🧲 The 4 PLG Conversion Tactics

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Conversion Tactics

Today's users don't just want to try before they buy, they want value first.

You can use conversion tactics to get users to try your product for free, so they can have an aha moment, build a habit, and then upgrade.

Basically, it's a way to move users between pricing tiers.

Benefits of a conversion tactic:

• Lower acquisition cost (CAC) compared to traditional channels like paid marketing;

• A larger user base to grow and monetize;

• Get your users to experience an aha moment, build a habit, and eventually upgrade.

The 4 Conversion Tactic Types

These are the 4 conversion tactics:

• Free Trial

  • The user gets to try your product for free for a limited time.

• Freemium

  • A feature or tier of your product is free forever, or until the user needs more functionality and decides to upgrade.

• Reverse Trial (a new tactic created by Elena Verna)

  • The user gets a feature(s) or an entire tier of your product for free but for a limited time.

• Opt-In Trial:

  • Whenever the user wants, they can sign up (or opt in) for a trial of a certain premium feature.

How To Choose Your Conversion Tactic

You might be tempted to choose the one that sounds better, like quicker monetization or lower top-of-funnel friction. But it's got to make sense for you and the user.

Two factors can help you determine which conversion tactic to choose:

• ⏳ Time-to-value: How long it takes for a customer to see the value of your product. More than 30 days indicate high time-to-value.

• 💳 Cost-to-serve: How much it costs to serve and keep each free customer. The cost-to-serve is high if you have to spend a lot of money or resources on each free customer. 



Now you can analyze and determine which conversion tactic is right for your product based on these two factors.

👀 Examples:

1. Zoom: low time-to-value (fast value) + low cost-to-serve (cheap) = freemium trial. Fast value and cheap to serve means you don't need to cap the trial period, you can keep them on freemium forever until they're ready for more.

2. Leap: low time-to-value (fast value) + high cost-to-serve (GPU costs) = Free Trial or Reverse Trial. Since the cost-to-serve is high, you should limit the trial time.

Wrap

Hopefully, this blog has provided you with a deeper understanding of another crucial Product-Led Growth (PLG) strategy: conversion tactics.

These tactics allow users to experience value first, increasing the likelihood of them upgrading to a paid plan.

We explored the four main types of conversion tactics—Free Trial, Freemium, Reverse Trial, and Opt-In Trial—and how to choose the right one based on your product’s time-to-value and cost-to-serve.

By leveraging these tactics effectively, you can lower your customer acquisition costs, grow your user base, and drive monetization more efficiently.