- Image by Steve Rhodes via Flickr
The perpetual arguments about how companies can make money online by giving away free (digital) content still rage but there are some great examples of successful stories.
The latest one is how Nine Inch Nails became the best selling digital album of 2008 by giving it away under Creative Common.
So why would someone pay for something that’s virtually free somewhere else online? Here are a 2 hints…
- When you give people the chance to try something at no cost, the ones that like their experience will have a higher propensity to purchase it. Why? There are a couple of reasons;
- they like it so much they’re ready to buy it,
- they think the money will be put to good use and they may get more free stuff in the future,
- they directly or indirectly want to reward the producer of the free stuff for their work and by making it available at no cost first.
- But whatever the reason, the important is they take the time and money to make a purchase.
- Giving something away for free needs to be part of a very simple and easy process in order to get it. People will not take the time to go through a complicated process even for something free. The barrier to get it should be very low or there should be no barrier at all.
More important is the end result; giving something away help spread it to a bigger potential market. Then if your product or service are perceived as quality ones, more people will buy them than if there would be no other option than pay for it.
Our advice; think how you could give something free online and the easier and simplest way for people to first get it then secondly maybe pay for it. And did we say your product or service should be perceived as quality in order to succeed? That’s critical.
