This document discusses the pros and cons of offering a free trial that either requires a credit card or does not. Requiring a credit card can increase trial conversions but also introduces sign-up friction, while not requiring a credit card removes barriers but risks less user commitment. The document recommends experimenting with both options to see which approach works better for a particular business based on goals like acquiring more users or maximizing revenue per user. It also provides tips for each approach, such as qualifying trial users well or offering an extended free trial for those who provide payment details.

1. Saas FreeTrial
Credit Card
or No Credit Card?
19avi
l�Va.h
Our Recommendations

2. ''Try before you buy'' is now the
de facto approach to buying
Saas products, thus making a
Free Trial an indispensable
part of SMB Saas.

3. If you're offering a free trial, should
you ask for the user's credit card
information during sign-up?
Let's take a look at both sides of the
COin.

4. -
Free Trial
with Credit Card

5. SUITABLE FOR
A company that's hitting the growth
pedal, is looking for fewer sign-ups but
more revenue per user (RPU).

6. PERKS
Fewer low-quality sign-ups.
Increased trial-to-paid conversions.
Improved lead quality.

7. Qualified opt-in
Users qualify themselves while
signing up for your service.

8. Tire kickers kept at bay
You get to focus only on those
users who are genuinely
interested in your product.

9. Your servers,saved
You prevent users from creating
multiple accounts with multiple
email IDs,and thus abusing your
server.

10. Genuine user feedback
A cancellation survey is a great
way of capturing qualitative data
when a user cancels their account.

11. � PROTIP
Align your pricing to maximise revenue from
a handful of sign-ups, and make sure your
trial to paid conversion number is high.

12. � PROTIP
Perform a $1 pre-authorization
of the user's credit card to make
sure that it is valid.

13. � PROTIP
Reduce sign-up friction with a
two-step account creation process
- card details in the second page.
(Track users who abandon the
sign-up form in the second page,
and reach out to them later on)

14. � PROTIP
Give users an option to sign up
usingPayPal.
{Users trustPayPal, and hence will
be more comfortable signing up)

15. �_j
Free Trial
without Credit Card

16. f/j Free Trial
without Credit Card
SUITABLE FOR
A company that's launching their
beta, with a focus on acquiring
users who'll provide honest
feedback on the product.

17. f/j Free Trial
without Credit Card
SUITABLE FOR
A company that's hitting the growth
pedal, is looking for more sign-ups and
less revenue per user (RPU).

18. f/j Free Trial
without Credit Card
PERKS
Minimal or no sign-up friction.
Increased sign-up rate.

19. f/j Free Trial
without Credit Card
Free trials which don't require credit
card information show a higher
end-to-end conversion percentage
compared to their counterparts.
HT: Totango's report

20. f/j Free Trial
without Credit Card
Without a credit card barrier, you
cut down the distractions, and add
to the trust factor.

21. f/j Free Trial
without Credit Card
You also easily avoid any accidental
trial-to-paid conversions (A recipe
for refund requests, and you
guessed it, angry users).

22. f/j Free Trial
without Credit Card
� PROTIP
Offer users two options, where
one asks for card details and one
doesn't, and A/B test the sign-up
conversion rate.

23. f/j Free Trial
without Credit Card
� PROTIP
Ensure you qualify trial users
well, to avoid spending time
conversing with the wrong guys.

24. f/j Free Trial
without Credit Card
� PROTIP
Offer to extend the free trial by a few
additional weeks, if the user provides
you with their card details.
(This way, customers qualify themselves
and you don't have to spend your sales
effort to qualify them - a win-win!)

25. f/j Free Trial
without Credit Card
� PROTIP
One downside of this approach, is
lesser commitment from trial users.
So it's important for you to get them
engaged, and to get them realize the
value of your product ASAP.
(Hint: Worship your CCAs)

26. PRO TIP
Venture capitalist Christopher Janz
has made a pretty neat model to
check which strategy works for
your business. (you're welcome!)

27. TO SUMMARIZE...

28. • •
•
•

29. r1
a

31. o ru ex er1ence
eva ue o our

32. Experiment with your trials -
with and without credit cards
Trial experiments are a breezewith
KNOW MORE