Industry
Communication
Client
Mattermost
Designing a Freemium Experience and Purchase Flow to Drive Upgrade Awareness and Conversion
Enhancing Freemium Clarity and Streamlining the Path to Purchase
My role
Lead product designer
Project time
~6 weeks
Results
40% increase in trial activation
Mattermost planned to adjust their business plan by re-introducing a free plan option for their customers. This re-introduction of “Freemium” brought on new challenges:
- How might we encourage users to upgrade to paid plans?
- How might we demonstrate value to users who don’t yet have access?
- How can we provide a great experience while still limiting Freemium?
In this project, I designed a trial experience and purchase flow to improve clarity around feature access and drive awareness of premium offerings. After conducting user research, I learned that many users on the free plan were unaware of the advanced features available through paid tiers, leading to missed upgrade opportunities and confusion around product capabilities. Through additional testing and iterative design, I developed a solution that highlighted the value of premium features contextually and made the purchasing process more seamless and user-friendly.
Key Objectives
Create new Freemium experience that:
- Clearly communicates the limitations of the freemium plan
- Demonstrates value of paid plans
- Encourages users to begin a trial experience for a paid-plan
- Improves ability to upgrade
Surface access to plans modal via touchpoints
Through interface audits, I learned that the path to upgrade was hidden and not easily accessible. It was hidden in the administrative System Console that was used by the most technical user on the team, which didn't always align with who was initially testing the product out. By adding upgrade and trial touchpoints where there were none before we increased access to the plans modal and offerings. With greater eyes on plan offerings, we opened the funnel for trial requests and upgrades as well.
Clearly communicate workspace limits
How might we communicate the workspace’s data limits to the user?
To better surface the workspace’s data usage in relation to the data limits, I decided to utilize the main dropdown menu. Given that there are data limits around board cards, messages, file storage, and integrations, I made this section on the menu dynamic to only reflect the limit that the workspace was closest to hitting. I used color to communicate how close the workspace was to hitting the limit and included clear call to actions to view plans or upgrade options.
Encourage upgrade and trial activation
How might we communicate to the user at different points in their trial journey which features belong to which plans?
I focused on transparency and communication by highlighting paid features where relevant and using them as access points to start a trial or upgrade.
Impact
40%
increase in Enterprise plan activations
The redesigned freemium experience and purchase flow led to a 40% increase in Enterprise plan activation, increased user engagement with premium features, and a clearer understanding of the value offered by paid plans. By surfacing upgrade opportunities contextually—at the point of need—we reduced user confusion and improved the overall perception of the product’s capabilities. The simplified purchase flow lowered friction in the conversion process, making it easier for users to evaluate and commit to upgrading. Early feedback showed higher click-through rates on upgrade prompts and a measurable lift in conversion metrics, validating the impact of the new design and setting the stage for future growth initiatives.