"Try before you buy" has been around for ages and one should admit that in the case of SaaS companies, free trials have become nothing short of a necessity! Just after building a great SaaS product, you might want to start with providing a free trial for a stipulated period of time. You start promoting your free-trial, but what if you have no luck? What if your free-trial goes untouched? You might start doubting everything, even to the extent of your product! Stop right there! Sign-ups are more closely connected to the value that you propose to deliver and how comfortable your prospect is with your offer, than the fact that it is free. If it is of any consolation, 80% of SaaS companies offer free-trials and it is not a big surprise that the area of free-trials has become competitive. Things that can go wrong on your part could be the way you deliver the message about your free-trial or improper positioning.
Tips to increase SaaS free trial signups:
What should you let your prospects know at the time of signing up for a free trial of your SaaS product?
You are clearly looking to form a relationship with your prospects. The first thing that you should concentrate on is transparency. Yes, you are offering a free-trial, but your prospects need to know a certain things before they just leave your site or go deep into the process. Here are a few such things:
- Tell them that it is just a trial and there is absolutely no pressure for them to stay! Let them know that they are free to move on. This way, they get to know that your product is as good as it can sell itself!
- Assure them that they will not be flooded with follow-ups after the trial is over.
- If the process requires payment details such as credit card details, tell them upfront! Do not surprise them after they are too deep into the process.
This might prevent them from coming back to you at any point! Take Company XYZ for example. The inquiry for credit card details came in as a surprise at the very last stage of signing up for a free trial. The result was that around 80% leads who were ready to sign up decided to do the opposite. Had they explicitly stated that the details for payment are for future use when the leads decide to purchase the product, and that there is absolutely no pressure, the leads would have been ready for it from the start and the chances of them signing up would have definitely increased.
Did you know that only a mere 0.25% of new visitors tend to make a purchase, but if you can get them come back to your site, the chances of them making a purchase increases nine-fold!
How to use CTAs effectively to get more free trial signups for your SaaS product?
- "Free" is just one part of your package. Be sure to test your CTA with various keywords if you want to get more free trial signups! In case of need, do not hesitate to even scrape out the word "free" from your CTA. A visitor who visits your site for the first time will want to look at the words "Demo and trial" and not the words "purchase and checkout!" Company XYZ tried the words “Give our product a try” and it worked out pretty well rather than their previous one - “Get started”
- It is also recommended to showcase your plans and pricing upfront. Basecamp, a SaaS based organisation tried the CTA "See plans and pricing", and witnessed an increase in sign-ups to an extent of 200%. Take a look:
3. Your option for free-trial signups should be the hero of the webpage, and should not go unnoticed to anyone visiting the page. The color, spacing, size, and language of your CTAplay a very important role.
Things you need to know about the free-trial period when marketing SaaS products:
The trick is quite simple. Ask yourself how much time would your product take to impress your prospects. The answer will help you in determining the trial period. If you are looking for industry norms it's 30 days. If the value of your product can be showcased even before 30 days, there is no harm in setting the trial period below 30 days. A/B testing, however, should never be forgotten!
Company XYZ offered a free trial for 14 days and they were happy to see that their SaaS product had the potential to impress the leads in such a short span of time.
Now that everything is set-up, we shall leap into the sign-up page and a certain things associated with it:
How to create an ideal sign-up form for the free-trial of a SaaS solution?
The form for free trial signups should be simple and easy. A long form that goes on forever is only going to repel your prospects.
- Ask for what is required. Be precise.
- Give your users the option of signing up using social media.
- If possible, allow them to use email ID as their User ID instead of asking for a separate user name. Keeping a track of usernames is more difficult than it might seem.
- Finally, a simple and minimal form is ideal!
Take a look at the signup form below for better understanding:
How to avoid creating friction for the users trying to sign-up for free-trial of your SaaS solution?
Now that you know how to create an ideal sign-up form, there is one less topic to focus on while discussing about creating a better user experience. Other things you might want to focus on are:
CAPTCHA:
Placing impossible texts to read and fill out can be annoying. CAPTCHA is one thing that might create friction in the course of signing up. You might be questioning as to how to avoid spams. Try some smart alternatives like asking them to click on the I'm not a robot box!
Pop-ups:
Having an inherent aversion towards pop-ups is quite common. But, these pop-ups, if used smartly can increase your sign-ups. So, here are a few tips on enhancing user experience using pop-ups rather than creating a friction:
- Wait till the user gets a chance to take a look at the content in your site. Don't throw pop-ups as soon as they enter your site. Test and find out how many seconds you need to wait before you let pop-ups pop!
- Using cookies can help you show pop-ups to a revisitor.
- Sign-up pop-ups work well if used less frequently. Again, cookies help here.
- Pop-ups should be shown at the right time.
- CTA in the pop-up should be relevant.
- The pop-up should be easy to close.
- Pop-ups shown again and again to a user who has seen it already can sabotage his or her experience.
So, the above are a few tips to keep in mind to avoid friction during the signup process.
How to make the process of free trial signups easier?
Support using live chat:
Live chat is an easier and simpler way to solve any queries your customers may have during the signing up process. Live chat is considered to be helpful and if you need stats, A consumer trends survey showed that 90% customers found live chats helpful. 63% customers insisted on retiring to a website with live chats. 38% stated that they made a purchase solely due to the chat session.
Staying touch with your prospects can never be easier than through live chats. You can help them sign-up for the free-trial. Take a look at the picture below for better understanding:
So, the above are a few tips to help your way through getting your visitors sign-up for your free-trial. In the end, two things stand up high in the order of importance. One is testing. Test, test, and test to find out what works out and what doesn't. The other is content. Content is important for free-trials too! Researching before signing up for a free-trial is obvious. So, make sure that your product is known to them during those searches. Also, the content on pop-ups, homepage banners, landing pages, side bars etc. also play an important role.