As soon as your new software is ready to launch, there’s always going to be the question of how you get it to the masses.
Some go down the free app route with adverts, subscriptions, or even the freemium model. Others have more a stake and see the path to profits as being one of charging higher prices for the use of their software.
Looking at the way that other online-based software businesses are going about it, you’d have to imagine that free trials or discounts are good way to get in for a premium bit of software. So, we’ll look at how they do it and the pros and cons of following these kinds of campaigns.
Different Ways of Appealing to Potential Users
It’s tough to convince online users to buy into your software. The approach one digital platform takes is to give newcomers more ways to play after signing up.
The free spins no deposit UK players can claim give them 50 free spins for signing up to use on a collection of the site’s best games. After that, a £10 deposit will get another 50.
Before committing real money, the new users get a chance to try out the offering, and then get extra time to do so after putting in the minimum deposit.
Some other software operators go down the approach of giving a limited offering that’s free to all, with big features locked off for subscribers or paying customers.
This is the approach of WorldAnvil, a world and story creation engine. The Freeman tier gives you five articles, two maps, two worlds, two timelines, and 100 MB of storage. Subscribers only need to get to the second tier to unlock all features and half of the maximum storage capacity at 5 GB.
To encourage a purchase right away, while its competitors tend to have a free tier or free trial, Now TV gives new users a 30% discount for six months, which then bumps from £6.99 to £9.99 per month. Of them all, though, the 30-day free trial offered by Adobe for its 3D texturing software follows the trend the closest.
Pros and Cons of Deploying a Free Trial
There are plenty of numbers that back the power of a free trial. Some show that a free trial can be as much as 28x more effective than offering a product for free.
Also, they rank as the most effective form of free-to-paid customer conversion, especially when they last 30 days rather than just two weeks or less.
This is a point that many who run free trials miss; for it to be at its most effective, it needs to last for 30 days. Regular three-day free trials do have high conversion rates of over one in three, but fewer people opt in.
With 30 days available for free, ADM found the highest level of interest (32%) and the highest conversion rate (56%).
So, not only are 30-day free trials appealing, but they also boast superb conversion rates. This is because a knowledgeable customer is much more likely to become a paying one if the product is good.
They get accustomed to the software without a price point and want to carry on. This also gives you valuable data and feedback.
The drawbacks are what you’d assume. You’re potentially losing a month of subscription or a full payment for your software, particularly because, even with a high conversion rate, 44% of users don’t end up paying in the end. If your software isn’t of use or isn’t producing results within the trial period, users will likely drop out.
Free trials are great ways to achieve high customer conversion rates and get more users to stress test your software, offering you even more value on top of gaining paying users.
