Pop ups! Who likes them? I guess everybody hates them because of some reason or the other. In most cases, people just don’t know how they work. But, for sure sticking a pop-up on the screen definitely jolts everybody’s attention towards them.
Basically, pop-ups serve to be a solution to show vital information or messages such as increasing the social followers, increasing the mailing lists, adding call to actions, or to display any other important information using a simple pop-up. But, what say about a freemium pop-up appearing on your WordPress theme? Do you appreciate it? If yes, then what about the other pop-ups? Should you allow all other pop-ups too? Well, this post highlights some of the insights regarding freemium pop-ups in WordPress themes.
Discussing Freemius for WordPress
Arguably, freemium is the most well-known business model for plugins. Freemium basically means that you are offering a version of your product for free. You are presenting an opportunity to the users to upgrade the plugin by using prompts all through the plugin. It grants all features and more access to support, add-ons, licensing, etc. either for one time or for a subscription based time period. The freemius model really works, but it has some challenges too. Freemius is permitted in the WordPress Plugin Repository for both plugins and themes.
Recently, I encountered a robust discussion about Freemius pop-ups involving top WordPress professionals. Let me provide you with an overview of what they discussed. Kevinhaig, member of WordPress community opened up his curiosity regarding Freemius. Another WordPress professional, Christianraiber says that Freemius is not an upsell, but just an opt-in form. He didn’t come across any such thing before, so needed some feedback from the community. Well, I must say Sir, you really triggered a trendy topic!
Williampatton joins in saying,” Selling through freemius is only possible for plugins.” Kevin calls it just a tad too much! Christianraiber says, “I guess we need to allow admin notices for upsell.Opting in for analytics is certainly allowed, I understand that,” Kevin says. “I, for one, don’t see any issue if the notice is dismissible, even if it is an upsell. You click ‘x,’ and it disappears. Then, Williampatton gives a broader view by saying,”admin notices are not for upsell they are a place to post admin stuff like a notice to install recommended plugins.”
Right after that Kevin shows his disliking towards a pop-up appearing inside the dashboard of his own site. Pretty cool. This is what most others feel too about pop-ups. During the discussion, Williampatton brings in the topic of customizer. And the topic got interesting and included more brains to join in. People gave their opinions, some in favour while some against.
Kevin dived in saying, “What’s stopping other authors from using popups? If that popup is permitted, then we should consider allowing other types of popups as well, I believe. Personally, I agree with Kevin on this point; it does make sense. The main focus was specifically on opting into the analytics. According to Kevin, users should have the option to rate themes negatively if they find the pop-ups annoying.Some called Freemius as simply a promotional strategy and asked for exception. Poena,” if Freemius is explicitly permitted to create popups for requesting opt-ins for analytics, then I see no reason why others would need to request an exemption. It’s clearly an allowed feature.”
The Bottom Line
Overall, it didn’t actually conclude. But, we explored important topics and discovered the different requirements people have regarding Freemium pop-ups in WordPress. I believe that pros and cons go side by side. If seen, for sure Freemium pop-ups are really worthy to be there facilitating certain essential concepts. While on the other hand, they could be an extra addition on themes that simply one doesn’t want to get acquainted with. Test Freemius out and see for yourself. You may get surprising results.
