"A random user who is never going to become a customer" may still recommend your service to others, if they like your site in principle, but decide after trying

"A random user who is never going to become a customer" may still recommend your service to others, if they like your site in principle, but decide after trying it that it isn't for them. Or, if they come away with a good impression, they may think of you before your competitors if they need such a service later. For instance, I've never given http://nearlyfreespeech.net http://nearlyfreespeech.net a cent personally, because I don't need a website at present -- yet I've recommended them to about half-a-dozen people who've gone on to sign up with them, because their website makes it easy for me to understand what they've got going for them. Also, when I do need a small website, they're at the top of my list for hosting. As such, structuring the UX so users who are currently ambivalent about paying you in the future are forced to make a decision now may be good for your conversion rate, but I don't believe it's self-evidently good for the size of your customer base long-term. Consider a real-world analogy: if I go into a shop, just to browse, with no intent to buy anything at the time, and the staff are frosty to me because of that, I'm gonna badmouth that shop to my friends. I believe most people would do likewise. Maybe I'm just an idealist, with my liking to think of the business-customer relationship as a co-operative one, with both sides working for their mutual betterment. The "customer experience is merely a means to higher profits; if it needs sacrificed to achieve that goal, so be it" attitude turns that relationship into an adversarial one. I find that... distasteful. To the point that I go out of my way to avoid businesses that I feel are trying to manipulate me through their UX -- the archetypal, pushy door-to-door salesman, for instance. Maybe that's just me. I like to think not.