Done a $1 Trial Launch? Come in here...we need to talk!

Sorry if the following answer sucks...

It depends.

Are you going to touch base with them ahead of the rebill to let them know that their trial is running out and they're going to be charged the full amount for the next installment?

Are you going to hit them with cliffhanger/teaser info about what's to come the following month (or week or whatever)?

Is all your content pre loaded in the membership area where people can download it all at once before their $1 trial runs out? If so, have you done anything to make them want to stay (i.e. put out a schedule of what additional content will be added and when)?

There are too many different ways for publishers to do things to rely on anyone else's experiences as average for everyone. Your best bet is to test your offer.

In your example, if 50% cancel you still have 250 recurring customers. If you hadn't offered the $1 trial you might not have anywhere near that. So really you need to analyze the effect of the $1 trial on your ability to acquire customers, and compare that to your other offer(s)' ability to acquire customers.

Thanks for sharing Chuck.

But I'm guessing, your trial was a FREE trial?

The % should be higher even by charging $1....thats what I hope to find out

Yes virtually ALL of our membership sales came/come from annual subscriptions.

When we began the paid membership we polled our members, it was free at the time but NOT with any content but rather a forum, and asked THEM what they thought the pricing should be. Well, we priced it BELOW what everyone said they were willing to pay for what we were going to supply.

We intentionally produced content that was not downloadable because people would take the 30 day test drive, download the content and then leave. I think that was the big test and people that thought they would get all of this content downloaded during that 30 day period had a rude awakening!

In fact, server logs showed us that a lot of people who bought the 30 day trial went to the site a couple of times, found out they couldn't download then never came back! What a world we live in!

We use the membership section as a loss leader to generate other product sales. I have a friend that uses their paid newsletter and membership section to pay for their marketing budget. Their's makes approximately 10 figures a year!

chuck

Very interesting. I am currently on month 5 of my membership service and only charge my members monthly at present.

Looks like i'll have to think seriously about testing an annual subscription as well.

Thanks for the input.

Roy

Hey Ernie,

These two highlighted points that Pete made are the one's to
focus on as far as I'm concerned.....

Especially the perceived authority one.

If you look at Chuck's example......He is perceived as a Golf
authority, so his membership results are because members are
prepared to trust Chuck's advice on how to improve their golf.
It's a very personal thing and impacts on the member's increased
ability.

So, if your targeted audience see you as an authority, your success
will be that much greater than if you are seen as just another
so-so marketer.

Hope that makes sense...

Regards

Greg

yes this is correct..

So its hard to give relative stats etc..

e.g. I spent over 6 figures developing the product, people get access to this development, for just a buck... the $1 will convert very highly, and from the $1 to full price will convert pretty well for a high ticket item also..

Im rewarding my existing customer base by offering entry level at a reduced price, to reward them for their loyalty. Which is another reason I expect the high conversion rate. Plus with the 7 day trial, they can use the product and hopefully profit from it within this time frame.. some will some will not.

It will convert well because of the percieved (and real in this case) value..

So focus on the value you are providing, provide a lot of social proof. whack in a few surprise bonus's during the trial period.. all these things will help your conversions. You are selling yourself as much as your product mate.. So get your perceived value right up there aswell.

Cheers

Pete