Free Trials

Make it easy to start and let people try the real product. Test the length of the trial, since shorter trials often did better and beginners and experienced users differ. Help people reach a first success in the first days, and tie the product to a moment they already have, so the routine outlasts the trial. End with a clear and fair choice: plain terms, a reminder before any charge and a way out as easy as the way in.

What the report found

1. Make starting easy. Free samples raised sales for as long as a year, and free samples of whole books lifted sales rather than replacing them. Ask little at the start and let people try the real thing.
2. Set the right length. In a large experiment, shorter trials produced more subscribers on average, while experienced users gained from longer ones. A trial starts a habit rather than completes it.
3. Show value early. Use during the trial shaped whether people went on to pay. Help people reach a first success in the first days, and show the progress they have made.
4. Build a routine. Habits form when an action is repeated in a stable setting. In a test of 54 programmes, most gains faded once the programme ended. Tie the product to a moment people already have.
5. End the trial fairly. When trials renewed automatically, about half of people moved to a paid plan, but a quarter to a third put off signing up. State the terms plainly, remind people before the first charge and make leaving as easy as joining.

Who it is for

For subscription and software teams, app makers, publishers, fitness and wellness businesses, service firms, and anyone who lets people try before they buy.

How we work

Field Guides turn the evidence into principles, each with the research, a worked example and what to try and watch out for. Every claim is graded, and where researchers disagree, as they do on whether a trial should continue into a paid plan unless people cancel, both sides are set out before we say where we stand.

Cite this report

The Why We Project (2026) Free Trials: Turning a trial into a habit. Field Guide No. 22. Dubai: Why We Tech Ltd. Available at: thewhyweproject.com