Comments on: The Effect of Shorter Trial Periods for SaaS

By: John Hughes

John Hughes — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 15:00:00 +0000

We have just offered 14-day trials and are keeping an eye on usage, getting better conversion rates depends on sending the right message trying to prompt people to take those first steps. Like you, we feel we have changed the face of Case Management forever. Create, Manage, Report.

By: Duane Jackson

Duane Jackson — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 12:55:00 +0000

In reply to morningtime.

” People rather choose a broken free product than a working paid product.”

That’s an argument against free-forever trials – ie, classic freemium. This is about time-limited free trials. A different kettle of marine life.

By: morningtime

morningtime — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 11:48:00 +0000

According to professor Dan Ariely (Duke University) you should never offer a “free” version of something you’re trying to sell. People rather choose a broken free product than a working paid product. In order to curb that irrationality, the only solution is to drop “free trials” completely. You can A/B test that to be sure, but my bet is Prof. Ariely got it right.

By: morningtime

morningtime — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 11:45:00 +0000

I think the effect of “Free Trail” may be that people sign up for the wrong reasons. In other words: these people will never be paying customers. I’d like to see you continue your experiment by completely dropping the Free Trial. Perhaps you’ll lose some visitor->trial user conversion, BUT, I predict it will have 0 effect on final sales. Instead of wasting time on people who never plan to use your service, you can focus your time on paying customers. I think the Free Trial need is an irrational fear.

By: Harish K

Harish K — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:59:00 +0000

Its a good experiment 🙂 Hope this works for you in the long run.

Other question that may be required to be answered or may be you have answers for them already

Q What about trial extension requests? How do you deal / plan to deal with it.
(If trial is extended, it defeats the purpose of shorter trial period.)

By: Beardy P

Beardy P — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 15:47:06 +0000

I wondered why only 14 days trial, now I know. Congrats it takes nuts to do that but I agree. As a freelance procurement specialist I used to find software for clients and only had the 14 days to look at it and make my recommendations. Sorry Daniel but from experience long parrallel trials etc don’t work as they are too resource expensive & hot companies make fast decisions and implementations, but, I have to know/identify the risk issues & solutions for the client before they do it. Your approach: no card details, walk-away, no tie-ins etc. removes nearly all the usual problems and creates an immediate confidence level. But, if I cannot see it and trial it first (for free at that) I won’t recommend it, buying pigs in pokes is for suckers!

By: David S

David S — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 12:45:45 +0000

I think that the 60 days trial is, perhaps, too long and if prospect customers are interested in the product as they are trying it, they will convert way before the trial period is over.
Nevertheless, 14 days is too short as a trial period since it’s not enough time to try the software, taking in consideration as well the dynamics of a business.
I think 30 days is the right length of time to try a product.

By: Daniel Harris

Daniel Harris — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 21:39:34 +0000

Interesting – As a prospective customer, something that is preventing me from starting the trial is that I don’t think its long enough to enable us to sufficiently test the KashFlow system. I really want a 6 month trial where I can run it alongside our current systems and work out how much its going to require for us to switch systems.

By: Apple Jane

Apple Jane — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:31:44 +0000

There are lots of saas products posted in http://www.saasmash.com. Try to visit and see what’s the best range of time is working good. Is it the 60 days, 30 days or down to 14 days?

By: Tom McClelland

Tom McClelland — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:35:59 +0000

Very interesting Duane.

Over the years we’ve found tens of KF prospects but very few conversions. Most never even entered their first transaction or customer or supplier.

The theory that the 60 day trial generates a “back burner” effect rings true. The initial burst of enthusiasm dissipates before the potential client even bothers to try using the software and find out how easy it is. Placing a little time pressure on that is counter-intuitive but in fact sounds correct and likely to lead to more actual users.

By: Matt Chatterley

Matt Chatterley — Thu, 17 May 2012 06:30:25 +0000

Great post Duane – thanks for sharing the results (so far) – looking forward to hearing a bit more on this in a few months time.

Like Darren, although we had the option of the 60 day trial, we knew pretty quickly that KF was for us. The main reason we were willing to try in the first place was actually the ‘no hassle’ approach – no card details, no rememebring to cancel – just walk away if it’s not for you.

Thats one aspect of the model which is critical in my view (removes almost all of the barriers and objections to signing up for a trial). The actual duration.. well – as you say – if someone genuinely needs a bit longer, you can always give them an extension!

By: Darren Crannis

Darren Crannis — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:22:14 +0000

Hi Duane,

Although I was one of the original 60-day trialist, I’d made up my mind within 15 minutes – and this is true to those who I’ve recommended KashFlow too.

I must admit some people were a little stuck in their ways with old traditional accounting practices or the common “S” product people seem to buy & never use properly – and I’m glad to say that within a 15 minute trial of KashFlow there were hooked (even if their accountants aren’t!).

I think a 14 day SaaS trial is the way to go – focus’ the mind and ensures businesses will really commit to evaluating the product properly.

Darren

By: Guy Nirpaz

Guy Nirpaz — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:20:37 +0000

Duane, great and informative post. The good news is that your business was impacted positively by the change.

We have ran a free-trial research and learned that 60% of SaaS companies offer 14-30 days free trial, only 2% offer 60 days trail. This doesn’t mean that it may not work for you, however, I do believe in the ‘wisdom of the cloud’.

The blog post with all the details is here: http://www.totango.com/blog/2012/02/freemium-free-trial-and-pricing-models-in-550-saas-companies/