Angie's List is a company launched in 1995 by Angela Hicks to provide online customer reviews for home repair and maintenance jobs. To collect such reviews initially, Angie, by herself, started going door-to-door in Columbus, Ohio, and asking people for a list of reliable service providers they would recommend to others. The company grew more and more every year after that. In 2016 for example it had expanded to serve more than 200 cities and 700 service categories, each with curated customer reviews. For access to such high-quality reviews, consumers had to pay a subscription fee. In 2016, Angie's List had a three-tier pricing model, with consumers choosing between subscriptions costing $10, $30 and $60 per year. These options differed in the amount of information consumers had access to on the site. For example, with the $10 subscription, consumers could view home, car, and yard reviews for their local market (not national), while with the $30 subscription consumers could additionally access health and wellness reviews, as well as view national reviews. Finally, the premium subscription also offered consumers access to a dedicated priority support line, as well as a complaint resolution guarantee.

However, in 2016, many other online companies offered access to online reviews, the largest among which were Yelp, Tripadvisor, and Taskrabbit. These services relied on advertising for revenue, with consumers getting access to online reviews for free. These reviews were posted voluntarily by previous customers and included a star rating and a text for each review.

Faced with declining membership rates as consumers substituted to obtaining reviews from other free sources, in 2016 Angie's List had a choice to make: introduce a free tier to their paid subscription model or continue with the subscription model they had used since inception.

1. What should Angie's List goals be in designing the free pricing tier? List at least two goals.
2. Does offering a free tier make sense? List at least two advantages and two disadvantages for Angie's List if it were to offer a free tier and then make your recommendation.
3. Are there alternative strategies that Angie's List could implement apart from adding a free pricing tier that will increase profits and value for consumers? If yes, defend your proposition. If no, explain why.