[Wishlist] Paid trial Not planned

Post author
Memberstack Team
[This post was migrated from our old community roadmap]

1) Situation →
I want to create a paid trial so users can sign up for $1 to activate a 7-day trial which would ask them to upgrade to a subscription at the end to continue access. This isn't currently possible with Memberstack.
2) Important → This is important because it's a really common model with membership sites. I don't want to give too much value away in a free trial and a paid trial helps align incentives for serious users. I've seen this model work really well
3) Plan b → offer a free trial
4) Solutions → Let me offer a paid trial.
 

Comments

7 comments

  • Comment author
    Corey Haines

    For more context, "subscription content" businesses are interesting because there's a risk of abuse. E.g. if someone starts a free trial for swipefiles.co today, they could essentially read through all my content and get all the value of the subscription without ever upgrading to a paid plan.

    Another factor is that having a paid trial instead of a free trial reduces the risk of someone signing up, upgrading to a paid plan, and then asking for a refund because they didn't mean to upgrade. At least with a paid trial they're paying some amount of money and so the idea of being charged is less foreign or surprising.

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  • Comment author
    Duncan Hamra

    So helpful!! I had never considered the risk of abuse issue... makes complete sense. Is there any concern about decreased conversion rates? I'm curious if you've come across any studies or reports on the pros/cons of paid trials?

    No worries if not. I'll do a bit of research 😎

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  • Comment author
    Duncan Hamra

    Hey SK K, thank you for posting! 🙏

    Can you elaborate on "£1/$1" for me?

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  • Comment author
    Corey Haines

    I'm sure it decreases conversion rates for initial sign ups but that's a given. There's always a tradeoff. The hope is that it eliminates abuse and potentially increases conversion rates from sign up to upgrade. Personally, if I'm going to do any sort of traditional advertising, I would hesitate to send people to a free trial because it might taint the community and create a lot of refunds. A paid trial is just enough friction to get serious people while still being enticing enough to take action.

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  • Comment author
    SK K

    £1/$1 sign up for 7 day trial

    £1/$1 sign up for 7 day trial followed by full annual sign up. Would love this feature.

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  • Comment author
    Philip Pages

    Any update on this functionality? 

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  • Comment author
    Duncan from Memberstack

    Hey Philip, no updates yet. 

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