Welcome folks! 👋

This edition of The Product-Led Geek features returning guest authors Raman Khanna and Natalie Marcotullio from Navattic. It will take 8 minutes to read and you’ll learn:

• How Navattic successfully transitioned from sales-led to PLG through a gradual, data-driven rollout strategy.

• The three major challenges they faced and overcame during the transition.

• How they improved their activation rate from 5% to 33% by implementing targeted product improvements based on user feedback.

Let’s go!

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GEEK OUT

How Navattic Overcame 3 Key Challenges To Layer on a PLG GTM

At Navattic, we transitioned to PLG after being sales-led for 3 years. When we were first considering it, we heard from a lot of companies who had rushed into PLG with a "launch and see" mentality, only to hit major roadblocks.

We tried to learn from that. Instead of flipping the switch, we “turned the dial” and gradually increased traffic seeing our experience over several weeks. This helped us avoid some of the most common problems in our transition to PLG.

An incremental roll-out of freemium

Navattic helps marketing and sales teams create interactive product demos. Customers use them on their marketing site (Ramp, Fivetran, Vitally) and as a follow-up asset in the sales process.

Over ~9 weeks, we launched to 100% of traffic:

Every turn of the dial allowed us to solve major challenges before public launch including:

1. Challenge #1: Sales Resistance to PLG

2. Challenge #2: A product not ready for self-serve users

3. Challenge #3: Fear of cannibalization & monetization

By the time we were ready to launch freemium publicly we were ready with a tested playbook, a smoother onboarding flow, and data that helped us feel more confident on the bet.

Challenge #1: Sales Resistance to PLG

When we first pitched PLG, it took some convincing to get our Sales team on board. They were, rightfully so, worried that freemium leads replace demo requests.

Not to mention, it was a completely new way of selling that there was no existing playbook for.

By doing a gradual roll-out, we avoided overwhelming the sales team with a flood of PLG leads. They had breathing room to adapt, experiment, and build confidence without the pressure of immediate scale.

Building the playbook together

To ensure alignment, we ran regular check-ins with sales, treating them as partners in shaping the freemium motion. Together, we crafted a PQL playbook.

A few key elements of the playbook:

1. Lead routing - Using Default, we routed leads based on company size

2. Identifying key product signals - Using Koala we tracked signals like publishing a demo or visiting the billing page. Setting up these notifications helped sales prioritize leads showing clear buying intent.

3. Messaging - With the early PQLs it became clear that they preferred to explore the product independently before engaging with sales.

Our Head of Sales and Head of Marketing discussed this shift on their podcast:

This shifted the team’s approach to be more consultative, positioning sales reps initially as problem solvers rather than deal closers.

This tactic was so effective that the sales team has even organized their own webinar series to help free-plan users get started.

By the time we scaled freemium to 100% of traffic, the sales team was ready. They had the tools to identify high-priority leads and had started to build confidence with closing PQLs.

Challenge #2: A product not ready for self-serve users

We knew that PLG relies on the product doing the heavy lifting. If users couldn’t activate quickly and see value, the model would fall apart.

Early in the rollout, we tracked how users interacted with the product. Our initial activation rate was a low ~5%.

With a slow roll-out we had the space (and the data) to make incremental improvements. With these early users entering the funnel, we could analyze their behavior in detail, identify points of friction, and rapidly iterate.

We worked in focused 2 week sprints, tackling one part of the onboarding and activation flow at a time.

For example, the core problem we heard from early users was that they weren’t anchored on their next step. They would spend a lot of time clicking between different pages or features without a clear sense of direction. This often meant they bounced right away.

So we created a more guided flow.

Along with templates and in-app set-up guides, we created a more hand-held onboarding where users entered their product URL, added captures, and were taken immediately to a demo builder to start creating a demo.

We also worked to make aha moments more visible.

We defined activation as publishing a demo in the product. We found that editing product captures (a critical step in building interactive demos) was 14x more likely to lead to activation, yet many users didn’t realize the feature existed.

Adding a clear "edit" button improved discoverability, leading to a +36% increase in edits and more demos published.

We made more iterations like these and spent time each week looking at the early users’ drop-off data and watching recordings to see where there may have been confusion.

1. User interviews - direct conversations with users gave us context around frustrations and what felt unclear.

Example: We heard in many interviews that users didn’t realize they could edit captures. This was a key feature tied to activation. This insight is part of what led us to make the “Edit” button more visible.

2. Session recordings - Watching how users interacted with the product highlighted friction points we couldn’t see in the numbers.

Example: We noticed users getting lost while trying to build their first demo. We also found that ~70% of our most successful users viewed the customer showcase and referenced it in building. This confirmed what we suspected - seeing good examples inspires users to take action. As a result, we introduced templates for common use cases.

3. Sales feedback - discussions with sales provided great insight into what users needed to feel confident upgrading.

Example: Sales reps frequently cited analytics as a reason users explored paid plans. Based on this feedback, we moved advanced analytics to paid plans, ensuring it remained a strong motivator for upgrading.

4. Drop-off data - we looked at moments in the activation funnel where there was high drop-off

Example: users who installed our Chrome Extension activated better but it was a friction moment with large drop-off. We placed it behind a blurred screen. This made it feel more purposeful (and like a gateway to the product). We also added our own Navattic interactive demos into the flow. Users could experience the value of key features firsthand instead of reading about it.

By the time we scaled freemium to 100%, we had improved activation from ~5% to ~33% and conversion from ~1% to ~5%.

Challenge #3: Fear of cannibalization & monetization

Our leadership team was worried about cannibalization. We knew that freemium could be a double edged sword. While it would open the door to new users, it also could risk existing customers downgrading.

But incrementally rolling out freemium allowed us to monitor its impact on ARR in real-time — and use that to reassure our leadership team.

We watched closely for signs of cannibalization to see if existing customers were downgrading.

In the first few weeks, there was minimal revenue impact with only 1 downgrade.

By the time freemium launched fully, the leadership team was bought in that it would complement, not cannibalize, our core business.

The progress felt slow, but it was deliberate

Launching freemium in phases required patience. Watching small pockets of users engage with the free plan didn’t feel transformative at first but was important to making sure each step forward was solid.

By the time freemium was live for everyone, we had:

1. A playbook for sales reps to handle PQLs confidently

2. A first user experience that went from ~5% to ~33% activation

3. Leadership alignment around freemium

The result was a more seamless transition to PLG without (as much) of the chaos that sometimes accompanies it.

An incremental rollout helped us see real data. We used this data to adapt what our strategy was and help make our leadership team feel more comfortable about a big bet we were taking.

Freemium is live, and we are now focused on optimizing our acquisition, activation, and monetization.

For example,

1. New entry points on our website to freemium

2. New ways to guide users to their first aha moment faster like better incorporating pre-made templates

3. New tactics to upgrade free users like offering trials of paid features

THAT’S A WRAP

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That’s all for today,

If there are any product, growth or leadership topics that you’d like me to write about, just hit reply to this email or leave a comment and let me know!

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Until next time!

— Ben

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