28 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
28 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Is It Better To Offer A Free Trial or Not?

by mikeb209
24 replies
What's up warriors. I need some quick input to help me on my decision.
I got a membership site that I'm going to be promoting pretty soon and I'm pondering whether I should offer a free 3 day trial or not.

Has anyone ever had a membership site and did a free trial and noticed a huge jump in sales as a direct result? Or just alot of freebie seekers downloading your shit then canceling?

Thanks for your input.
#free #offer #trial
  • Profile picture of the author DotComSecretsTour
    I like the idea of free trials and it gives the customers a chance to see what you have to offer before committing. I'm sure you'll have some cancellations, but maybe this is something you can test out? Or just have a membership site set-up but run special promotions that at certain times will allow people a free 3 day trial. It also depends on your niche...are they simply information seekers/researchers or are they buyers? Have you taken a look at Russell Brunson's micro-continuity program and maybe think about setting it up that way? I can give you the basics of it if you haven't heard of it, just let me know. There's been some buzz on this forum about it I'm sure because it was a recent big launch.

    Anyhow, hope that helps.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[959545].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author bobsedge
    You will get some freebie seekers but you will also get some fence sitters, who otherwise would have abandoned your offer, that will try your product and decide to continue or forget to cancel.

    The question is will your membership site offer them three days of content or will they be able to get all your content? If its three days of content you have little to worry about. If they can empty out your content you may want to consider a system that drips the content.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[959570].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Koop
    I do something entirely different... rather than do a free trial, I charge the full membership fee but give an extra month or two.

    So, if my membership was going to be $29.95/mo I might make my initial offer $29.95 for the first two months, then $29.95/mo thereafter

    This has improved my conversions tremendously and increased stickiness a bit too.

    If you do a great job of overdelivering AND offer a bonus to all those who stay for the first regular monthly billing cycle, most (though probably not all) will stay.

    Good luck with your decision,
    Kevin
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[960178].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author artwebster
    Only offer a free trial if your membership site can not be fully exploited in three days. Face it, if you have everything loaded and ready to go - it will go and then there is no reason for the 'members' to stick around.

    If your membership site has value and that value can be presented in monthly increments all you need to do is convince the 'free trialers' that it is worth sticking around to get more good stuff.
    Signature

    You might not like what I say - but I believe it.
    Build it, make money, then build some more
    Some old school smarts would help - and here's to Rob Toth for his help. Bloody good stuff, even the freebies!

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[960194].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Adrian Cooper
      Originally Posted by artwebster View Post

      Only offer a free trial if your membership site can not be fully exploited in three days.
      Good point.

      Many membership sites are exploited in this way.

      That said, a true membership site is not about once only content paid for multiple times, it is about adding new content every month.

      Even then a free trial can be exploited to the extent of the existing content. This is a technical issue that I am currently addressing.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[960254].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author wbakhos
    Love a good free trial... but people might wonder whether they will be able to evaluate in 3 days. Maybe 14 days?

    But I would recommend making it a $0 trial so that they have to put in CC details or pay $0 via paypal. This way as soon as the trial is up they get charged as you have their details.

    Other than that to have to go back and ask them for payment will be tough and you'll lose plenty of people.

    All the best
    Will
    Signature
    Jimmy Data... Turning hours of client Adwords reporting into seconds. Save time, money and wow your clients. Brilliant
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[960235].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author jasonl70
    I agree with David - it should be simple to just test this and find out yourself.

    Let real numbers and results lead your actions whenever possible.
    Signature

    -Jason

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[960354].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author wealthisnow1
    Good and nice idea. In this way, the customer feels easy to try and more chances to have customers.:rolleyes:
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[960432].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Raiel Schwartz
    I'm using amember and I am going to be launching a membership site soon. Is there a way to "disable" users from downloading from a certain section of your website while they are in a "trial" period. Obviously - they can view the page (so they know what they will be getting) but they cannot download anything from pages you select.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[960449].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Don Schenk
    There is a fellow selling business information through his membership site. He calls himself the billionaire businessman because during the mid 1980's he owned a company that was doing $3.5 billion a year.

    So about 2 years ago he set up a membership site at $100 per month through which he would teach you everything he could about business. He gave members total access to his membership site.

    People would sign up for the $100/month membership, download all 29 of his videos, and a stack of audio files, then cancel.

    He changed the membership to $83/month and charges it all up-front. It's a $1,000 payment for the year.

    With total access, I'll bet people would do the same to your membership site.

    :-Don
    Signature

    Studies prove happier people have massively more success. It has worked for me. Use this one trick too... Click Here

    Total Competition Stomper - Simply the most powerful tactic your IM or Offline business will ever use... See it here!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[960818].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author RobertAxelsen
    If you are afraid that people will download all your material at once, install a script that delivers one new video/module/lesson every week/month.

    I am sure there is some wordpress plugin for this. Can anyone recommend some?

    I know launchformulamarketing .com has it included in their membership site softwar, but it's rather expensive...

    I run my membership site by simply sending a new link via autoresponder every week. Simple, but effective.

    As for the trial, I am doing free 14-days then billed every month for 6 months. Just launched, will let you know once I have some statistics.
    Signature
    Want YOUR OWN website or blog?

    Let's Create Your Website Together...
    Live event (with free mindmap) shows you how to easily create your own website.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[960829].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Good News Now
    It all comes to the Value. The free trial works like a magic but if you fail to impress costumer with the value at the beginning stage then it will be hard to keep them in.

    Vadimus
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[960909].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author mostphere
    I also run a membership site for my fellow marketer in my country, and during the prelaunch me and my team offering live chat so they could ask about the course they will get into after joining, but none of them ask about 'do i offer free trial' or 'can i get a free trial' questions.

    And they jumped in to join. So I guess, not offering free trial is OK, it wont effect your sales, i guess. And one tips is, after sometime you can try offering your membership as 3-7 days free trial and you can see how profitable is that.
    Signature
    Awesome Gifts You Never Think Of - Check it out!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[960960].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Mr McDonald
    Iam a partner in a new unlimited leads autoresponder, we have offered a free 7 day trial and it has proved to be a brilliant idea. Currently conversions to payed members after the trial period is hitting just over 60%.
    I will use free trials again , its something everyone should consider seriously.
    Signature
    This is A Little Weird But It Will Get You A Flood Of Targeted Free Traffic On Autopilot.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[960980].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Stephen Root
    You really can't compare tool membership to content membership. It's totally different. With tools trials work but I think with content it depends on your retention and average member months if you offer $1 or charge full. Know your numbers people!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[960986].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Joey Frat
    First off, congratulations on setting up a membership site. That is an extremely smart move and I have one in my sights in the years to come.

    As far as the free trial goes, I would absolutely recommended doing that. As a member of 3 membership sites all of them offered the free trial. From a customer stand point this was a plus as I could test drive the site and determine if it was worth it.

    As long as your site holds value and can help the customer, there is no reason why they won't remain a member and pay the normal monthly fee after the trial period.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[961152].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author David-JP
      I'm using amember and I am going to be launching a membership site soon. Is there a way to "disable" users from downloading from a certain section of your website while they are in a "trial" period. Obviously - they can view the page (so they know what they will be getting) but they cannot download anything from pages you select.
      You can use the incremental content plugin to drip feed the content- so they only get so much content during the trial, then the rest after X days.

      David
      Signature
      Free Report: How IM Gurus Pull in 100k-$2mil A Year (Its Not What They Teach You)
      ---------------------------------
      The Nuts and Bolts of Starting-Up and Running a Successful Membership Site
      ==Membership Academy== aMember/Wishlist Hacks and How To Videos
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[963820].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Rich Struck
    Why let a bunch of freeloaders in? If you give them everything for free you can rest assured they will take it and run. Try a $4.95 or $7.95 trial instead because at least then you know they have a credit card.
    Signature

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[963833].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Stephen Root
      Originally Posted by Rich Struck View Post

      Why let a bunch of freeloaders in? If you give them everything for free you can rest assured they will take it and run. Try a $4.95 or $7.95 trial instead because at least then you know they have a credit card.
      I agree 100%. Many of the new generation internet marketers don't understand the concept of qualified lead. The more users the better is usually the mantra. I guess it's one of those things just like "money is in the list" that you hear again and again but you can't understand it until you "mature" a little bit in the business
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[963869].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author HarrisonJ
    You could always offer a coupon code that gives the first month free, then have a good affiliate program and get bloggers to make posts with the code saying to use the code to get 1 month free. Lynda.com has had much success with giving away 1 month free codes.
    Signature
    FREE get 50 website visitors traffic clicks from BuySolos.com
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[963837].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author athibaul
      We used to offer a free trial on our product. A few months ago, we changed it to a $1 trial.

      This resulted in significantly less support efforts, and we are still converting as many clients as we used to do.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[963878].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Emily Meeks
    Everybody's had good points here. Now, I'm not assuming you'll do this to anyone, but it MUST be added...

    If you *do* collect credit card info, make sure your customers know they'll be charged once the trial is up, and if they cancel, make sure the process is easy. Nothing pisses a customer off more than fine print, and then finding it difficult to get their money back. That extra $39.95 or whatever you've held onto would destroy your relationship with the customer, who might make it his business to trash your name to anyone who listens.

    Just because a free trialer cancelled doesn't mean you've lost them. If you've provided good information and a free affiliate progam, they'll probably go out and try to make some money. It's all about relationship-building
    Signature

    In all that you do, know your True INTENT...

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[963860].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author da1fitz
    Being very close to the point of promoting a new membership/course site that has been almost 2 years in the making, an initial free trial membership wouldn't be an option considering that the content within for the targetted niche is gold dust.

    That said as mentioned above if you split the distribution of your information into parts (weekly/monthly) so long as you have long term ongoing content to provide then a first week/month trial may well work for you.

    Good luck
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[964009].message }}

Trending Topics