And what you can do instead…
Yesterday was July 4th. Independence day in the US, and just like the song, my mom’s birthday.
We went to their house to celebrate, eat grilled meats, and have a good time.
And as we were getting ready to leave, I noticed something. They have a calendar on the wall with all their appointments and similar things written on it.
Since they retired, it has been a lot less full.
But one of the calendar events stood out to me…
July 27th. “Cancel Ancestry.com”
They got into family trees recently, and they both took DNA tests to help with that.
The DNA test came with a free month subscription to Ancestry.com.
They’ve been using it, and they like it.
But the day they paid for the DNA tests, my mom went to the calendar and wrote out that reminder to cancel.
This behavior is far from rare.
I see this all the time in the information product space. Especially for a free trial.
There are people out there who are addicted. They go from company to company. Offer to offer.
Taking whatever they can get before they move on to the next one.
And there are people like my parents.
They’ll take advantage of a free trial when it’s offered, but they also have no intention of ever buying.
True, some people may be won over and decide to continue. And others will forget for a few months of payments before they cancel.
But if you’re going to do a free trial, you should expect to be taken advantage of more often than not.
But what can you do instead? Lots of things.
A few ideas…
Paid trials
Keep them short, and if you want, cheap.
A client I work with offers a 14 day trial for $7. And they still get a lot of abuse.
And people who get ANGRY when the thing renews at the regular rate. But they also get a lot of people who stick around after trying the product out and seeing that it is what it should be.
No trials, but a (short) refund period
DO NOT call this a trial. Never use the word trial. Never.
I usually phrase it something like “glad you decided to join, you won’t regret it, but if you change your mind for any reason, you can cancel and get your money back within the first 30 days”
Some will still act like this is a trial, but it’s important psychologically not to encourage this line of thinking in any way.
Free “sample” as a lead magnet
A newsletter I subscribe to gives out a free PDF issue to anyone who joins the free email list. Basically, you should give them something that shows you’re legit, but doesn’t give everything away. Continuity products are great for this.
Which brings me to…
Charge monthly, no refunds
This one is very simple. And it works.
For an annual subscription, especially an expensive one, people get nervous. They want a trial, or SOMETHING first to ease their fears. Understandable.
But for a monthly subscription, there’s less “risk.”
Sign up and pay for a month. Don’t like it? Cancel (no refund) and don’t come back. Not much of a loss there.
No trials. Take it or leave it.
This works if you’re at the top of your field. If you have massive recognition and social proof.
You basically tell people, this is what I offer, take it or leave it.
In the extreme, you can block anyone who even asks about a trial.
Obviously you need to be comfortable pissing (some) people off.
You also need to make sure you do this right, in a way that appeals to your REAL qualified buyers.
Free trials can be tempting. Especially for information products, with very low marginal cost.
But they also bring more than their share of trouble, and low quality customers.
Considering that, it might be smarter to try one of these options instead.
— Mark
P.S. Need some help with that?
Get my full customer service blueprint here: https://gumroad.com/l/rkbth/VIP
