[B2C subscription] Are free trials effective?
Hi there,
After a year of iteration and tests with users, I'm getting traction and I'm launching the Premium version of my nutrition database (for a specific disease and diet).
Got my first paying customers, so I'm super happy.
Pricing is 5€ a month or 49€ a year.
I'm wondering if a free trial is worth launching. Or a one or 2 months test deal for 1€.
I expect my lifetime value to be over a year.
The service is already accessible and can be tested by all without having to create an account. They just see that some listings are restricted to Premium users, so they already know what the service is like. There are extra features though.
Do you have any hints, examples or best practices?
I think I'm like a Netflix/Spotify for this diet, so it's not a light commitment. You think about it long and hard and when you commit, it's for the long run.
Spotify offers a 30 day free trial, Netflix no.
Thanks!
@emal Want to check out this - https://www.indiehackers.com/post/saas-trials-web-summit-learn-from-profitwell-chargebee-userpilot-and-more-447a0c7f85 ?
wow thanks!
I cannot say with confidence here since I'm experimenting myself. We used to have 2 week trial and in the email mentioned that it can be extended if you ask. In the beginning people were dropping off after 1 day. Eventually we had few people asking to extend which made me try to increase that to 6 weeks for all. The reason being is that if you start using/testing the app regularly it's hard to do so in 2 weeks (helping with product planning and roadmap building). To a degree that helped but also brought another problem: it takes ages to see whether the user converts.
Thank you, best feedback I got so far. Could you tell me what your product is about? Is there a paywall at the beginning or can user test it easily first hand? As I said, mine already have a pretty good idea of what that can be as I have no paywall.
It's called shipit and it helps you plan your roadmap and manage product development cycle (from the product manager's point of view, not dev's). We use quarterly approach to planning so doing that in 2 weeks (if you actually try the product) won't really work because it takes longer to plan and update your roadmap. Half term seems like a nice length of the trial during which you can get committed if you have spent time setting it up and it would also give you idea whether the tool works for your use-case.
The reason I mentioned conversion is that even though we track various metrics to see the engagement, a lot of users still drop off for no obvious reason (at least for me). I am constantly trying to contact them but none reply. But that's another problem.
For me personally longer trials work much better. In many cases spending 1-2 weeks is simply not enough to set the tool up and start applying it at work. As others here mentioned, 2-3 month trial or Spotify and Netflix can hook you up to the service and make you pay because by then it becomes a habit.
Ages ago in a company I worked for we spent 4 months setting up and integrating with Okta only to find out after 2 weeks of active usage that it simply doesn't work for us. Wasted soooooo much resources and money on it only to ditch it. If it were a 2 week trial we'd never tried it in the first place.
As for the diet, if you don't have problems attracting paying users, I'd say try a different approach: affiliates. Tell your users to invite 5 friends and if they do, give them 6 month free contract. Your idea of $1/3-month "trial" is also great and I would totally try it if I were looking for something similar. I did subscribe to a handful of services that had such a deal.
Many, many thanks again, very insightful.
I just start getting paying users, so I'll see in the coming weeks if I can convert beyond the core fans that I've gathered over a year. And I can't have a referral programme with my users, because it's a diet linked to a disease, so few chances you know people with the same condition.
But yes, the $1/3-month "trial" should make sense for me, as you said I should hook them and make it a habit.
Maybe 2 months, or even one should me enough in my case, as it's almost a daily usage, they should know pretty fast if it makes sense for them.
As for you, I haven't spend much time on your website but with the problems you're encountering, I'm wondering if the pain point is strong enough for your target, compared to alternative solutions. Is your service a "must have" or just a "nice to have"? It's really really hard when you're in the "nice to have" corner.
Also, an objection I might have for a product like yours, is that as it's a big commitment to move a company on such a tool, somehow you should reassure me you're still going to be there in 2 years. I don't want to risk switching everything to you and risk having to move because you're too small and didn't make it. Just my 2 cents!
Well, even if you're one of the oldest investment banks like Lehman Brothers was, you can't give guarantees you'll be there in a year :-D But nevertheless these are all valid points. There is a data export functionality in case we end up in that 95% of failed startups :-)
The market I'm in is small but it's growing steadily. Most of the competition is 2-4 years old only, and they manage to attract customers. One of the problems I see/think is that it's also hard to please this target group because they are all "spoiled" by the nice UI of other products. We're getting there but very slowly.
As for commitment, yes, it is. This and next week working on the tools to help you import data from Jira in order to have a faster overview of everything and make a decision about the product.
Doable! Keep working ;) We're all in the same boat, with our doubts. That will pay!!!
As a user I would say yes ! Haha but it can be hard sometimes to make users to pay. You have to think carefully about your business model if you choose to have a free plans for customers.
Example of a friend of mine they have a lot of free users but very few are paying.
I'm a big fan of a limited free plan, that users will quickly rub up against. There's definitely some considerations here:
I wrote a lot about why you may want to consider freemium on IH: https://www.indiehackers.com/post/your-pricing-model-is-killing-your-growth-4b99ada1ba
thanks Kevin, great insights!
Yes, we implemented a freemium plan and it skyrocketed signups and conversions. Letting users test out your product before purchasing will give them more confidence to ultimately sign up.
was your product accessible without the freemium plan? Because mine already have access to quite some content, a bit like a newspaper that only restricts some of its articles.
Oh. No, ours had a paywall at the start.
If yours has access to content, I would go ahead and do A/B tests to see if conversions increase.
Personally I like services that allow me to use them in a limited way so I can see the value, and then upgrade.
I have used Spotify for several months before upgrading, and also took Netflix 3 months free deal that was available in my country before upgrading.
Many thanks! I have the same feeling as you. The difference is that my product is already accessible for free without having to create an account, so they can already "taste" it pretty well. With some limitations, but more than enough to use it for weeks and get some value. Work in progress!
Great, so you are already doing it!
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