7 Excellent Lessons Internet Marketers Must Learn From ‘Free’ Windows 10 Upgrade

Microsoft officially launched Windows 10 on July 29, 2015 with a ‘free’ Windows upgrade tag. Unlike earlier version of Windows operating system for which you had to burn your pocket, Windows 10 is completely ‘free’. Earlier, Microsoft had officially made it clear :

Yes, free! This upgrade offer is for a full version of Windows 10, not a trial. 3GB download required; standard data rates apply. To take advantage of this free offer, you must upgrade to Windows 10 within one year of availability. Once you upgrade, you have Windows 10 for free on that device” – Microsoft

Due to Windows 10 Free Upgrade Offer, Microsoft’s lovers as well as haters have mixed reactions. Normal tech savvy users are (happily) quite thankful for greatness of offering free upgrade while Microsoft’s haters are doubtful whether Windows 10 free upgrade is really free or does it bear some hidden prices in the near future ?

7 Excellent Lessons Internet Marketers Must Learn from Free Windows 10 Upgrade

So called ‘free’ Windows 10 upgrade may have high cost to windows 7 and 8 users but internet marketers are busy in estimating the potential revenue loss for Microsoft due to free upgrade offer and figuring out the reasons why Microsoft is willingly ready to bear such huge revenue loss.

7 Excellent Lessons Internet Marketers Must Learn From ‘Free’ Windows 10 Upgrade

There are as many as 10 secret reasons why Windows 10 upgrade is free but if you are an internet marketer or run any business, instead of figuring out this and that – you may learn few important lessons from Windows 10 ‘free’ upgrade.

Wondering what lessons you may learn ?

Here are 7 excellent lessons internet marketers may learn from ‘free’ Windows 10 upgrade :

1. Nothing Gains More Customer than Offering New Product for ‘Free’

Everyone (including Microsoft) is certain that Windows 10 will gain maximum upgrades in quick time as compared to all earlier Windows versions launched ever. This means more new as well as existing Windows users will be on latest Windows platform. And what may be the better situation than this if a company’s latest product reaches to its customers as “hot cake sales” ?

No doubt, Microsoft has already ensured that maximum of its customers get Windows 10 by offering easy upgrade for existing as well as new users through Windows Insider Program. But what is most lucrative offer for customers is Windows 10’s ‘Free’ tag.

As an internet marketer, what you may learn is :

“When you are launching a new product, offer it to your existing as well as new (potential) customers for free – may be for limited time, for limited early birds, with a large discount or whatever else seems affordable to your marketing investment budget”

Doing so makes sure that your existing customers remain happy and you get more happy customers as well as your newly launched product gets sold like hot cakes. – Something what every business owner dreams.

2. Get Your Customers on Same Platform Like Windows 10 Ecosystem

Just like Apple’s ecosystem of allowing users to access and manage all their assets through same account and same App store across all iOS and OS X devices, Microsoft is also ready to focus on single platform. Thus, building a powerful ecosystem for Windows users across all devices.

Due to this, Windows developers will be able to focus on same platform for improved features, much enhanced security and better user experience for users across all Windows devices.

Being an internet marketer, your lesson :

“Your business might have different community of target customers. For example, if you are running a business website, after Google’s update on mobile friendly search results you are more likely to improve your website’s mobile friendliness for better rankings in Google search results.

Though you may create a different version of your website for mobile users but better idea is to get a responsive design so that you may focus on your all screen-size customers through the single website. No doubt, focusing on same platform will improve your productivity.”

3. Keep Your Primary Product Free with Supporting Product Purchases

Windows 10 is free. Even Windows 10 comes with pre-installed apps like Candy Crush Saga already available on your device. Can you spot the exact reason why ?

It is because, Microsoft knows that Candy Crush Saga has become a global phenomenon with over 500 million game installs across mobile and Facebook, and more than $1.33 billion in-app purchases spent in 2014

Your takeaways as an internet marketer :

“If you are launching a software product, create two/three versions of software with basic version for free but limited features. However, in order to remove those limitations and enjoy complete features, your customers need to make purchases for Pro-version or supporting add-ons.

For example, MailChimp is an email marketing software which allows you to grow your email list for free up to 2000 subscribers with basic free plan. But basic plan comes with limitations of not having auto-responder enabled. Therefore, MailChimp customers need to pay for auto-responder in order to enjoy seamless features. Similar can be done with your products/services.”

4. Launch Entirely Fresh Product to Gain Customer’s Lost Belief Like Edge Browser

Microsoft’s web browsing property – Internet Explorer has always been a centralized topic for discussions about some of the greatest Microsoft’s failures. The reason is : IE has got many bad reviews and has been abused by web-surfers all around due to its cluttered design and ‘not so good’ user interface.

While working on Windows 10, Microsoft decided to improve its browsing facility and re-gain the lost belief of customers for its web-browsing property. That’s where the idea of ‘Project Spartan’ striked in their mind. They decided to launch completely new web browser – Microsoft Edge. That is the reason why Internet Explorer is buried somewhere in all apps of start menu in Windows 10.

As an internet marketer, your lesson :

“If your last product was complete failure and got many bad reviews, thus causing loss of users belief then instead of trying to improve the same product, dump that in dust-bin and start freshly something new and innovative just like Edge browser’s innovative annotations feature which is built for ‘doing’ and not just for browsing.”

5. Keep a Close Eye on What Your Competitors Are Doing – Cortona Integration

A trend that Apple started with Siri, years back and followed by Google Now to make your device able to listen and talk to you, Microsoft is adopting it with Windows 10’s Cortona integration. Don’t get me wrong, Windows phone users are already experiencing Cortona before Windows 10 but it’s first time that Cortona is coming to desktop/laptop PCs.

Guess why ?

It’s because Microsoft knows what their competitors like Apple and Google are doing.

As an internet marketer, your takeaways :

“In order to stay ahead of your competitor, you need to know what your competitors are doing and implement those ideas in your own business model. If you take initiative and do it first, you’ll lead the industry but even if you couldn’t – it is always better to be a follower and keep running along with your competition than letting them go ahead of you.”

6. Make Changes But Keep The Basics Same Like Windows 10 Start Menu

Throughout the various versions of Windows, Windows’ start menu hasn’t much changed. Though with Windows 8, Microsoft tried to experiment stuffs by introducing ‘start screen’ instead of ‘start menu’. But with Windows 10, Microsoft went back to basics with ‘start menu’.

As a business owner, you might have freedom to experiment stuffs and try new ideas in your business model but your primary focus must be on your basics. For example, in order to increase conversions on your business website, you may try various split test ideas for A/B test. But your primary focus should be to improve customer’s user experience.

Believe it or not, doing so will help you maintain your existing customers in long run which is always beneficial from smart marketing point of view.

7. Get Ready to Fail Again Even If You Are Doing Everything Right

Microsoft is (somewhat) doing everything right even before launching Windows 10 and (hopefully) will keep doing right things after the launch also but that doesn’t ensure Windows 10 will be a grand success. Again, don’t get me wrong ! I’m not saying Windows 10 will be a big failure. But Microsoft has to be prepared to deal with failure.

As an internet marketer, even if you are not leaving any stone unturned to drive more sales and conversions, this doesn’t guarantee your business success. Even your past success or failure hasn’t any role to play with your future success. Your success depends totally upon how much your customers are going to love your products or services. Anyway, get ready to fail again.

The Pro Review from TechReviewPro

Though with free Windows 10 upgrade, Microsoft is trying to follow the footprints of Apple’s operating systems but with introduction of Microsoft Edge browser and its amazing features, Microsoft has a reason to compete with Google Chrome web browser – which is right thing as a users perspective.

Because getting a stiff competition will force Chrome to improve its features more often. What do you think about free Windows 10 upgrade and what lessons you learnt ?

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Meet Author

Rahul Dubey

Rahul is a tech geek, author, blogger, podcaster, YouTuber and a keen learner. Rahul enjoys learning, testing, and messing up with new tips and tricks, apps, and gadgets. He has been writing for several years and has even contributed to popular Magazines like Huffington Post. When he is not making this site better or shooting videos for TechReviewPro YouTube channel, you can find him helping people in groups, forums, and private communities. He is very down to earth person and believes in Karma, hence he never misses an opportunity to help others. Got a query? Ask him via Email: [email protected]

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • sir
    kindly give me a link so that i can upgrade

    thank you

    • Hi Sachin,

      Upgrading to Windows 10 totally depends upon the Windows OS version you are currently using. If you are on Windows 7/8/8.1 simply turn on automatic updates and you’ll see ‘Get Windows 10’ icon in bottom right side taskbar as soon as your existing Windows OS version are up to date.

      Once you see the Get Windows 10 icon, click “Reserve your free upgrade” in the app window where you are required to enter your email and confirm your reservation.

      Once your upgrade is reserved, you’ll get notification with upgrade link automatically considering your device and reservation should meet all upgrade criteria.

      If you have already signed up for Microsoft’s Windows insider program simply login and you’ll easily be guided to upgrade page.

      For upgrading to Windows 10 using a USB or external drive, follow this official Windows 10 download link where you may download Windows 10 for 32-bit version as well as 64-bit version.

      For any issue related to Windows 10 upgrade and more information, you might consider to visit official page.

      It is worth noting that Windows 10 is currently available for Tablets and PCs only. The Windows phone users need to wait. 😀

      Let me know if I may help you further. Thanks !

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