Trial is more than half the battle
View Comments Published by cory January 21st, 2012 in Brand Strategy, Marketing Strategy.Word is that Google+ has over 90 million registered users which is a meaningful, but perhaps a confusing stat. Unfortunately, trial isn’t necessarily going to translate to repeat use or purchase, but the first time through has become critically important. The test of success is moving from trial to repeat in a number of areas since the cost of trial is going down rapidly.
In most areas of consumer marketing, trial is a big deal. For non-web consumables or durables, you have to buy to try, but the Internet is a different beast. Freemium is the expectation, not the exception, meaning that trial is mandatory as part of the use experience.
As a result, marketers and product managers have to focus on the out of the box experience for web AND consumer products. The early buyers have become highly important influencers by relaying the purchase experience to others via Amazon or epinions. The early adopter purchase process is quickly evolving to into a funded marketing event that is a viral marketing opportunity, good or bad.
This isn’t new, but this puts even more focus on early buyers and a great experience. Some examples to follow…