Conversions are the lifeblood of any SaaS business. It’s where interested customers (or prospective customers) make the leap by deciding to give you their hard-earned money.
A lot’s at stake with your conversion rate. Failure to convert people into paying users can sacrifice the long-term success of your business. But being able to consistently move people along to the next tier can help you achieve sustained growth, steady revenue, and prove that your product delivers real value
The average good free to paid conversion rate is 3-5%, while a great rate is 6-8%. One of the best ways for companies to boost these rates is to provide trials of their product.
The try before you buy strategy isn’t just effective at Costco.
But if you’re really looking to shoot your conversion rates up, the type of trial you provide is an important decision. Reverse trials are shown to be one of the most effective strategies. Remember that 3-8% range I mentioned earlier? For reverse trials, the average conversion rate is anywhere between 7% and 21%. That’s almost 3 times greater than what’s considered the average good or great conversion rate.
Keep reading to see how you can take full advantage of this strategy.
What is a reverse trial in SaaS?
A reverse trial is like a mix between a free trial and a freemium product. During a reverse trial, customers get full access to the full premium version of a product for a limited time. At the end of the trial period, customers can either upgrade to stay on the plan, or be downgraded to a freemium plan.
That means that, as opposed to a classic free trial where it’s either a go/no-go decision for the customers as they either pay up or are kicked off the platform, users can still continue to use the product in some capacity no matter what decision they make at the end of the trial. As a result, churn is kept low.
These provide a double-edged benefit. You drive the conversions that trials inspire, as well as the sustained product usage that are a hallmark of freemium plans.
Let’s look at some of the key differences between free trials and reverse trials
Continuation of use
With a free trial, users lose access completely unless they subscribe.
In a reverse trial, users can continue using a limited version after the trial, making it easier to retain them as potential future customers.
Decision pressure
The pressure is on with a free trial since an immediate decision is required at the end of the trial period, sometimes made even more intense with time-sensitive discounts. While this can lead to short-term gains in conversions, people don’t often stick with decisions for the long-term if they felt they were forced to be hasty with their decision.
In a reverse trial, there’s less pressure. Users have more time to decide if they want to upgrade to the premium version and can continue to use the free version to feel out if it’s the right choice for them.
Customer retention
In a trial, due to the higher stakes, there’s a greater risk of losing customers who may decide not to pay after their trials wrap up.
In a reverse trial, even those who decide not to pay to continue using premium features stay within the overall ecosystem in the free version. This makes it a lot more likely that they will convert to a paying customer in the future.
Think about this in terms of your own use of software. How many times have you signed up for a limited free trial for a new product, getting access to premium features for a week or so. After you get used to those features, if you choose not to upgrade and try to make it work on the free version, you feel the difference. In many cases for me, I’ll happily upgrade when I prove to myself how worth it the decision is.
If I were to just do a free trial where I’m locked out of the platform altogether when it ends, it’s a lot easier for me to never think about that software again within a relatively short period of time.
A breakdown of the reverse trial process
Let’s take a look at how this trial unfolds, step-by-step.
Initial signup
Users sign up for the SaaS platform, typically through a freemium plan or basic account.
Onboarding and feature exploration
Now that they’re in the platform, the user starts to explore both basic features that are available to them, as well as premium features that are available in a different tier. They may engage with some in-app tutorials, guided tours, and help documentation that are there to create an impactful onboarding experience.
Activation of reverse trial
Based on predefined criteria (it could be user behavior, feature exploration, or reaching a milestone), the user is automatically transitioned into a reverse trial. When the trial starts, the user is notified about the activation of the trial, and they’re informed that they now have access to all premium features for a limited time. The start and end date of the trial are clearly communicated.
Using premium features
Users can freely access all premium features without restriction during this trial period. Your team can offer additional guidance and support to help them make the most of the time they have with these features. Regular engagement emails or in-app messages can help to reinforce the benefits of the features they’re using and encourage them to use any they’re not taking advantage of.
End of reverse trial and transition to freemium plan
As the trial period nears its end, the user is reminded about the upcoming transition. Once they wrap up, they receive a summary of the premium features available to them and the benefits they provide. Bonus points if you can provide this snapshot based on their actual usage and demonstrate how much quantifiable value they got from these features.
Clear instructions are also provided on how to either continue using the platform under the freemium plan (and what the downgrade entails) or how to upgrade to a paid subscription.
Post-trial engagement and conversion
For those who don’t make the upgrade to stay on the paid platform, you can try to lure them in. Often, companies offer incentives like discounts or extended trial periods to encourage upgrading to a paid plan. On top of these incentives, in-app nurture can continue to happen as they use the free platform, giving them personalized content recommendations, announcements on feature updates, and product tours.
Key benefits of reverse trials
I hope by now that the benefits of reverse trials are extremely clear, but in case you’re still not sold, let’s talk about it.
First and foremost, reverse trials drive conversions.
Since users are given immediate access to premium features, they’re able to experience the full capabilities of the platform firsthand from the start. This highlights the added value and makes it easier for them to justify the cost of upgrading.
This also eliminates the Go/No-Go dilemma we talked about earlier. While this urgency can be beneficial at times, it often leads to an intense amount of pressure on users that can be overwhelming. If they’re not fully confident in a decision to stay, many will choose to leave. Reverse trials soften this transition by downgrading users to a freemium plan, reducing the risk of losing users altogether. Meaning they’re more likely to convert in the long term.
Reverse trials also boost conversion by enhancing the user experience. Since they get hands-on experience with premium features, they’re able to witness firsthand how the features directly address their needs and pain points. This also leads to a higher perceived value, making them more willing to invest in a subscription.
Reverse trials are also effective at maintaining engagement
Perhaps the best benefit is continued product usage. Users stay engaged with your product even after the premium trial ends by transitioning to a freemium plan. This reduces churn and keeps users within your product ecosystem, where they can continue to experience value and potentially upgrade in the future.
This also nurtures better long-term relationships. Even if users transition from premium to freemium, you still have the ability to engage them with ongoing communication and relationship building. In a typical free trial, you lose access to these users as soon as the trial ends.
Everyone knows how important data is, too. Another incredible thing about reverse trials is the ability to use the data collected during this trial period to personalize marketing efforts and in-product engagement messages. These are guaranteed to resonate with their specific needs, since it’s based on their engagement.
Timing is everything: when to offer reverse trials
When you decide to press play on the reverse trial is critical to using them to see real growth in your conversion rates. If you offer it too early, you may cause confusion or your users will have a lack of appreciation for premium features. If you offer it too late, it could result in missed opportunities or churn.
So, how do you know what time is the right time? The key is aligning it to their intent.
You can analyze user behavior and engagement to gauge when the optimal time to offer a reverse trial is approaching. You can monitor actions like frequent logins, extensive feature exploration, or the completion of key milestones like project creation or team collaboration. You can also use your analytics tools to identify users who are spending significant time on pages that are related to premium features, such as pricing comparison pages or help articles.
Another super obvious indicator of readiness for a reverse trial is by tracking inquiries about premium features. Monitor your support tickets, chat messages, and feedback forms for questions to pinpoint users who may be especially interested in giving premium features a shot. To really be proactive, you can personalize your outreach based on their messages and engagement to enhance the likelihood of accepting the trial and ultimately, of converting.
Some examples of ideal moments to offer reverse trials are:
- After users complete a key onboarding milestone or achieve success with a core feature.
- When users reach usage thresholds that suggest they could benefit from premium features (like data limits, project counts).
- Following a positive user feedback or high satisfaction score so that you can leverage their positive experience to introduce premium options.
- During a promotional period or special event. Combining marketing efforts with reverse trial offers can really maximize your impact.
Best practices to keep in mind
In addition to figuring out the ideal timing to hit someone with the reverse trial, there are a couple of other best practices to follow to better your odds of upping your conversion rates.
Setting up and managing reverse trials
Expectations are everything, and you don’t want someone to feel duped by the trial. To avoid this, clearly define the scope and duration so there are no surprises. You also want to make sure there’s a seamless integration with your existing subscription management system to make sure no one is accidentally charged when they shouldn’t be.
Ensuring a smooth transition from premium features to freemium plan
Again, communication is key here. You want to clearly communicate the transition process to users well in advance. Brief them on what they can expect when they lose access to premium features. In addition to helping to smooth out the transition, this can be an additional opportunity to nudge them to upgrade by providing a summary of the features they used and offering a discount, as we mentioned before.
Post- trial communication strategies to keep users informed and engaged
In addition to communicating about trial progress, you want to keep users engaged after the trial ends. Without flooding their inbox, send tasteful (ideally personalized) emails that can highlight the features they had access to to keep them top of mind. If you’re using a tool like Command AI, you can also send personalized in-app messages to catch them while they’re already in your product.
The goal after the trial is to continue to nurture free users and provide educational content like tutorials, webinars, or blogs to reinforce the value of premium features.
Monitoring and analyzing trial performance
As with many things in SaaS, trials are opportunities to experiment, refine, and improve. Make sure you’re constantly pulling in data to monitor and analyze the reverse trial performance.
Use analytics to track key metrics like trial activation rates, feature usage, and conversion rates. You can also collect user feedback through surveys or interviews to understand their experiences and identify areas for improvement.
And most importantly, regularly review and adjust your strategy based on performance data and user feedback to optimize the trial process and maintain high engagement levels.
