"I want to offer a free trial as a strategy to entice new subscribers
to my e-mail cleaning service. Should I get their credit card information
first and delay processing until the end of the trial period? Or should
I defer any attempt to get their credit card information until after the
trial period ends?" -- Matt Biskup
Sleazy operators sometimes get credit card information prior to a free
trial for the purpose of taking advantage of people's forgetfulness --
making a quick dollar when they forget to cancel. But I think this approach
is flawed in two ways:
Many more people are likely to try your free service if you don't
have any barriers, such as trusting you with their credit card number.
Your strategy should be to make people so dependent upon your service
that they will want to pay for it when the free trial period expires.
The more who become dependent, the better your business.
Great businesses focus on serving their customers, not taking advantage
of them. Treating your customers the way you'd like to be treated
is always good business and helps you build a service with thousands
of delighted customers who will tell others.
The only reason I see to ask for credit card information up front is
to qualify your prospects by charging a very nominal set-up fee. This
drastically reduces the number of free trial customers, but may be necessary
to avoid incurring expenses on account of those who aren't serious anyway.
You could start by offering to waive your "normal" $5 set-up fee for the
next 30 or 60 days. That way you can always re-institute it if you find
that your completely free trials approach isn't working.
