Can your SaaS business benefit from a free trial for potential customers? While it may seem counterintuitive to offer customers the ability to use some of your features for free, it’s a great way to increase your sales potential. There are countless software companies like yours that offer customers different options for ordering services.
This growing market is attracting a large number of new and emerging SaaS companies, causing skyrocketing competition. Free trials are just one way to make your business stand out. What are the benefits of offering a free trial?
Why offer a free trial of your SaaS product?
By 2022, the SaaS market will reach a value of approximately $ 145 billion. This net worth is growing faster than ever thanks to a combination of digital transformation and the challenges of the pandemic. While companies have adopted productivity, efficiency and cost-saving software for years, the pandemic has forced several brands to move from on-premise tools to more flexible, cloud-based subscriptions. A free trial allows you to show your audience that you are worth the financial investment and outperform the competition.
Benefits of SaaS companies offering a free trial:
Improve brand reputation (and authenticity):
First, offering a free trial to your SaaS customers is one of the easiest ways to get your business noticed.
Whether you’re looking to gain social media followers or attract more customers to your website, you’ll find that people are much more likely to pay attention when they think they’re getting something for free. With a free trial, you can reach a wider potential audience while taking the risk of engaging with your brand. Perhaps most importantly, a free trial also shows that you believe in your brand. By giving people the opportunity to test your service or product before buying it, you’re basically saying you trust your solution to convert your audience.
Instead of trying to sell your product by describing its features, let your audience experience the benefits firsthand. If you believe in your product and its ability to make such an impact that you offer your customers a free trial, your customers are more likely to believe in you too. At the same time, you can develop an image as a more caring and generous brand by giving people the opportunity to use advanced tools for free, even if only for a short time.
Encourage long-term relationships (try before you buy):
In today’s software world, customers are more likely to purchase the tools they need with a subscription fee. This means that customers can use the features they need and only pay for what they use.
At the same time, businesses like yours can use subscriptions to ensure a steady stream of revenue for your organization.
Unfortunately, it can be difficult to get your customers to accept an annual or even monthly subscription if they don’t know about your service and its possibilities. If you’re selling software in a B2B environment, such as project management tools or SEO audits, you need to convince the entire team that recurring releases are worth it. It’s much easier for an IT professional or a buyer to reach out to their boss and get them to pay for the subscription if they already have proof of what the service can do.
A free trial gives your customers the opportunity to gather all the information they need to convince stakeholders and executives to purchase your software. The first free trial you offer is also a great way to draw your customers into the great results and results they can get from your service. Once they see how good your product is, they wouldn’t be happy to give it up.
Help collect social proof through quick adoptions:
One of the biggest challenges for software companies is getting companies to trust them when they haven’t been on the market for a long time. Offering your customers a free trial of your SaaS solution is a great way to make sure they can test the services you offer and make sure it’s right for them before investing any money, but it can also be a good way to collect social proof. With free trials, customers can download or use your product quickly and painlessly without any payment. You can allow your customers to test the product and offer them a discount on a paid subscription in exchange for feedback and reviews.
