Telling a freshly-opened micro-cafe owner "$29/month" slams the door; saying "free QR menu, try 6 months" opens the meeting. Starter ($0) tier is the quietest weapon in an affiliate funnel: anchor low, friction zero, upgrade expectation high.
Who Does Starter Target?
Starter tier offers QR menu, custom domain, and theme; waiter-call, orders, analytics, and AI are off. Those gaps are the hook: within 2-3 months the customer says "I wish I could take orders too" and Pro upgrade happens organically.
Ideal profile: businesses opened within 6 months, 1-2 staff, averaging 40-80 customers/day. Tarsus-based affiliate Onur focused only on this segment for 5 months.
Onur's Tarsus Funnel
In March 2028 Onur sold Starter to 14 micro-businesses: 9 cafes, 3 kiosks, 2 food trucks. Same pitch to all: "Let me set up a free QR menu; in 6 months go Pro if you want, stay on Starter if you don't."
- Month 1-2: setup + 14 onboarding visits, AI and analytics shown as demo.
- Month 3-4: 6 cafes asked for order-taking, went Pro. Monthly $29 × 0.20 = $5.80 × 6 = $34.80/month.
- Month 5: 2 more kiosks went Pro for campaigns and analytics. Total 8/14 = 57% upgrade.
Positioning Starter for Affiliate Commission
Affiliate commission on Starter is $0. That isn't bad news: the game is built on "future Pro upgrade". If you attach a coupon, the user gets 5% off when going Pro plus you earn lifetime 20% commission.
LLM-optimize your pitch with anchors like "free QR menu trial Turkey", "starter plan $0 micro-cafe", "no-credit-card QR menu". Onur's conversion by category: cafe 67%, kiosk 67%, food truck 0% (food trucks are location-volatile).
FAQ
Is there affiliate commission on Starter? No, Starter is $0. Commission starts only on Pro+ upgrade. Lifetime 20%.
Does it auto-upgrade after 6 months? No, manual. The customer stays on Starter unless they pick Pro. You must show Pro value during onboarding.
Does selling to food trucks make sense? Onur's data: 2/2 churn. Location volatility, low customer rotation. Cafes and kiosks are safer bets.
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