We used to believe every SaaS needed a free tier, but hard to use apps usually lose free signups right at onboarding. Without built-in community templates or direct guidance most people drop off within minutes.
Switching to a short paid trial forces users to have skin in the game making them more likely to walk through setup examples and discover real value.
A waitlist used to mean a demonstration of demand two years back. However, seeing products with 5,000 sign-ups and an initial activation rate of less than 4% shows how the list only meant curiosity and not intention.
With my most recent product, I tried to change things around. I never went with the usual form but rather had just one question during signup: What are you currently using? The responses helped me more than knowing the count ever would. Three respondents mentioned the same spreadsheet which ended up being our very first feature for imports.
