As for what actually happens, the statistics on this are a little weird. There’s also the idea that asking for payment info upfront helps convert trial users into paid ones. On the contrary, this can lead to frustrated customers harassing the support channels for a refund, so it’s in some businesses’ interest to not let users forget about oncoming payments after a trial. This definitely happens, and it’s easy to see why people believe this is the primary reason companies ask for payment information. One of the more cynical beliefs surrounding companies asking for payment is companies trying to increase their profit by users forgetting their trial and accidentally paying for a service they don’t want.
This gives the company a better idea as to why people aren’t continuing their free trial. Part of that process usually includes a feedback form where users can write their grievances for the developers to read. By setting up a payment subscription before your free trial, you need to go through an unsubscribe process to stop being charged. If you sign up for a free trial without needing payment info, you can simply leave it alone if you find it’s not for you. This then only attracts people who are willing to give payment info to try it out. They need people who will stick around and actually want to use the service.īy adding a payment wall to the free trial, this scares away tire-kickers who would otherwise mooch valuable server resources with zero intention of paying once it’s done. The last thing the developers need is a wave of people who come in, try out the service, cause outages and slowdown, then turn coy when it’s time to pay up.
For others, such as more complex services still trying to sort out how to manage user load on their servers, it can be disastrous. For some services, especially ones that just want to spread the word as far as possible, it is a good thing. Having a lot of people sign up for a free trial sounds like a good thing.
There are other means to do this, such as asking for a phone number and sending a verification that way, but why ask for something you won’t use in the long run? Grabbing the payment information makes the most sense in this regard, especially if the user decides to continue the service. But wait – why pay at all? Why not make a second account and repeat the process all over again?Īsking for credit card information helps prevent repeat accounts being made. You have your thirty days, Netflix tells you you have to pay up, and you reach into your pocket for your payment details. Let’s imagine Netflix allowed you to activate a free trial with nothing more than a name and email address.