Setting up a free trial with Seal Subscriptions

What is a Free trial?

Free trials are a strategic tool to attract, engage, and convert customers while building a solid foundation of trust and loyalty in a subscription-based business.

The Key Benefits of Providing a Free Trial

Attract New Customers: A free trial lowers the barrier to entry for potential customers by letting them experience your product or service without commitment. It’s a great way to capture the interest of those who are hesitant to pay upfront.
Build Trust and Confidence: Allowing customers to try before they buy demonstrates confidence in your offering. It shows that you believe in the value of your product or service, which can build trust and credibility with potential subscribers.
Boost Conversion Rates: Free trials often lead to higher conversion rates. When customers experience the value of your product first-hand, they’re more likely to subscribe after the trial period.
Encourage Word-of-Mouth Marketing: Satisfied trial users are likely to share their positive experiences with friends, family, or colleagues, generating organic growth and brand awareness.
Gather Valuable User Feedback: During the trial period, you can collect insights about how users interact with your product. This feedback helps you identify areas for improvement and optimize the user experience.
Reduce Perceived Risk for Customers: By offering a free trial, you alleviate concerns customers might have about wasting money on a product they’re unsure about. This risk-free approach makes them more likely to give it a try.
Foster Long-Term Customer Relationships: A positive trial experience can create loyal, long-term customers. When users enjoy the trial, they’re more inclined to stick around and explore additional offerings.
Stand Out from Competitors: In competitive markets, offering a free trial can differentiate your business and make your product more appealing compared to others that don’t offer a trial.
Increase Revenue Potential: While free trials involve a short-term cost, they often result in long-term revenue gains by converting trial users into paying subscribers.

How to actually create a Free trial within Seal Subscriptions

For the free trial, we need to ensure that the customer’s first order is fully discounted, making the subscription purchase completely free. This can be done using the Automatic Discount settings. We also need to set up the free trial period, such as 7 days or 1 month which are the most common options.

Once the free trial is set, we must plan what happens after it ends. To handle this, we can use the Automated Interval Change feature, which will automatically switch the free trial period to the actual subscription interval we want to offer.

Subscription rule:

Firstly, once you're in the subscription rule configuration, set the free trial period by choosing the Delivery interval within the INTERVALS section:

then you can move lower to the DISCOUNT section where you set the discount type to a Percentage discount and of course we also need to make the price of the Free trial to $0 which we will achieve by setting the discount (Adjustment value) to 100%:

once the upper settings are set you can proceed to the next important part of the subscription rule configuration i.e. AUTOMATIC DISCOUNT MODIFICATION where you first enable the feature itself by checking the “Change discount after specific number of payments” option
then set when the discount will change. Since we usually offer a free trial for just one delivery period, the Change discount after setting should ne set to initial order
and to set the 100% discount back to the products original price set the Discount Type to Percentage discount and the Adjustment value to 0%

after setting up these essential settings, you can configure the remaining options as needed and save your changes by clicking the "Save Rule" button

Automated interval change:

The next important step in setting up the free trial is changing it from the trial period to the subscription period you want to offer. Otherwise all customer subscriptions would renew every 7 days and for this the Seal Subscriptions app has the Automated interval change feature
you can set up these automated interval changes by going to Seal Subscriptions > Automations > Automated Interval Changes and click on the Create automated interval change button
by setting the Apply automated interval to When subscription gets created or renewed you will ensure that customer subscriptions will be affected by this interval change when they get created or renewed
since the free trial should end after the second payment, enable the Configure payment condition setting which allows you to specify after which payment the interval change should apply, therefore set the Apply this automated interval to Immediately after 2nd payment

now that you configure when the interval change should apply you also need to Change delivery interval configuration to change from the free trial period (7-days in my case) to the actual subscription period you want to offer.

When you click the Save automated interval change button, your free trial subscription offer will be set up and ready to use.

Conclusion:

Free trials are a powerful strategy for attracting new customers, building trust, and boosting conversion rates in a subscription-based business. They provide a risk-free opportunity for potential customers to experience a product or service before making a commitment. By allowing customers to try a product at no cost, businesses can build credibility, generate positive word-of-mouth, and gather valuable feedback. With fast and easy configuration steps, we’re confident that we offer merchants the best tools to help them succeed in their business.

If you have any questions or need assistance you can always let us know at support@sealsubscriptions.com.