As an up-and-coming business, you may have considered offering free trials to improve engagement and increase traffic to your website through your social media channels. A free trial can offer a win-win for everyone involved, with customers getting the chance to view or use your product without paying, whilst you get to show off your service with the chance of a sale at the end.
Like anything in business, a free trial can offer advantages and disadvantages, so read on to find out if your business should offer free trials in 2022.
Free Trial Marketing Strategies
Before looking at the advantages and disadvantages of offering free trials, you should know how to market a free trial effectively, as a great marketing strategy is vital for success in any business. Improving your digital sales funnels will boost conversions and increase traffic to your free trial landing page.
Sales funnels are the journey that each customer takes when visiting your website, before becoming a paying client. Your business can build an effective sales funnel with the help of a trusted digital marketing agency like Elevate Digital. They can help you come up with a robust automated lead-generation system that is highly profitable to get more customers signing up for your free trial.
Advantage: Customers Have Already Invested Their Time
Although no money has been exchanged (yet), a free trial takes time to set up. Your sign-up process should not be too complicated, or some customers may not bother at all, but if a customer has taken 5-10 minutes to sign up for your free trial, they are more likely to stick with it after the trial ends. Time is money so if your free trial wows a potential customer, you are already on your way to making a sale.
Disadvantage: Not All Leads Will Use The Free Trial
We are all guilty of finding a free trial that looks interesting, then never actually getting round to using the product before the time ran out. As people live such busy lives, it is important that your free trial can start quickly and is easy to use. For more complex systems, you should have a blog on your website that covers the basics of using your product or create a YouTube video that can be embedded into your site.
If someone signs up for a free trial and then has to take 30 minutes setting things up, they are more likely to give up halfway. Keep your free trial simple whilst still giving enough to make the customer want more, as you do not want to give away too much or this will not be profitable for your business. Email reminders are a great little incentive to remind people to give your free trial a go after signing up.
Advantage: Free Trials Are A Chance To Sell Your Product
In business, a high-quality product or service can sell itself. Before you start a free trial, you need to make sure that your product is worth the cost, has a unique selling point (USP), and the benefits of using your product or service are clearly outlined for the customer. Market research is one way to improve your product before offering a free trial and if you do choose to offer free trials, get feedback as to why potential customers did or did not want to continue after the free trial period.
At the end of the day, if your product is great and a customer begins to rely on it during the trial period, they are likely to stick with it, especially as it can be more hassle to start the process over again and look for another company. Once a customer has fallen in love with your product, they will also start recommending it to others. Word of mouth is one of the greatest ways to get more sales.
Disadvantage: Free Trials Cost Your Business Time And Money
As with any marketing strategy, a free trial can cost your business time and money to set up. This includes creating the free trial and deciding what will be included, developing new website pages, and starting a digital marketing campaign. Your business needs to weigh out the advantages and disadvantages, as well as the costs, to see if a free trial is a lucrative idea.
Your plan should include how long the free trial will last before a customer must pay for the service. You may want to add a special deal at the end with an emphasis on how customers can get so much more from the paid version. Learning the art of converting free trials to full customers will ensure that the time and money you have put into your marketing pays off.
Free trials can give your business a competitive edge when it comes to selling your product. Consider the advantages and disadvantages and build a great sales funnel that can improve traffic and conversion rates. Remember, an excellent product will sell itself, so a free trial can be a fantastic way to improve revenue if you are struggling to gain traction in the digital business world.
