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Ask HN: Is a free trial a bad idea for my startup?
I'm making a B2B product that I expect to cost $30/mo for eventual business users. I want to increase adoption, so I was thinking that my product would have a 3 month free trial before requiring any payment. Does anyone have any data or anecdotes to suggest whether this will improve or hurt my chances of getting a paid customer? A lot of people lately are saying "charge from day one", so I'd like to hear what HN thinks.
- motoford 14y agoI think you need a trial, but not 3 months. How long does it take someone to realize they can't live without your product? Make that the trial length, even if it's only a day.
- habosa 14y agoI do want to keep the trial short, however this is a user-facing product for small businesses and I want to allow for some time for the customers to become familiar with my service before the business makes a decision on buying it.
- motoford 14y agoIf you have a long trial period it gives the user too much time to slack off using the product, then not convert at the end of the trial. If someone is paying they are more likely to use the product and thereby making it more valuable to them. The 1 day thing was just a bad joke, but without knowing anything about your product it's hard to imagine giving 3 months for any trial.
- redspark 14y agoI don't think you will get an acceptable answer on here. Especially without giving details of your product. That being said, the only way you can know for sure is to test it with real customers (your target customers). Invalidate your assumptions! First determine what an acceptable conversion rate is. Then I would start with a comprehensive feature tour and good copy. Show the customer how you are going to make their life easier. Drive everything through that page. Track your conversion rate. Even if your conversion rate is acceptable, offer a short trial - track your conversion rate. tweak, test, track...
- yedingding 14y agoA free trial is good for people to find the values of your product. However, whether 3-month trial is good or not depends on your product. For product which value will not increase with time, the longer trail will not increase the conversation rate. I think you can test the different trial period to see how it works. It's not good to "charge from day one", but maybe it's not bad to think about "ask for CC info from day one". It will stop some users to use your product but will bring more serious users.