Powered-By Watermark

A “Powered by” watermark is branding placed in the output your product creates: a badge on a free-tier website, a line under an embedded form, a mark on exported images, or a signature line in sent email. Each thing your users publish also shows your product. Hotmail’s “Get your free email at Hotmail” signature line is the classic example. Website builders and form tools use the same idea today.

How it works

The watermark appears next to a working example of the product. Someone looking at a well-made site who sees “Made with [Product]” has already seen what the product can do. The watermark answers the viewer’s question, “What made this?”, at the moment they are curious.

How to do it

Place the watermark where the output is seen: a footer badge for website builders, a signature line for email tools, a corner mark for design exports, a line below forms, an end card for video. Keep it visible but small.
Link the watermark to a landing page built for this traffic, not your homepage. For example: “You just saw [Product] in action. Make your own,” with a clear signup button.
Remove the watermark on paid plans. This gives users a reason to upgrade and keeps your highest-volume free users as your widest distribution.
Design it to look good. A small text link or clean badge builds credibility. A large, ugly watermark pushes users to competitors.
Tag watermark links with UTM parameters. Measure the landing page conversion rate, split by the type of output the click came from.

What to measure

Watermark click-through rate — clicks on the watermark divided by views of pages or files that show it.
Watermark-to-signup conversion — signups from watermark traffic divided by watermark clicks.
Upgrades for watermark removal — upgrades where removing the watermark was the reason, from exit surveys or plan-change data.

Best practices

A/B test the design: text vs. logo, light vs. dark, and position.
Match the landing page to where the visitor came from. A click from a form builder badge should show form examples and a “build your own” button.
Watch how much free-user output gets published. High volume is a sign the product is useful and the watermark will reach more people.

Common pitfalls

A watermark so large it hurts the user’s work. It should read as a “made with” credit, not a penalty for the free plan.
Sending watermark clicks to the generic homepage. These visitors have already seen the product and need a different pitch.
Removing the watermark on every paid plan. Consider keeping a subtle version on the lowest paid tier.