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The Science of a Freebie
09. Aug, 2009 by Adii Rockstar in WooCamp
Over at WooThemes we’ve released our fair share of free WordPress themes in the last couple of months and we’ve even dabbled in the odd free web icon set as well. And the reasons behind these freebies are simple: 1) we like to give back to the community; and 2) it is a great marketing tool.
The one thing that we’ve always been pretty adamant about though (with regards to the freebies we release), is that the quality of those freebies needs to be right up there. so the free themes that we have released are all top-notch themes and they include all of the functionality that our paid themes would.
Why? We want to impress you guys enough to consider signing up / purchasing the real deal, instead of just using the freebies.
And therein probably lies the art & science of releasing a freebie; you need to actually release something that is representative of your business’ excellent services & products. If your freebies look like half-assed hack jobs, then that’s going to reflect badly on your business and it’s definitely not gonna convert the freebies users to paying customers. I also think that online peeps actually see through low-quality freebies which are simply released for traffic; people simply expect better.
So to sum up this “science” of the freebie, here’s a checklist you should consider before releasing your new freebie out into the wild…
- Why are you releasing the freebie? Are you doing it just for the traffic?
- What is the quality like? Is it in line with your products & services?
- Does releasing the freebie enhance your brand & its reputation?
- Does the freebie actually matter? Will your existing & potential new users actually find value in the freebie?
We’d love to hear what you think about this… Want to rant about low quality, hack job freebies? Feel free… And if you wanted to give us feedback on any of the WooThemes freebies and your opinions on their quality that would be appreciated too.
11 August 2009 at 3:45 pm #
Personally, I’ve used 2 of your free themes and think they are carbon copy quality of your other themes, taking release dates into factor. I think it’s a great alternative for us customizers to offer design studios to clients and feel confident that if they choose a free theme, we don’t have to suffer customizing a sub-par theme.
11 August 2009 at 4:14 pm #
I used a free theme before getting my WooThemes membership and it was a great way of convincing me prior to making a purchase.
I agree with the post that your free products should be quality because if it is not then your potential customer will be hiding his credit card. One bad experience with a digital product will lead to a negative mindset and negative word of mouth marketing which will have a negative impact on the business concerned.
I believe that Free is great marketing but talent should be paid for..
11 August 2009 at 5:47 pm #
I like woothemes, but I dont like Adii. He’s arrogant and calls himself a “rockstar”… seriously dude.
11 August 2009 at 6:11 pm #
He’s building a brand for himself and Rockstar happens to be the key for him. It is a trendy, popular term and he’s bringing a new light to it as a Rockstar in the design field. More power to him.
11 August 2009 at 7:20 pm #
I actually think the Woo team does a great job in their freebie releases. I know that icon set was really well done … and when a quality freebie is given out, it is easy to get people talking about it. I know I have shared links to the icon set on my Twitter and Facebook accounts, as well as that Mainstream theme which I thought was just fantastic … and that kind of WOMM is something you just can’t buy. It turns retweeters into a free marketing machine, and once people try the first theme, I am pretty sure they will come back.
7 September 2009 at 4:28 pm #
Providing a couple of free templates is a great way of saying, “We aren’t all about money. We know the value of sharing.” To a first time visitor (me), this makes you look much more human and less like a company. With free stuff, you don’t win a purchase; you win friends, fans, and followers. Consider me one of them.
11 August 2009 at 3:56 pm #
I don’t think there’s any better evidence to my claim above (about our free themes being top quality) than this. Thanks for the kind words!
14 August 2009 at 8:05 pm #
I couldn’t reply to your post below but RE: “45 premium themes … Some are dreadful to customize” – I totally agree. I’ve had a “free theme” turn out to be more work than making one myself from scratch, and it’s even worse when that happens with the paid themes! I am overall pleased with how easy customization is with these, being able to switch things around, add widgets and plugins, toss some extra css, etc without breaking the whole page. Themes where the page breaks reminds me of developers who haven’t left tabled design / the year 1999.
11 August 2009 at 5:40 pm #
I love that last line!
And similar to Jesse’s comment, it’s really great to hear this kind of feedback about our free products, as it confirms we’re on the right track!
11 August 2009 at 5:47 pm #
I’ve got about 45 premium themes at my disposal since I started buying them up in February, and have used hundreds since 2005. Some are dreadful to customize. I have really started to look forward to WooReleases because they all go pretty smoothly for me.
To me, a good premium (or free) theme includes good markup for both CSS and the PHP files, the ability to disable or transplant the custom features via PHP without breaking the theme right off, and innovative layouts to minimize customization surgery when a client wants things “just so.”
11 August 2009 at 5:51 pm #
Ya i agree
11 August 2009 at 5:58 pm #
I love anonymous comments. Thanks guys!
11 August 2009 at 5:58 pm #
When I first heard Adii call himself a “Rockstar” I thought the same thing. I mean he doesn’t even play an instrument.. do you?
But dig into what he has accomplished and I think you’ll change you’re opinion. The guy is a rockstar in his field!
In fact, I find his posts and tweets quite useful and inspiring.
11 August 2009 at 6:11 pm #
WordPress needs a rockstar
adii is the one 
11 August 2009 at 6:12 pm #
Honestly I was thinking he was arrogant as well. I was wrong.
Rockstar isn’t something just related to music. We say “this design rocks”. And I recon that WooThemes rocks, adii’s blog rocks and adii’s advices rock! Got it? Yes, he’s a rockstar. As you can be a rockstar in anything.
And he’s just not a rockstar, he teaches in his own blog how ANYBODY can be a rockstar in anything if you build something that rocks!
Now, do I get a free premium account? (joking
)
11 August 2009 at 7:16 pm #
Thanks, I needed a laugh this morning. Tuesday morning humor, woohoo!
Orrrrr … you could see it as healthy self-confidence and the understanding of good branding. But who am I to comment, I’m just a girl who plastered myself as a cartoon superhero on the top of my website!
11 August 2009 at 6:03 pm #
Thanks for the backup John!
It’s great to see that people who have something constructive to say, don’t leave anonymous comments on blogs.
11 August 2009 at 6:13 pm #
45? That means you’re a connoisseur of sorts, not!?
Which means your feedback means a helluva lot to us!
11 August 2009 at 6:14 pm #
Hehe, you’re not too bad yourself! Like what you’re doing over at WPZoom.
11 August 2009 at 6:15 pm #
Summed up pretty well there I think. “Rockstar” is ultimately just a word that I relate to and because of that, I’ve managed to create a brand around it. It’s not about being arrogant at all…
11 August 2009 at 6:16 pm #
Throw a few more compliments in there and we may just have to give you a free account!
Thanks for the kind words bro!
11 August 2009 at 8:17 pm #
The WOMM is definitely what we’re after (in marketing terms) with our freebies and the most important thing is that the quality actually needs to be evident, since a crappy freebie won’t generate that kind of WOMM.