How would you feel if you were subscribing to, say, Asana, a project management tool. You were plodding along at the Premium plan for $11/month. You used it a lot, and kind of wished you had enough in your budget to afford the Business plan.

Imagine. You've been using, say, Asana, for a while. You are on the Premium plan but you have used the product less in recent weeks.

One day, you get an email from a Asana VP. He says, “Hey, I noticed that you are getting less value from Asana lately. We’d like to upgrade your membership, at no charge, to the Business subscription. You’ll get quite a bit more power out of the tool, and plenty more features. I hope you find it useful. The change is effective immediately.”

I’d say you’d be pretty happy about that. I’d even go on to say that you’d stick with Asana for a long time. How much did it cost Asana to upgrade your membership? Probably not much. A few pennies maybe.

How much did it increase your likelihood of remaining a customer? A whole lot.

Surprise gifts or delightful experiences are a powerful way of turning users into passionate evangelists. Not only do you amp up your marketing, but you also improve your retention rate.