The problem with free trials (and how to solve it) 🦄
Your free trials don’t convert? Here’s why:
Your ultimate guide to crafting irresistible SaaS free trials:
For our final post of 2023, we are busting 7 common myths about free trials, freemium models, reverse trials, and other fantastic beasts—an transform them into powerful tools for success. Ready? 🔥
Myth 1: “Users love free trials”
Not quite. Users love surprises.
These days, everyone offers free trials. People expect them. Free trials aren’t enough. In 2024, surprise your users: Extend trial periods unexpectedly, personalize greetings, or offer free access to premium content. This approach makes your free trial stand out.
Here are 4 ways to do so:
🕹️ Engagement-Based Rewards: Gamify the trial and extend its duration the more features people use (e.g. ProdPad).
💬 VIP Community Access: Provide a sneak peek into premium communities of your users, boosting perceived value.
👑 Make People Feel Special: Offer some users an unexpected personalized trial extension (e.g. Hootsuite).
🧠 Random Trial Extensions: Allow people to extend their free trial with a click, creating a sense of autonomy = better retention (e.g. Amazon Prime).
Myth 2: “Longer trials (30+ days) are better”
Think shorter.
Try 2, 7, or 14-day trials. Avoid the typical 30-day ones. A short trial creates urgency and prevents the “I'll do it later” syndrome.
Short trials also signal high value. Longer than 14 day trials can suggest your product isn’t worth the immediate attention.
Action Plan:
⏱️ Set Urgent Timeframes: 2, 7 or 14 days max.
💎 Explain the Value: Promote the short trials by explaining that they're due to the highly valued capabilities and short timeframe to get to the Aha moment.
Myth 3: “During the trial, I should give full access”
Limit access to increase value.
Restricting certain features can make the full version more appealing. Keep your main product's capabilities intact but showcase its potential through these exclusive features.
Action Plan:
💰 Exclusive Features: Reserve special functionalities for paying customers.
👉 Upgrade Prompts: Include upgrade calls-to-action within the trial.
🔋 Don’t Hide Value: Show the full potential of your product without reducing capabilities—let users reach the Aha moment with the features you give them during the free trial. The exclusive features should be extra.
Myth 4: “I need to personalize the experience”
Truth is, the *illusion* of personalization can be just as effective.
The secret weapon here is to create a sense of personalization. We can do that by asking people questions about themselves during onboarding. They will think the product then changes according to their needs, and that’s enough.
Action Plan:
🪨 Uniform Product Experience: Provide the same UX to all.
💘 Simple Personalization Questions: Just asking users about their roles or preferences can give a personalized feel, without altering the product. I did it once with a B2B SaaS—and just adding this tiny question spiked our engagement rates. It works.
Myth 5: “Onboarding checklists are a must”
Yes, but focus on sunk costs.
Only encourage actions that tie users to your product. More investment means they're less likely to walk away.
Action Plan:
🧩 Sunk Cost Elements: On the onboarding checklist, focus on things that make people feel like they’ve invested too much in the platform already, like integrating 3rd-party software and adding team members. My favorite example: Airtable heavily rewards users for every new teammate they bring.
🔓 Feature Unlocking: Gradually unlock features as users progress. It’s the perfect gamification since it rewards users for engagement, by driving more engagement.
🌈 Progress Indicators: Use gamification to show progress. The trick is to fake the progress —> as soon as a new user joins, artificially progress them to 50% or more. That’s the Endowed Progress Effect. Example: As soon as you join LinkedIn, you’re already at an 80% completion rate—even without providing any information about yourself.
Myth 6: “Access should be limited when trial ends”
There’s a twist: A “secret” ongoing access can boost engagement.
I’m not talking about Freemium or Reverse Trials (Elena Verna covered these models here); what I’m recommending is a literal free trial period that ends—but secretly continues.
If we don’t limit user access, a few good things can happen:
🦸♂️ Superiority Feeling: People will feel like they’ve played the system, attributing positive emotions towards your brand.
👋 More Touchpoints: If people are still engaged after the free trial ends, they will probably agree to speak with us; and we can learn/sell.
📚 The WinRAR Effect: It can become an industry-known “secret”, generating buzz and extra WOM. Just like WinRAR.
Myth 7: “I should send emails about features”
Focus on success.
Send emails about how the user has benefited, like time saved or efficiency gained. Real results speak louder than features. If there’s no success yet—simulate a “what if” scenario based on what you know about them.
Action Plan:
🔥 Highlight Personal Savings: In time, effort, or resources.
🌎 Impact Visualization: Demonstrate environmental or other impacts as a secondary success metric. If your product saves resources (like paper), show users their environmental impact during the trial (e.g., “You’ve saved 10 trees this week!”).
That’s it!
The bottom line: Make your trial an irresistible taste of what’s to come.
Cheers to a successful 2024 ✌️
- Tom
Great ideas here, thanks. I'm not sure if all of them can be implemented in Substack, such as a 2 day free trial, but I'll have to explore further. Cheers