The often ignored thing with free trial plans is the mechanism behind them that pushes the unpaid clients into paying plans. After all, if none of the customers are going to pay you, it is not much of a sales model.
Here are ways to improve SaaS free trial conversion rates.
Use a CRO planner
It may seem like a daunting job to get started with conversion rate optimization. How do you take the first step to improve your website or landing page conversion rate? Use a CRO planner. A conversion rate optimization planner will help you to evaluate and develop a strategy that will increase your conversions.
A CRO planner offers guidance for performing a web audit, finding areas for enhancing your conversion funnel, recognizing users on your platform, and going through the A/B testing and evaluation process.
CRO planners are helpful because they will take you through the process from the first step to the last.
Optimize trial length
Free trial duration varies per software application because all subscriptions cannot have the same duration. The free trial duration should be lengthy enough to allow people to see value in the product and be relaxed with the interface, but it should not be so long to prevent them from feeling the pressure of discovering and quickly uncovering product value.
The most convenient way of checking the effectiveness of each sign-up length is by using a simple A/B testing, where you give various users different length tests using the current timeline as a guide. Be careful though on how to present this as you don't want to receive backlash if a visitor sees different trial durations.
Modify your onboarding emails
When providing users with information regarding your product, avoid using standardized onboard emails and instead consider creating behavior-based prompted emails. Target customers who have not converted into paying customers and re-engage them as a way of attracting them to your product.
If your SaaS Company is a B2B enterprise that examines potential marketing platform, it may be a challenge to get a case study that relates to a case of B2C use. To get a better understanding of how similar businesses find your product, create and send specific customer case studies that explain the users' pain points.
Ask users
The most convenient way of understanding why users are not converting is by asking them. Users' feedback will give you ideas on what needs to be improved to attract more users to convert free trials. To get feedback from users, send an automated email to users who do not convert and ask them some questions that will help you understand why they do not convert.
You may not get a direct answer, but you can look for trends in the responses you receive that use those objections to improve your SaaS free trial conversion.
Use personalized demos
Conversion optimization system can be used to create demos for users to view. Personalized demos are an effective strategy of converting a free trial to paying customers.
Demos will help you to identify the trial users' pain points, show them how your tool can produce results for their specific conversion optimization problems, and also address the names of your customer success executives who play a key role in delivering your faster support. That seals the deal in many situations.
Test everything
Testing has been mention several times, but it is important to discuss it further because it plays a vital role in free trial marketing.
Keep testing your strategies by giving users different advantages until you evaluate the most effective strategy for your product.
Consistent testing and tracking can help you get an idea of what your users are doing. Once you find an idea that is working better than the other strategies, focus on developing it.
Final thoughts
The SaaS free trial model is something most startups are going to pursue during their startup process. It's important to check the trial mechanisms that work for your specific company, but the secret to maintaining a successful SaaS free trial conversion rate is your onboarding process.
It is easy for new users to be carried away by competitors if you do not have a plan to help them quickly find value and satisfaction with your product. It is important to have a well-thought-out onboard sequence to help customers appreciate and develop associations with your product, so they are both ready and able to switch to a paid plan.
Updated 6/24/2022