How Draft got me to pay for a free product
Hi ๐ you're reading a pretty old post! I started writing on here back in high school and this page may not reflect my current views. Recommend checking out related articles and categories down below, I've likely published more recent thoughts on this topic.
Draft is a marvelous new webservice for writing. A bit like iA Writer, but for the browser.
I love distraction-free writing and I've recently come to rely on Draft for writing my blog posts. It's simply the best writing tool out there that I can use with my fancy keyboard (linux, no iA Writer, bad wrists).
But I'm not here today to talk about the marvelous version control features, the fact I can click the equivalent of "Save back to WordPress" when I'm done writing, or even the "Get feedback from an expert" feature.
No, today I want to tell you about the brilliant trick Nathan Kontny used to convert me from a freeloader to the proud owner of a $4 monthly subscription.
I login one day, right from the WordPress dashboard (Chrome extension), and what do I see if not a big pop up sort of thing saying "Hey, you should totally subscribe!". As a geek and a nerd I find these things tacky, overdone, and rather pushy.
But this was different. There was no blackout, no flashing colours, just a friendly message from the founder saying "Hey, I'm making this thing and I need your help to keep it awesome.". More importantly, he started a conversation!
Sidenote: Wow, I was just delighted by how easy inserting an image is. Shift+Ctrl+I, drag image into browser. Beautiful.
khem
See, it's not a pushy sales thing, it's an honest ask. If you don't want to, that's fine too, but please tell me why.
I was instantly convinced.
Left a message saying how awesome I find the service and how infinitely brilliant is the fact I can reply to a "please subscribe message". Later that day I kept my promise and subscribed.
Better still, later that day I got a reply.
You have no idea how delighted I am by this little exchange. And now I'm spending $4 a month on something I use maybe twice a week for maybe an hour to indulge in what is a glorified hobby.
In comparison, I pay $5 a month for Toggl - the basis of thousands of dollars worth of invoices, I use Github daily and don't pay a dime ... actually I don't pay for most things I spend my whole days on.
Good job Draft, you're doing something right. This is probably the biggest bang for buck a service has ever gotten out of me.
Filed under: FreewritingNathan KontnySubscription business modelWordPressWriter ResourcesWriting
