Feedly Pro - Freemium Win
Although the RSS landscape is crowded with interesting competitors right now, Feedly made the transition from Google Reader the smoothest and offered a free product that did most of what I wanted, so while I tried some of the alternatives, most of the time I just went to Feedly as if it were the new version of Google Reader.
So, when they announced Feedly Pro this morning, I snapped it up. They hooked me several ways:
- They were running a free product I already knew and liked.
- They offered some nice premium features and the promise of more at a cost.
- They offered a lifetime price. I'm a sucker for lifetime (e.g. one-time) pricing, even when they're higher than several years of that service might be, and even when I don't know if the service will survive.
- They offered that lifetime price in a limited fashion (first 5,000 users), encouraging me to make the decision on the spot, rather than defer it and forget.
Although using those techniques helped to sell me, ultimately, I'm happy that Feedly is working to make themselves sustaining, and I'm definitely willing to be a part of that.
Feedly is not perfect, but it's come a long way in a short time, and it's been a very smooth transition from Reeder to Feedly for me. So smooth that I haven't been spending as much time with its competitors as I had expected to. They have an ambitious plan, and I've been impressed with how they've been excuting since the Google Reader shutdown was announced. They've supplied me with a good amount of value at no cost, which increases my willingness to give them money without feeling like I need to worry about the specifics of what the pro features are and how important they are to me. Essentially, they've established a fair amount of goodwill with me, and I'm willing to give them some money in return.
Even if I eventually spend more time with Feedbin, Feedwrangler et al, I don't think I'll regret purchasing Feedly Pro. Congratulations to Feedly for making a splash with their first attempt at a commercial offering.