Intro

In today’s market, freemium models dominate. Everything from Fortnite to Cursor offers a limited selection initially, but expands greatly once you opt for a higher price. Often, these features are locked behind a subscription rather than a one-time purchase, making it crucial to deliver ongoing value to users. Today, we’ll examine three freemium conversion flows: Spotify, Figma, the NYT.

Spotify

In Spotify’s value proposition, the most important benefit is listed first: ad-free listening. 

Strictly speaking, Spotify Premium doesn’t provide any new features. You can listen to music just as easily on the basic version. What Premium offers is greater control. Offline listening, specific song sequences, and managing the queue all help users customize their listening experience. Spotify even provides a free first month for some plans, making it an attractive option for those undecided. 

Figma

Figma’s upgrade flow is very feature-rich. First, they thoroughly highlight all the benefits you’ll get from your upgrade, using color-coded icons and a legend. 

Once you choose a plan, they ask you to specify whether you want to upgrade as an individual or with a team. This combination of enhanced features and collaboration potential forms the core of Figma’s freemium plans, and it encourages you to keep coming back month after month.

NYT

Finally, we have the NYT. Their approach is interesting because rather than subdividing their premium plan with additional features, they instead categorize it based on the features you want to access. 

Their model heavily relies on their credibility; you should want to subscribe to NYT because they’re trusted and proven. They create value for their long-term subscribers by being a dependable source for news, entertainment, advice, and everything in between. With the added option to pick and choose between categories, it’s a tough deal to pass up.