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Kill your credit card-less free trial.

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Re: Kill your credit card-less free trial.

#31

Post by belorn »

A bit annoying article. The phenomenon that article describes is not about credit cards, but instead of the psychology behind actively unsubscribing vs passively unsubscribing at the end of a free trial.

Most people has a tendency to inaction. If you give users two services of equal worth, but in one you need to unsubscribe to get rid of it and the other the default action of doing nothing results in unsubscribe, more people are going to end up paying the first one because they forgot or did not care enough to go and unsubscribe. Scammers who sends false bills use the same concept, as they simply hope some people will just automatically pay and not think or even read what the bill is.

In the end, using a credit card trial where the user need to actively unsubscribe at the end of the trial will give you more users who dislike your product or simply isnt using it at all. However, hopefully its enough of a barrier so people who wish to have a "viral" product can't use it.

Re: Kill your credit card-less free trial.

#32

Post by amirmc »

lucian1900 wrote: post #30
joewee wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't spam, its marketing to people who opted into receiving communications from you in exchange for a free trial of your service. As long as you stop shortly after the trial period there is nothing wrong with it in my opinion. I actually really enjoy a good series of marketing communications from a product I'm evaluating to 1) show me how others are using the product 2) point out a product benefit I might not h…

> in exchange for a free trial So I pay for the trial by being spammed? What kind of logic is that? You're telling your users "buy this product to get spammed even more!". Are you sure you want your users' money? They aren't, at this point. Marketing must always be opt-in. > I actually really enjoy a good series of marketing communications from a product I'm evaluating I suspect you are in a small minority.

You've completely glossed over the fact that sending those emails leads to people using the service. Are you suggesting that those users are angry and still handing over the card details?

Of course it would be much better if companies could only email those users who they knew were going to pay (and not bother the other percentage who wont). Until this magic exists, companies will send email because it works. Those who do not are holding themselves back.

Re: Kill your credit card-less free trial.

#33

Post by vbuterin »

relix wrote: post #15
lucb1e wrote: post #7

Just know that I won't be using your product. And most of my friends have no credit card either. Besides not being able to sign up, I also wouldn't want to. From what I heard about how credit cards work (as opposed to debit cards, which I think is the right term for the cards that we commonly use here), I'd never sign up for a free trial and give the developer (and any potential hackers) the permission to withdraw ar…

Then you're not the target market. If you have no credit card, it's very, very hard as a global website (i.e. not localized to the Netherlands) to accept money from you. So if that's the case, then they don't even want you as a customer, because you have no way of paying them.Giving you a free trial is then counterproductive.

It's actually really easy.... ( http://bitpay.com )

Re: Kill your credit card-less free trial.

#34

Post by lucb1e »

martin-adams wrote: post #18
lucb1e wrote: post #7

Just know that I won't be using your product. And most of my friends have no credit card either. Besides not being able to sign up, I also wouldn't want to. From what I heard about how credit cards work (as opposed to debit cards, which I think is the right term for the cards that we commonly use here), I'd never sign up for a free trial and give the developer (and any potential hackers) the permission to withdraw ar…

I'm curious about how you would become a paying customer to a service if you don't like providing your details online. PayPal? If you're never willing to pay then there is very little incentive for a business to want to support your needs. In the UK, a credit card give you much more protection than a debit card and is safer to use online. http://www.money.co.uk/article/1003471-how-section-75-of-the...

That I'm reluctant to give out personal details doesn't mean that I won't do it when something is good enough that I want to pay for it. Paypal is a perfectly fine payment option... as long as that doesn't require a credit card. I don't know how, but somehow Grooveshark made their Paypal button in a way that only accounts with credit cards are accepted. Totally useless.

Re: Kill your credit card-less free trial.

#35

Post by porker »

arkitaip wrote: post #29
joewee wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, at least one person said it! ;) I signed up for a free trial of bigcommerce to compare it to another e-commerce platform. I signed up and just never got around to using it. And then bigcommerce sent me a customer service email titled "Need some inspiration?" with examples of how other companies are using the service, three days later "Hear from other successful online merchants" with case studies of successful…

I'll make a mental note that this might work for certain apps provided clear opt-out is given and the email frequency is reasonable.

Frequency is key. Possibly twice a week, but preferably once a week maximum.

Re: Kill your credit card-less free trial.

#36

Post by jasonkester »

lucian1900 wrote: post #30
joewee wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't spam, its marketing to people who opted into receiving communications from you in exchange for a free trial of your service. As long as you stop shortly after the trial period there is nothing wrong with it in my opinion. I actually really enjoy a good series of marketing communications from a product I'm evaluating to 1) show me how others are using the product 2) point out a product benefit I might not h…

> in exchange for a free trial So I pay for the trial by being spammed? What kind of logic is that? You're telling your users "buy this product to get spammed even more!". Are you sure you want your users' money? They aren't, at this point. Marketing must always be opt-in. > I actually really enjoy a good series of marketing communications from a product I'm evaluating I suspect you are in a small minority.

I suspect there are still a few users out there that consider receiving four emails in exchange for a free month of a $50/month product to be a fair exchange. Or at least not unfair enough to get this upset about.

Over the years, I imagine I must have sent out something like twenty thousand of those mails for S3stat alone. Some people do indeed click the Unsubscribe link on those mails. I've never had anybody complain that they were "spam" though, since "hey, I hope you're enjoying the service, let me know if you have any questions!" doesn't really trip too many people's rage filter.

Apologies if you've signed up for our trial and I sent you a thanks message. I didn't mean anything by it.

Re: Kill your credit card-less free trial.

#37

Post by TomAnthony »

There is a strong argument that many people hear alarm bells when asked for a credit card for a free trial. Yet, there is a valid case for wanting to overcome people's inaction, where people just don't bother to sign up (some of whom would actively enjoy/benefit from the product if you could persuade them to look deeper).

I wonder if there is a model that goes someway towards addressing both of these:

1) One month free. No credit card required.

2) Another month free (with more 'credits' or whatever), if during that first month you supply your credit card details. You will automatically be renewed if you don't cancel, but are free to do so (and will get reminders).

In this way, people get to try the product without alarm bells. They get something in return for demonstrating their interest, by way of more free time and you giving them access to more 'credits' (monitor more servers, look at more profiles, whatever it is).

This helps overcome their inaction, but avoids the alarm bells. Not sure how well it'd work but would be interesting to see.

Re: Kill your credit card-less free trial.

#39

Post by nfm »

Like almost everything, there's no simple answer as to whether requiring a credit card to start a free trial will be net positive.

This is very dependent on your product, market segment, trial length, pricing, and many other variables. You need to test this out for yourself.

Re: Kill your credit card-less free trial.

#40

Post by Ntrails »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #25
arkitaip wrote: post #22

This strikes me as dangerous advice that's very business centric instead of focusing on how customers think and act. Contrary to what every business owner wants to believe, their business isn't particularly amazing or magical and customers have no problems abandoning them during evaluations if there's the slightest conversion obstacle. Not letting customers try out your service before entering credit card details? Ye…

Requiring credit card details is a good way to make people distrustful of you. In my case at least, I am extremely wary if I'm asked for them, because it always seems that the free trial is not actually free and the site owners want me to not come back but end up being billed unwittingly.

I agree wholeheartedly. Often I will auto-cancel subs immediately after sign up to make sure paying is a conscious choice, but will discover they've considered this as a possibility. So the 30 day free period is instantly ended when I cancel the auto billing part way through. That may be a gripe of my very own, however.
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