Deezer · B2C · music streaming app
Take away most free features so free listeners are pushed to pay
Didn't work: free users left for other services instead of upgrading
Failedpaywallpricing
What they did
Around 2015, after realizing ads alone would never make the freemium model profitable, Deezer went very far in shutting down features and frustrating free users to push them to subscribe.
What happened
Degrading the free experience produced no good outcome; it showed free users the product wasn't satisfying and they left for other services. Deezer rolled it back.
- Stage
- scale
- Effort
- Company-wide product change around 2015
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · Level Up Your App Marketing: Measurement, Brand-Building, and Taking Risks — Sherina Khalidi, Deezer“And so we went very far into shutting down all the features and trying to frustrate a lot users.”
“degrading the user experience, the free user experience actually doesn't provide any good outcome because all what you do is showing the your free users that, well, your product is absolutely not satisfying on a free basis, and they will just leave and use another service.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- Deezer: Make the free tier pay for itself with ads and use it to win subscribersFree users now profitable; conversion from free 'not cracked yet'
- Deezer: Bundle your subscription with phone carriers, speaker makers and big retailersWider reach and better retention; partners weigh heavily in revenue
- Deezer: Run TV and billboard ads about what the brand stands for, then push buyers with adsTracked by brand studies, not revenue; no numbers shared
- Deezer: Check marketing results several ways and use lift tests to correct your mix modelMMM 'not fully satisfying' yet; lift tests confirmed hidden upper-funnel value
- Deezer: Keep paying for install and reach ads even when they don't show direct salesLift tests showed a much bigger boost to sales campaigns than expected
- Deezer: Let your ad team test risky ideas as long as overall return stays profitableLTV:CAC more than doubled in 2 years while volume grew
- Deezer: Launch the new brand-focused homepage even though it lost the test to the old oneLost the ABC test, but beat the old page a few weeks after launch
- Deezer: Ask users to draw your logo, then test new logos against it before rebrandingPurple heart won by far on every audience and KPI; guest credits better ad profits