Trial Memberships? Welcome to freeloader land!

[jeremyroddick]

Hi guys

I was wondering what might be your opinion on trial memberships. Again I'm sure there is different positions on that topic.

It's pretty clear on a content producer point of view that the goal is to get the customer to recur their membership automatically after the trial membership is over. Where I'm concerned is the ratio of people who recurs and the ones who are there only to drain all the content and cancel within their period of grace.

Where I'm also concerned is on the affiliate point of view. Do affiliates tend to promote more or less websites with trial memberships?

Also what should be the best balance (duration wise and money wise) between letting the customer enjoy the site enough to recur but not letting him the pleasure of....enjoying himself too much.

[Fister]

In general, I prefer promoting sites with trial memberships with automatic rebill. PPS is y good with a trial membership program for the affiliate. Now, if a sponsor does not have trial memberships, I expect to see some exclusive content!

[basschick]

i'll try a site that offers trials, but i prefer it if they offer 2 versions, so i can go with the no-trial verision if i prefer.

sites with plenty of good quality content, frequent updates and downloadable videos do tend to convert to monthly well, as do scarce niche and microniche sites. and they will convert well on the same traffic that won't convert on small or lower quality sites. so it's not just that all the trial guys are freeloaders.

also you can try a limited trial. one of the best rebilling straight programs i promote is the master of the limited trial. these suckas convert well. but other limited trials don't do as well - you have to do it right to make it work best.