Specifically, HootSuite offered a series of professional plans that offer features such as additional RSS feeds to automatically update via your social networks, team members to help manage accounts and additional statistics.
According to their announcement, the expect that some 95% off all HootSuite users will remain with their free level account, this based on a recent survey they gave to their current users and analysis of their usage statistics, but clearly are hoping to turn more their users into paying customers.
Twitter users, however, have become accustomed to getting their services, whether on or off Twitter’s site, for free. So now that a major Twitter client has gone freemium, will Twitter users be willing to pay? HootSuite is gambling that they will.
The Basics
Basically, HootSuite has divided up its non-enterprise customers into 5 different tiers, each with their own feature set:
- Free: Allows users to monitor up to five social networks and ping out one RSS feed over them, displays ads.
- Bronze: Costs $5 per month, allows for an unlimited number of social networks and up to 10 RSS feeds, also removes ads.
- Silver: Costs $20 per month, same features as Bronze but adds unlimited RSS feeds, priority support and also allows access to 1 additional team member.
- Gold: Costs $50 per month, same features as Silver but allows up to 4 team members and access to more detailed statistics.
- Platinum: Costs $100 per month, same features as Gold but allows up to 8 team members and lets users have their own custom short URLs.
New users are asked to make their selection upon signup and current users will be asked to decide shortly.
In addition to the above plans, Hootsuite also has a $1,500 per month plan (no that is not a typo) aimed at enterprise customers that has all of the features of the Platinum account above but offers unlimited team members, unlimited social insights and provides training for users.
All in all, outside of possibly the enterprise offering, the deal is fairly straightforward and all that remains to be seen is if HootSuite’s users will be willing to part with their cash.
Not the First
To be clear, HootSuite is not the first Twitter Web client to use a feemium model. Pluggio, a Twitter client I love and pay for, has used such a model for quite some time. However, Pluggio has features that are compelling to me such as a friend locator and the ability to manage those who have unfollowed you (deciding to keep or unfollow back).
However, Pluggio remains a very small Twitter client that is relatively niche in nature. HootSuite is one of the most popular. However, HootSuite has always called its service a “free beta” indicating that there would come a time when they would start charging and that day appears to be today.
But with so many comparable Twitter clients available for free, including Web services like Seesmic Web and downloadable clients such as Tweetdeck, it may be a tough sell. Though HootSuite has done well in targeting a more professional audience, as indicated by the companies that use the service, it is also clear that most users will have their needs met by either HootSuite’s free version or other free tools.
Still, there may be a precedent set in the mobile market, where paid versions of apps for the iPhone and Android operating systems have done reasonably well, however, those are usually one-time fees of only a couple of dollars, not monthly fees upward of $50 or $100 for higher-end accounts.
Bottom Line
It’s hard to say how successful HootSuite’s foray into freemium will be. They seem to have crunched their numbers quite well and have the statistics to back up the move, but if there is one thing that is for certain, it is that humans are unpredictable in such matters.
So the question is this, would you consider paying monthly for a Twitter client? If so, how much and what features would you pay for? What do you think of HootSuite’s plans?
Leave a comment below and let the world know what you think.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment