Free trials · Two-stage online survey of basic and premium users, analyzed with principal-components measurement validation and structural-equation modeling; the publisher page reports a two-week separation between survey waves.
What drives subscribing to premium in freemium services? A consumer value-based view of differences between upgrading to and staying with premium
Information Systems Journal · 2020
Summary
For upgrading, enjoyment and perceived price value predict intention to move to premium. For retaining premium, ubiquity and discovery of new content predict intention; social connectivity has a small negative retention effect, while advertising intrusiveness does not significantly affect either outcome.
For your marketing
Possible founder application
Use this as a pricing or packaging hypothesis and define outcomes to measure; estimate effects with your own customer mix and willingness-to-pay evidence.
Reported result
What the study found
For upgrading, enjoyment and perceived price value predict intention to move to premium. For retaining premium, ubiquity and discovery of new content predict intention; social connectivity has a small negative retention effect, while advertising intrusiveness does not significantly affect either outcome.
Research question
What the authors investigated
Do the consumer values driving free/basic users' intention to upgrade differ from the values driving premium users' intention to retain a paid freemium subscription?
Design
Two-stage online survey of basic and premium users, analyzed with principal-components measurement validation and structural-equation modeling; the publisher page reports a two-week separation between survey waves.
Sample and setting
Finnish Spotify users: 467 usable responses after cleaning (208 basic/free and 259 premium users), recruited from a Finnish university student database and university-related Facebook groups; the study also interviewed 11 active Spotify users to develop two measurement constructs.
Scope and transfer
Limitations to keep in view
Explicitly stated: the study covers one subscription-based freemium service in one country, so broader contextual coverage is needed; the authors also note that survey research makes it difficult to control the zero-price effect.
Research sources
The publisher abstract says the model is tested on a leading digital content freemium service and explicitly contrasts upgrade versus retention drivers. The empirical section reports 467 Finnish Spotify responses, and the limitations section identifies the one-service/one-country scope. Direct publisher-page retrieval was recorded on 2026-10-09; profile summarizes the accessible record and does not claim independent review of inaccessible full text.