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Why Free Trials Don't Always Make Sense

Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Wed, May 30, 2012
 

 
The following is a guest
post by Peter Cohen, Managing Partner of SaaS Marketing Strategy Advisors.

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Lots of companies offer a free trial of their SaaS offerings. For some, it works well -  cost-effectively bringing in new, paying customers. Emphasis here is on "paying." 

For others, it's an unproductive drain on company resources that doesn't bring in nearly enough customers to justify the expense.

Why do free trials work for some SaaS companies and not for others? 

Free trials can't work without follow-up

For a free trial to work, it needs to be part of a overall customer acquisition plan. A free trial without a well-constructed follow-up effort to convert the trialers into paying buyers isn't worth much.

You should also have a plan for people who tried but didn't buy. They should be part of your target audience for on-going marketing programs.

Free does cost

With a free trial, you are essentially extending the sales cycle by the length of the free trial. Most buyers won't pay you until they need to. That will require more working capital.

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SaaS's Impact on the Inside Sales Model

Posted by Matt Bertuzzi on Wed, Oct 20, 2010
 
SaaS Rep Ramp

 
Is Inside Sales in a SaaS environment really all that different from Inside Sales in traditional / licensed sales model?
Turns out - yes it is.

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SaaS and the Hunter Farmer Debate

Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Tue, Oct 20, 2009
 

We recently wrote a post called SaaS and the Evolution of Inside Sales.  We got great feedback in the form of comments, but what I found most interesting was that so much of the dialogue focused on the challenge that arises from SaaS and that challenge centers on the hunter v. farmer model.

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Ask The Experts - Creating Territories

Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Thu, Oct 01, 2009
 

(This post is part or our ongoing series of Ask the Experts questions, please share your thoughts and experiences by posting comments!)

Keith Nealon, VP of Worldwide Sales for Conductor has a question he would like to pose to Inside Sales practitioners.


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SaaS and the Evolution of Inside Sales

Posted by Trish Bertuzzi on Wed, Sep 23, 2009
 

In the olden days

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