lot of promotion, their standards are a little higher - and rightfully so.”
I’ve known Natalie and the Navattic team for several years.
Back in May, I published an eight part interview series going behind the scenes with the Navattic growth team exploring how they develop strategy, set goals, run their operating system, what they present to leadership, and how they get buy-in from other teams.
During that conversation, we explored if freemium might be part of Navattic’s future. At that time, it was in the idea phase. So I was excited to hear how things had evolved since.
We explored:
Why freemium vs free-trial, and why now
How this fits into their current strategy and risk appetite
How they were able to get their sales team on-board
The impact to customer success
What success KPIs they’re using
… and how Natalie's feeling about the freemium launch so far (spoiler, she’s feeling bullish!)
A few highlights so far:
Acquisition: The free plan has helped them unlock a new acquisition source and are especially excited they’re starting to see many signups come via “recommendations."
Qualified signups: They worried the free plan might only be attractive for small startups. But ~45% of sign-ups are over 30 employees and non-work emails.
Demos: Navattic originally expected to see demo requests cannibalized by the free plan, but that hasn’t happened. They have stayed consistent.
Time to value: Many startups and even larger companies activate the same day after signing up for an account.
Team: Natalie shared “our CS team loves working with freemium accounts that upgrade. These accounts already know the product well and can start their CS journey with ‘level two’ conversations.”
We covered a ton of ground. If you’re thinking about launching freemium, or just looking to align your cross-functional teams around high-impact initiatives - I think you’ll love hearing about the approach Natalie shares here.
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