Front-end funnel’s doing alright at 12%, but backend is killing me. Barely anyone’s converting from trial to paid.
Tried extending trial, adding more onboarding emails, even a personal onboarding call. Nothing’s moving the needle.
What’s working for others on trial-to-paid?
Simplify the product. Strip features until it clicks fast. Test shorter trials too.
Sounds like you’re hitting a wall with the product itself. Maybe take a step back and look at what users are actually doing during the trial.
Are they using the key features? If not, why? Could be your onboarding is too complicated or the value isn’t clear enough.
Try talking to some users who didn’t convert. Their feedback might point you in the right direction for making real improvements.
Been there. Faced similar issues with a SaaS app last year. Our breakthrough? We added in-app prompts highlighting key features users hadn’t tried yet.
Basically, we tracked which features led to higher retention, then nudged trial users to test those out. Saw our trial-to-paid jump from 15% to 23% in two months.
Also, we cut our trial from 14 days to 7. Counter-intuitive, but it created more urgency. Users dove in faster and hit value quicker.
One last thing - we started sending a ‘what you’ll lose’ email 2 days before trial end. Listed out all the stuff they’d built or achieved so far. Worked surprisingly well for some segments.
Remember, every app’s different. Test a few approaches and watch your metrics closely.
Forget those band-aid fixes. If trial users aren’t converting, your product isn’t delivering enough value fast enough. Focus on getting users to their ‘aha moment’ within the first few days. Identify your power features and make sure new users hit them quickly. Strip out everything non-essential from onboarding. Guide users to one key action that shows clear value. If you’re still stuck, do exit surveys. Find out why people aren’t upgrading. Use that data to improve your core offering. Remember, a great product sells itself. Fix the fundamentals before trying to optimize the funnel.
Maybe look at what users do in the trial. Are they using the main features? If not, figure out why. Might need to make the app simpler or show value faster.