PLG: free-forever plan

Introducing product-led growth to a sales-assisted SaaS: a free-forever plan with deliberate gating, new positioning, and a migrated user base.

Role: Product manager and program manager
TEAM: 2 IT teams, 7-8 developers (front-end and PHP) with QA, UX and design experts, and data analysts; legal, compliance, marketing and customer success as stakeholders

Goal

Expand acquisition beyond high-intent, sales-ready buyers toward early-stage businesses and solo marketers who need free, basic tools to grow and nurture an audience. Use a reverse trial (first 30 days, then 14) to unlock premium features for users to try before they buy, while protecting paid conversion through deliberate gating and well-placed upgrade touchpoints.

Context

Acquisition had relied on a trial plus sales-assisted motion, which served high-intent users well but left no entry point for early-stage businesses that wanted to start small and grow into the platform. Without a free-forever tier, that entire segment either never arrived or was pushed into a sales conversation before they were ready.

What I did

Defined the free tier's boundaries: which capabilities are free forever, where the value ceiling sits, and which limits create an honest reason to upgrade rather than a frustrating wall.
Redesigned pricing around the new entry point and mapped gating and upsell touchpoints across the product journey.
Rebuilt account setup, onboarding and offboarding for users arriving with no sales contact, and reworked product navigation for a much broader audience.
Ran the migration of existing accounts into the new plan structure - a delivery program with legal, compliance, support and communications workstreams.
Developed new product positioning and value proposition, and shipped it localised across markets.

Outcome

Shipped

Shipped, launched publicly, and became a standing acquisition channel. Directionally: an expanded user base and higher MAU alongside an increase in monthly new paid subscriptions in key markets, growth in both directions rather than volume alone.

Stack & methods