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Frameworks, core principles and top case studies for SaaS pricing, learnt and refined over 28+ years of SaaS-monetization experience.
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Based on our saas pricing book Price to Scale, you determine whether your free trial should be feature-limited or time-limited by testing key trade-offs and gathering customer feedback. Here’s how you can approach it:
• Directly address your customer’s needs: Start by framing a few straw-man trial concepts—one that restricts access to advanced features (feature-limited) and another that gives full access for a limited period (time-limited). As noted in Price to Scale, it’s about capturing initial reactions and understanding how different customers value your product’s capabilities.
• Use probing questions and fixed trade-off screens: The book stresses using these methods to gauge which trial structure resonates better with your target market. Ask questions like, “What experience do you need to understand our product’s value?” and “Which limitations would most impact your decision to upgrade?”
• Consider your market and product complexity: For consumer or small business software—as outlined in our book—a time-limited model might be effective if your product’s core benefits can be experienced quickly. For more complex or enterprise-level solutions, you might need a feature-limited trial that encourages users to experience the benefits of a higher-tier subscription once they’ve seen the basic functionality.
• Test and learn: Ultimately, the decision comes down to real-world feedback. Experiment with both approaches in controlled settings and project market behavior based on that feedback. As Price to Scale explains, experimenting with multiple scenarios allows you to hone in on what drives the best conversion outcomes while managing price sensitivity.
In summary, determining the ideal free trial approach involves designing test scenarios (feature-limited versus time-limited), engaging directly with potential users through probing questions, and then analyzing which format best drives the experience and conversion you want. This pragmatic, data-driven method is at the heart of the strategies discussed in Price to Scale.