Like probation period in jobs, trial period is also important in the software industry. Trial period gives you the opportunity to assess new products and services for free, for a limited time-period. Your customer gets to weigh your product with another and gets to select what’s best suited for them or their business. It is a business model through which many companies generate potential leads.
Free trial period is usually one or two weeks’ long. They are an opportunity for a company to gain feedback, improve their product or service, and provide the client their desired requirements.
Before we start discussing why trial period is important in software, we need to first understand different types of trial period.
Types of trial period
There are multiple types of trial period:
1. Time-limited: It is the most common type of trial which typically lasts between 2 weeks and 2 months. It is a great way for companies to test out their service or product without the risk of losing valuable customers.
2. Usage-limited: This type of trial allows customers to perform a limited number of actions on a trial.
3. Feature-limited: The feature-limited trial is a great way to receive feedback from users based on various skill levels.
4. Nagware approach: You give the client access to the whole software, but they will be constantly nagged to buy the full product.
5. Hybrid-trial: This kind of trial offers a set of features that are restricted for a limited time.
6. Money-back guarantee: For a quality product, there shouldn’t be any qualms in providing the money-back guarantee. This approach has been proven to increase sales by 21%.
Why Are Trial Period Important In Business
Here are some of the reasons why you should consider inculcating trial period in your business
1. Customers are free from monetary concerns
The company offers a free trial to allow users to test out the product without any cost and allows them to provide feedback to the company. Many businesses see an increase in conversion rates with free trials. The customers get a sense of their company requirements without incurring any cost.
2. Customers get used to a software with trial period in place
Demos and tutorials make it is easy for the customers to get used to a particular software during the trial period. They can simply hit a button to start the trial which they can cancel at any time.
The companies offering trials don’t have to do any additional set up of their software.
3. Gaining customer feedback and working on it
Seth Godin once pointed out that businesses which have trial period offers gain more customers. It is beneficial for both parties, because the clients get to see if your product is suitable for their company.
4. Risk reduction
Trying products and services for free reduces the risk of investing without profit. The customers find it easy to purchase the product they have already used, and as a seller, you can work on their feedback.
Advantages of providing a free trial period
Following are the advantages of using and providing free trial period.
1. Generate a lot of leads and gain more customers
It is easy to attract customers with good products. But how to make them stay? For SAAS (software as a service) products, offering a trial can help you generate a lot of leads and gain new customers.
Offering free trials give a potential customer an idea of what your software can do for them. It also helps them figure out if it is the right product for them.
2. Straightforward marketing with free trial
One of the simplest marketing strategies is offering free trials, because you have got your first two necessities covered.
- your software product,
- an email list.
You have also got to put in some effort to make your trial period successful, but the rewards can be huge.
3. Using trial period requires no long-term commitments
Many consumers back out of trying a software product because they fear getting locked into one software service. However, with the option of free trial it becomes easy for consumers can estimate whether they want to subscribe to your products and services.
4. No need for provocative selling
Provocative selling is a method that pushes the customers to see the pain points in their businesses, that sellers utilize in their pitches. You do not have to resort to provocative and desperate selling methods when you have free trials in place.
Conclusion
Software tools like Video Service Desk provide free trial.
It is easy to implement and guarantees complete customer satisfaction. You can replace IVR with intelligent call routing and easily integrate it into your website.
To know more about us, click here.
