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> Free trials should not require a credit card. I'm not in business to provide services to people who want stuff for free permanently. They complain on forums, raise stink and spend nearly no money. They are not my customers. I always ask for a credit card for a free trial. The fewer non-customers signup, the better it is for me.
Big yikes.
I'm curious which of these approaches would have the biggest impact on bringing that SaaS waste down.
My favorite recent one was a renewal if you don't cancel by a deadline that's months ahead of the actual end of the contract period and it also had a substantial rate increase and all the language that we supposedly agreed to wasn't actually present in the contract we signed.
Those terms were in one of those "incorporate by reference" clauses where it says this contract incorporates terms and conditions that are at the following URL and it's 45 pages into the fine print of that URL. I mean supposedly, since it's their URL and could just change the terms whenever they want and lie about it.
Which by the way wasn't clickable in the Docusign. Basically it was in an unlit basement behind a sign that said beware of the leopard.
It's not ethical. It's just exhausting to deal with some of these companies. I think we all know who they are, they tend to be concentrated in the field of SaaS companies that cater to the sales and marketing functions.
Lately I've had what I've found to be a fairly clever solution however. We wrote up a standard document that contains our terms and conditions for SaaS providers.
The key clauses basically say "We hereby give formal notice that we do not consent to any automatic term renewals, any automatic price increases, any charges to credit cards made 'on account' without our specific consent as to the date and amount charged. To the extent our agreement requires advance written notice of any of the above this letter serves as that notice." and so on.
Then we send it certified mail to the company's corporate HQ address and keep the tracking number. We do this on the same day we sign any software contract, it's basically an automated process at this point.
So whenever it comes around, and it has, we just say sorry we've already given formal written notice we don't consent to that. Here's a scan of the document and the USPS receipt maybe work on your internal communications.
The fact that we have to do this is apalling but hey it's better than the alternative.
> Free trials should not require a credit card. I'm not in business to provide services to people who want stuff for free permanently. They complain on forums, raise stink and spend nearly no money. They are not my customers. I always ask for a credit card for a free trial. The fewer non-customers signup, the better it is for me.
What's your thought on alternatives, like Ahrefs' $7 for 7 days trial?
1. Whoever tries the service at least theoretically met minimum qualification to be a customer - they have a credit card and can authorize several hundred dollars on it.
2. We get the real lead.
3. We limit the number of people who recycle free trials -- this happens a lot.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What would you recommend products that host the service and have ongoing upkeep costs to do?
I would recommend the creators ask themselves if their software _really_ needs to be hosted or can it be sold as a one-off (self-host or desktop/mobile).
> Free trials should not require a credit card. Collecting your payment information is an obvious red flag that you will be billed as soon as the free trial period ends. I remember many people on HN defending this pattern saying that they are not interested in people who don't want to provide their CC details, that they are bad customers, they just want a free ride, and they are not sorry for setting it up like this.…
At most it could be a signal that a business intends to be a douche, but that’s only because douchey companies ruined it. Just like duchey free customers ruined that for everyone.
My employer probably thinks payroll is a “grey” pattern by this logic.
"Free trials should not require a credit card."
This is opinion presented as fact. This is not a dark pattern. Totally unrestricted free trials are wonderful, you've invested a ton in your product and you want a prospective customer to experience everything. But there are legions of abusers and bad actors of all kinds. Having an opt-in to use/abuse your platform for 2 weeks is not always viable. Card up front is not a perfect filter, but it's helpful in turning this noise way down and letting you focus on helping actual prospective customers become successful with your product.
> That’s a big NO. Unused seats? Still gotta pay for ‘em. (It’s called “SaaS waste” for a reason.)
You committed to paying for 50 seats for a year. The CRM may have made decisions based on that commitment, such as hiring people, or themselves committing to bigger plans with their providers.
Why should they get screwed because you choked? Don't commit to long fixed periods if there is any doubt you won't make it.
> Free trials should not require a credit card. Collecting your payment information is an obvious red flag that you will be billed as soon as the free trial period ends. I remember many people on HN defending this pattern saying that they are not interested in people who don't want to provide their CC details, that they are bad customers, they just want a free ride, and they are not sorry for setting it up like this.…
That seems like a reasonably balanced transaction on both sides, not sure it fits into this framework. There are so many far far worse practices out there.