Ask YC: Do 30 day trials actually help get customers?

Re:Ask YC: Do 30 day trials actually help get customers? by gscott on Friday August 08, 2008 @03:21PM (#270927)

Salesforce.com offers a 30 day free trial and it works for them. If you are offering a Wiki I believe it would be a good idea but in doing so you should be sure to engage the customer with daily emails over the 30 day trial.

When I tried offering my first web application in 2001-2002 with a 30 day free trial I has 1,200 trial sign up and 3 conversions. I didn't follow up with those who signed up, I didn't collect phone numbers to make any phone calls, I failed in that partly because I just didn't engage the consumer. I got them in the door but left them hanging to figure things out themselves and sell themselves.

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Re:Ask YC: Do 30 day trials actually help get customers? by iron_ball on Friday August 08, 2008 @04:27PM (#270993)

Might also be worth ensuring that the users have support or at least howtos to set and use your app, ensuring that they're actually using it during the trial (maybe auto-extend their trial if they never got around to using it -- you don't want to lose them instantly if they finally go to the app and the trial is over).

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Re:Ask YC: Do 30 day trials actually help get customers? by gscott on Friday August 08, 2008 @06:03PM (#271069)

I like that auto-extend idea. "We noticed you didn't get a chance to use your trial period, we wanted to give you a second chance trial and help you get started".

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Re:Ask YC: Do 30 day trials actually help get customers? by scribblewiki on Friday August 08, 2008 @05:54PM (#271061)

Never thought of that, thanks for the comment!

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