Do free trials work?

voicedialing · #1 (**permalink**) 09-15-2003, 08:19 AM

Hello all,
This is a pretty general marketing question that's really for my entire business as well as my website marketing. Do free trials work as a marketing tool?
I'm offering a new communications service in the Greater Boston area. It's a personal assistant service I'm calling the SmartLine and I want to get people to try it. I think most will keep it if they try it but of course I'm biased.
What do you think about freebies?

My website is being updated so it's a little old but it's still somewhat relevant. For clarification, it's the personal service and not the receptionist service I'm talking about.

Thank you in advance.

kaosisland · #2 (**permalink**) 09-15-2003, 10:14 AM

Sure. The viral marketing is the best. If I can try for free (or cero cash) I can ceck if it can help me. If the service is good, I'll use it.

mysticlighthouse · #3 (**permalink**) 09-15-2003, 05:27 PM

That's usually why I buy a product because I've tried it out, liked it and figured it was worth the money because it made my life a little easier. :-)

That's how I got into all of the Macromedia products.

voicedialing · #4 (**permalink**) 09-16-2003, 08:31 AM

I can't tell you how much this helps me. People who I look to for guidance give me conflicting thoughts. They are all good opinions and usually backed with good argument but this is the first time unbiased people ar telling me what they think.

Thanks everyone,
Kevin

velosypeter · #5 (**permalink**) 12-05-2003, 12:53 PM

I think that a free trial is always a good idea but according to my opinion a time-limited or saving-disabled software is not the best. It limits the user who won't feel intention to explore the product features in a so detailed way. It is better to let the user be productive and not just throw it away. I'd prefer a solution (let's call it 'Light edition') in which some advanced features are not working but presented on the interface as in the full version. And when the user clicks them, a dialog pops up not only showing how great deal it is, but including an animated demonstration showing how the feature works in the full edition.

Peter

minstrel · #6 (**permalink**) 12-07-2003, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by velosypeter

I think that a free trial is always a good idea but according to my opinion a time-limited or saving-disabled software is not the best. It limits the user who won't feel intention to explore the product features in a so detailed way. It is better to let the user be productive and not just throw it away. I'd prefer a solution (let's call it 'Light edition') in which some advanced features are not working but presented on the interface as in the full version.

I agree for the most part. Disabled, especially a version which will let me, e.g., edit a graphic or other file but not save it, turns me off - I just uninstall the software and I have never bought anything that had that sort of demo - it really doesn't allow one to try out the product.

Time-limited is fine, as long as the time limit isn't ridiculous: More than once, I've installed a demo, finally got around to clicking on it to try it out, only to be presented with a message box saying, "I'm sorry but your 15 day trial period has expired". Well, that one goes in the trash, too - 15 days? It takes me that long to find my other sock some weeks...

"Lite Edition" is also good, as long as I get a reasonable array of features to try and those features aren't crippled.

velosypeter · #7 (**permalink**) 12-11-2003, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by minstrel

I agree for the most part. Disabled, especially a version which will let me, e.g., edit a graphic or other file but not save it, turns me off - I just uninstall the software and I have never bought anything that had that sort of demo - it really doesn't allow one to try out the product.

Time-limited is fine, as long as the time limit isn't ridiculous: More than once, I've installed a demo, finally got around to clicking on it to try it out, only to be presented with a message box saying, "I'm sorry but your 15 day trial period has expired". Well, that one goes in the trash, too - 15 days? It takes me that long to find my other sock some weeks...

"Lite Edition" is also good, as long as I get a reasonable array of features to try and those features aren't crippled.

But from the developers' side a time-limited trial is expensive to create as the cheaper protection systems have their information about your license state in a place that can easily be discovered with such a program as FileMon or RegMon (www.sysinternals.com). The first one monitors the file-related and the second the registry-related measures (reads, writes) of specified executables. And there are always problems with expiring trials, at first it makes a mess from your registry and leaves rubbish there, and apart from this clock syncronization utilities can cause unordinary expirations by eg. time zone problems (I have had this problem and when I set back the time zone all my trials were expired).

Regards, Peter

jonny · #8 (**permalink**) 12-11-2003, 07:28 PM

Hi everyone,

We use FULL working demos/trials, and it works for our company... sorta. We're flooded with requests and downloads. However, most of these people don't actually use it. So I think you guys are right about the "time factor". Our demo disables in a month or so.

Perhaps that's not enough time or people find it's too much of a hassle to "learn" how it works. To counteract this, our IT dept is creating multiple videos to guide users through the process. Hopefully, that'll do the trick!

As a marketer, the more tools/media you put out there, the more are you able to attract interested people and eventually customers. I believe strongly in the "try before you buy" mechanism, especially for online products and material.

Well I hope that helps, and I would like to hear more of what people think about demos/trials.

Cheers,
Jonny
www.broadfax.com

kfegarty · #9 (**permalink**) 12-15-2003, 02:55 PM

Just a quick comment on the time expiring trials. We allow the downloaders of our Broadc@st product to use the full-featured version for 10 actual days. No matter if they open and use the product one day and then not again for two months, it will still only count as day 2. This satisfies two things: 1. the problem of people who download and then don't get a chance for weeks to trial, it has not expired. 2. 10 days of actual usage is more than enough time for the serious email marketing purchaser.

RichardHoehn · #10 (**permalink**) 12-19-2003, 01:06 PM

I wont buy anything without having a trial session!

geoffreygag · #11 (**permalink**) 12-19-2003, 03:01 PM

Free trials are good. In fact, allowing to disable within 30 days is beyond being fair.

The free trail will lower your backend cost that you may get from questions to your customer service.

As mentioned earlier, you'll get the viral effect.

MarkGatESS · #12 (**permalink**) 03-17-2008, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kfegarty

Just a quick comment on the time expiring trials. We allow the downloaders of our Broadc@st product to use the full-featured version for 10 actual days. No matter if they open and use the product one day and then not again for two months, it will still only count as day 2. This satisfies two things: 1. the problem of people who download and then don't get a chance for weeks to trial, it has not expired. 2. 10 days of actual usage is more than enough time for the serious email marketing purchaser.

What language is your software written in? I like the idea that the software counts actual days used and not how many days from installation. I think all trial software should be written that way. Then, you can install it for a 10-15 day trial and if you can't get to really "play" with it for say 20 days, it will only count the ACTUAL days you opened it.

I was curious about the software because our company software package has a 30-day trial before registering (which can be used as "trial software") but it's for 30-days from the date of install. This idea your company came up with might be a better solution for us to sell our product.