Is a Trial Membership Right for you? Consider Pros and Cons

Have you looked at the Hootsuite, a leading Social Media management Platform’s offerings? The platform does not provide any free plan, however, has a 30-day trial option. And its users? Well, Hootsuite boasts over 18 million users. They must have done something right through the beginning and even after being an established player, they have not discontinued this resource.

Thus, if thought thoroughly, this option can be a great hit. If you are just starting out with your website, take a look at 10+ membership sites that will inspire you and guide you further. With the changing times, the subscription module is not just limited to big names like Netflix, Disney+, or Prime Video. You too can take advantage of its unlimited potential. 

But the major concern is whether it is valuable in the long run? Well, just like a coin has two sides, you must be calculative enough to look at the pros and cons and unlock the condition in which you can experience the benefits. We are going to look at it further. 

What is a Trial Membership?

It is a free pass, or a free entry to your website wherein the users can take the first-hand experience of your offerings. You can even charge a nominal fee for this limited duration so that if the users do not convert to full-time committed members, you are not completely at a loss. 

Pros to the Fantastic Free Trial Module

1) Build up Your Mail Directory 

When a browser consents to give their details, you receive their basic information. Additionally, you can include fields for their interests, product utility, desired solutions and everything you need to improve your database. This allows you to tailor notifications, alerts, and reminders to further engage them with your product.

Utilize top email marketing tools to enhance your communication with prospects. Even if they aren’t initially interested, they may find value in future updates and choose to sign up!

If you’re unsure about which fields to keep in your form, check ARMember’s Form Builder and Manage Forms section. It gives preset and customizable fields that you can adjust and format according to your needs.

2) A Dedicated platform for personalized one-to-one interactions

When the users try us, they can directly interact with your interface and products. They can interact with your support staff to clear queries and you can provide suggestions and train them from your end as well so that their experience is seamless. You can better understand their attitude towards your product and get necessary feedback. 

3) Providing a Personal Experience

4) Focus on increasing earnings and reducing risks

Sometimes, differentiating between a free and paid trial can lead to confusion. The former one grants a free test pass to your Website, while the latter one involves a nominal rate for a limited duration so that you do not recur complete loss.

You can opt for facilitating a paid version as well. This approach ensures that even if a customer doesn’t transition to a premium membership, you still generate revenue. While the fee for the paid version should be modest, the cumulative revenue from multiple participants can be significant. You cannot miss on this revenue generating opportunity. 

We will now look at the Cons of Trial Membership

1) Possibility that your work might be copied 

Making a Subscriptions based Website is not just easy for you, but your competitors as well. You must ensure that the corporates are not utilising your ideas and data. A strong competitor can use multiple IDs and take help from anonymous people and report your site’s pros and cons, even duplicate it!

You must keep a professional mindset and cannot be wary of digital theft. You need to apply very strong Access Rules so that the exclusive data is not shown to everyone who has joined without commitment.

2) Difference between serious buyers and window shoppers 

In any business, you’ll encounter individuals who may just browse without genuine interest in your product, often posing multiple questions and refrain from being upfront. During this period, it’s essential to respond to every query and maintain a positive image, even though distinguishing serious inquiries from casual browsing can be challenging. 

Utilise an effective anti-spam add-on to detect such behaviours and potential threats. To enable Spam Protection on your Website, you can take help of plugins like Akismet to aid you with the issue. 

3) Creating an Expert Setup 

To get started with this, what’s required is a separate setup. The investment of resources and manpower for creating a separate experience that gives them a good enough experience can be challenging. You must look for a plug-in that gives you the best security features to protect your URLs and content. Make sure you are ready to invest this energy on your unbound members. 

Giving a Free Trial Pass, a Valuable Decision

Don’t worry, this was not to scare you but to take you towards a strategic decision making process. It is very easy to set up a website with the help of the best membership website builders available now.  Look at other similar websites online and refer to how they are providing their services and building their marketing communication.

For instance, the platform Trello, team & Task Management Platform has a separate Free Plan and even gives a free testing experience for paid memberships. You can look out for smaller platforms that can be your competitor and understand the market before coming to a decision.

FAQs before getting started with Free Trial

1. What Does Trial Memberships Mean?

2. Why Incorporate Free Memberships?

3. What is the difference between Free Trial and Free Memberships?

4. How Long Should a Free Trial Be?

Usually, a 7-day or a 14-day period is famous around us. However, you know your product the most, thus, you would have to decide what is the feasible optimum duration. If your product is too complex, opt for a 30-day trial so that the genuine users can better understand your product.

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