Getting Rid of Our Cheapest Plan: A Memoir

ReadMe, a company focused on developing interactive developer hubs, decided to discontinue their $14 Documentation plan, which primarily attracted users seeking documentation for side projects, due to its high support demands and rapid churn rates. Initially offered for free, this plan eventually proved unsustainable as it required disproportionate support resources that hindered the development of new features aligned with the company's broader mission. After ending the plan on December 16, the company observed positive outcomes, including a decrease in revenue churn from 5.4% to 2.5%, an increase in monthly recurring revenue (MRR), an improvement in lifetime customer value from $1,384 to $2,627, and a reduction in daily support messages from 25 to 15. These changes allowed ReadMe to focus more on higher-paying customers, enhancing their overall satisfaction and enabling the team to allocate more time to feature development, thereby positioning the company for sustainable growth and better service delivery.