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by gnicholas 2981 days ago
Good point — this is something we need to address. Our most popular products (browser plugin and iOS app) both have free trials so that people can see how much they like to read with BeeLine. The iOS app actually has very significant free functionality, so if you just want to use it as a reading list (like Pocket/Instapaper) you can do so for free via the Share Extension, which populates an offline reading list.

Things get more complicated, as the browser plugins are subscription ($2/mo or $22/yr) and the iOS app is one-time IAPs (mostly a few bucks, but more for the Kindle feature). I'm not sure how to succinctly communicate this, but you and other commenters make clear that we need to have some info here.

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts!

1 comments

Thanks for the follow up. What if I have a website and I want all my pages rendered in Beeline? I immediately noticed being able to read faster and more comfortably. I view Beeline as a conversion optimization tool.
We have a JS widget that can be dropped into websites. I'd be interested to see if we can increase your conversion rate or other key metrics.

CNET did a study [1] that showed BeeLine readers were much more likely to finish an article, but it would be great to take things to the next level and see how that translates into purchases or other conversions.

Shoot me an email! contact@[domain]

1: the CNET study is discussed at the bottom of this article http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/05/a-bett...

PS While your wife is pretty awesome thinking on her feet, I don’t see the case for ML providing meaningful optimization for Beeline. Maybe you dodged a bullet getting a pass from a VC with unrealistic expectations.