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How many goals can I make for free? How do I get more?
- How do I request free goals in exchange for feedback?
- Why do I get a free goal when I derail?
- How do I check my goal limit?
Every user starts out with three goal slots available. If you make three goals, and then later archive or delete a goal, that frees the slot back up and you can make a new goal.
There are also two ways to earn more free goal slots: you get an extra free goal slot every time you derail (provided the pledge is $5 or higher, and that the charge isn't cancelled for any reason), and the Beeminder support team can give you extra goals in exchange for feedback.
For more info and the whys and wherefores, check below!
How do I request free goals in exchange for feedback?
When you have no more goal slots left and you click on the button to create a new goal, instead you'll get the option to request another free goal. Fill in your feedback in the box that pops up, send it along, and the support team will read it and give you a free goal or two!
If we have additional questions and an in-depth chat about that feedback, we can add more than one free goal, as well.
Why do I get a free goal when I derail?
The full details are in the feature announcement blog post, but here's the short(ish!) version. Ready?
Basically, it's a good idea for us to limit the number of free goals people get right out of the gate, because sometimes people sign up, get enthusiastic, make a lot of goals, and then find that they can't keep up with all of it, or that they don't want to beemind all these things overall. We've heard the feedback over and over again that we should encourage people to start slowly, because people just don't consider what it might be like to be committed to twenty goals all at once, without any routines in place.
Voila: everyone starts out with just three goals.
On the other hand, you have really keen people who want to get committed right away. Well... those people can sign up for premium, and get unlimited free goals right away. But that means that people who can't afford to get premium, or don't want to, get stuck with only three goals ever -- which is at odds with our decision to focus on revenue from pledges, which means that we want most people to be perfectly happy with Beeminder on the free plan.
So we want to make sure there are ways for people on the free plan to be able to expand, experiment, and elaborate on their goals. Hence giving out goals "sting-ily": if you're derailing, you're probably used to using Beeminder, and fully on board with what it all means, so it's a good time to give you the ability to spread your wings.
We hope to add more milestones in the future for stuff like setting up goals with an integration or adding 50 datapoints, if this experiment works out well!
Because it's a new feature, we'd love to hear your feedback about it. Hit us up!
How do I check my goal limit?
It's in your account settings under New Goal Defaults and looks like this:
Keywords: core Beeminder, free goals, parceling out goals sting-ily, premium plans