Coupons and free trial - how influence each other

[nitten]

Hi there,
I have a SaaS with a 14 day free trial period.

I am thinking to do the following for the people who is "subscription_create" but did not pass "subscription_activate" because they did not fill out payment info :
Wait 10 min, and then if they still haven't completed the sign up, I want to send them an email with a coupon code offering them the first month of free.
But will that end up in 1 month + 14 days (free trial period) in total, or how will that work?
Best regards,
Thomas

 

[MukeshR]

Hello @nitten

Yes, you can create a use case in this manner. If you wish to exclude the trial period from the coupon you're offering, you should create a similar new plan that doesn't include the trial. This is because when a plan with a trial period is purchased, the trial always activates first. For your scenario, this would mean a 14-day trial followed by a 1-month free plan with the coupon. Hence, we recommend setting up a separate similar plan for this specific use case, one without the 14-day trial period. This way, users will directly begin their 1-month free plan using the one-time coupon. From the following month, they would start paying for the subscription.

 

[nitten]

Thank you.
I really don't understand how I can achieve a true free trial without users having to register their payment info. Any advise on that?

 

[MukeshR]

Hello @nitten
If you don't want to collect payment details from the customer, you can create a free plan with a zero amount in your PSB account. With this zero-amount plan, payment details won't be collected from the customer. After the trial period ends, you'll need to manually upgrade the customer to a paid plan and collect payment. If the customer chooses not to upgrade, you can cancel their free plan.

If you'd like to use the trial period option in Pabbly Subscription Billing and the plan isn't a zero-amount plan, then payment details will be collected from the customer. This is because without their payment details, they cannot be charged for the subscription once the trial period concludes.

 

[nitten]

Thank you Mukesh,
You write: "...you'll need to manually upgrade the customer to a paid plan and collect payment" => This could be handled by the user logging into the client portal and choosing a plan and adding payment method, right?

If that's correct, my only problem would be: How could I avoid users just picking the free plan once again from the client portal.

 

[MukeshR]

Hello Nitten,

Yes, customers can upgrade their plan through the client portal if you have granted them permission to do so. However, you might encounter the following issues with this approach:

1. The customer may choose the free plan again in the upgrade/downgrade.
2. The free plan does not have an automatic expiration. Therefore, you'll need to manually cancel it after the free trial days are over.