How to Convert Free Trial Users Into Customers (+Examples)

Regardless of the industry, business growth boils down to converting as many people as possible into paying customers. And that’s easier said than done. For starters, the numbers seem pretty grim, at least at first glance, with your average website conversion rate being about 2.35%. However, by getting more proactive about conversion rate optimization and not leaving everything to chance, you can significantly improve your bottom line.

And there is definitely room for improvement. Out of every $92 companies spend on acquiring new customers, only $1 is spent on improving CRO. Meanwhile, an intense focus is directed toward other KPIs, such as getting more traffic to their website.

One of the most common methods for improving your conversion rate is to offer a trial to potential customers. This allows them to test your product and learn what it can do for them and how it can solve their pain points. But how can you ensure they’ll stay on as paying customers after the trial period has ended?

1. Create a time constraint

The free trial you provide for your customers needs to end at some point, after a set number of days or weeks. As for the length of that period, it depends on a number of factors, such as the complexity of your product or service.

Shorter free trials enable you to instill a sense of urgency in potential customers, while longer trials enable them to experience all the benefits of your product. Either way, make sure that the duration of the free trial period is clearly highlighted on the product’s landing page or website.

We like how Ultimate Meal Plans, a meal-planning service, was able to implement this with their free trial. One of their landing pages clearly states that you have 14 days to try out one of the low-carb meal plans for free, which is more than enough time for a customer to experience the benefits and decide if the plan is the right fit for their lifestyle.

Source: ultimatemealplans.com

2. Make sure your pricing is clear

Regardless of how pleased they are with your product after their free trial period has ended, your customers will bail if they feel like you’ve blindsided them with your pricing. People like to know exactly how much it will cost them to become paying customers even if they’re already sold on all the features of your product. This means no hidden surcharges or shipping costs and no subscriptions to additional services they didn’t sign up for it.

Bay Alarm Medical has done a great job in that aspect. They offer a risk-free, 30-day trial, and are upfront with their prices. Their medical alarm systems pricing page offers a clear and accurate overview of what you get with each of their packages. They also use price anchoring, which means that the price for their premium package is close to the price of their basic package, making the premium plan the better-value deal.

Source: bayalarmmedical.com

3. Don’t ask for credit card information

Although it would benefit your marketing team to get as much information as possible about your customers, you need to do the exact opposite if you want to convert someone to a paid user after their free trial.

Asking for their name or email so they can sign up is somewhat expected, so most people will go along. But asking for their credit card info or other means of payment might turn them away.

Quite simply, you haven’t earned their trust just yet. That’s the whole point of your free trial, so make it truly free.

We like how Novoresume approach this problem where you can easily create and even save a CV. Limitations include access to basic templates only, and your CV can only take up one page. They’ll ask you to enter your credit card info after you have decided to get one of their premium plans.

Source: novoresume.com

The same goes for UnscrambleX, which allows you to play word games without requiring any personal information, let alone your credit card details. You can enjoy your free trial without having to worry about any of that.

Source: unscramblex.com

4. Create a clear call to action

Regardless of your target audience, having a clear call to action is a must, especially if it’s on one of your landing pages. The call to action should tell your customer what the next step is in their free trial and what benefits they can expect to experience.

Your CTA needs to be direct and concise. If possible, it should motivate the customer to take immediate action. The same goes for CTAs you’ll be using in your emails and when inviting customers to upgrade to a premium plan/version.

Microsoft did this with Microsoft 365. They show a simple and precise call to action, as well as a call to action to buy the product in case you’ve finished your free trial.

Source: microsoft.com

Another simple yet effective example is Outreachboard, where a call to action invites the customer to request a demo for their WordPress guest author checklist, along with a short explanation of the service.

Source: outreachboard

5. Enable all the key features

This is probably the biggest dilemma you’ll face when offering a free product trial. On the one hand, if you give your customers everything for free, they’ll have no incentive to upgrade. However, if they don’t get to experience how powerful your product is, they won’t know what’s in store for them once they do decide to upgrade. Either way, they aren’t very likely to convert. So, what should you do?

It seems that MailChimp has the right idea. When you sign up for their free trial, you get access to all of the platform’s main features, but they only work if you have less than 2,000 subscribers. If you have more, you’ll have to choose one of their premium plans.

Source: mailchimp.com

Final thoughts

As you can see, optimizing your conversion rate through free trials is a complex process, but it’s not unmanageable. You need to provide potential customers with everything they would be interested in, but without giving away the main course, so to speak. If anything, it’s a balancing act.