Everyone said free trials were essential. Let people experience the product before paying. Standard SaaS playbook.
Our free trial converted at about 4%. Not terrible but we noticed something in the data. The people who converted were spending significant time in the trial actually implementing and testing. The people who didn't convert were barely logging in. They'd sign up, poke around for five minutes, and disappear.
We tried something different. Replaced the free trial with a paid pilot. $200 for 30 days, credited toward the first year if they convert. Full onboarding support included.
Expected signup volume to crater. It did drop, by about 70%. But the people who paid the $200 were serious. They showed up to onboarding calls. They actually implemented. They asked questions.
Pilot to paid conversion is now 65%. Do the math and we're getting more paying customers than before despite way fewer signups. Plus we're not spending support resources on people who were never going to buy.
The paid pilot also changed the dynamic. When someone pays even a small amount, they're invested. They want it to work. Free trial users are evaluating whether to care. Paid pilot users already care.
Not saying this works for every product. Consumer or very low ACV probably needs free. But for B2B with meaningful implementation, filtering for seriousness early has been valuable.