Has anyone had any luck with trial accounts offering users like 15 days without paying a penny to try your service? We are currently offering those and I wanted to get opinions on if that is something we should continue doing.

Also if its something we should continue doing what should be on the look out for other than like people making accounts to send spam?

If you REALLY want to do it right, do it like this:

$1.00 trial for 3 months of hosting.

Why do that versus just outright giving them 3 months free?

Simple.

You filter out all the tire kickers by making your prospects pay $1.00. You know that if they are willing to take out their credit card, even if for a dollar, that means they are probably willing to take you up on your full service offer when it comes time to renew.

If you just give the free trial away, you are just going to have a lot of free loaders who just want the free service out of you.

ZThat is true I know right now we offer 15 days free and it will auto delete your account if your on the trial plan more than 15 days and the trial account is limited in function.

Sorry about the above I was replying from my blackberry. That is a good idea to charge $1 for a account for a certain period of time to show the possible client is really interested in the service. The reason we are offering it is to show the client how well the service works.

We currently offer free 15 days for people to try but I also think the $1 would help prevent spammers.

Anyone else have any good suggestions like the first one. And thank you for the suggestion dbbrock1

Yes a certain time for trial is a good promotion method.But I have seen many negative points on it.Customers need a time like 1-3 months so that to find out how well the serive really is.So,15 days maybe cant attract them.
Umm,I do not have a better way to block spammers and the price is really inefficient.We pays more attention on the info when a customer comes after a trial account.
Regards.

Yeah that's why I don't like doing straight up free trials. It is going to cost you a lot of money to keep an eye on those customers. Script kiddie heaven right there.

If you charge them just $1 for three months, it will weed out most of your moderating work. And your conversions will be much better 3 months later when you tell them it is time for renewal(provided you provide a half decent service)

I prefer to charge the normal price with a money back guarantee. That way you're unlikely to get the kids without credit cards and most people won't pay for it if they're only planning to get kicked off the server. The hassle of requesting the money back would be too much considering they would probably have to do it multiple times over multiple companies to keep their "operation" (ie spamming) running.

Obviously, free trials and the like come with some serious risk that you can never be completely free of. It's a decision that everyone needs to make for themselves based on how much risk they're willing to run.

Free Trials most of the times are used with wrong intentions and there is no way for a hosting provider to differentiate between a genuine customer and prankster. I would say a money back guarantee is a safe option for both, the hosting provider as well as the customer.

Fraud and 'tire kickers' are something to consider I suppose, but the bigger problem is that free trials bring administrative nightmares - spammers, script kiddies, phishers and even worse - people who will do illegal stuff and generally abuse your network, which will directly cause problems for your paying clients. How do you explain to your clients that the reputation of the network they rely on to run their business has been compromised by criminals given free reign to run amok? It may be that a few bad apples spoils the bunch, but so be it - free trials are a bad, bad idea and there are much better alternatives out there.

I would say a Money back guarantee is a better way to go, a trial account would be very open to misuse. Although it may not be so appealing it is a far safer option.

If you have problems with people using your server to spam (whether it be free trials or a paid account), it is not configured properly.

We were able to mostly mitigate that problem by forcing scripts to send from a legit e-mail address (no "nobody" or server hostname stuff) and limit the number of e-mails sent per hour, with exceptions made only upon request and verification.

I guess it depends a bit on what type of product you offer. Our servers give people the ability to control their own user settings in almost any way they choose, and that can be dangerous in a free trial situation.

I would say a Money back guarantee is a better way to go, a trial account would be very open to misuse. Although it may not be so appealing it is a far safer option.

that's usually what I tell people when they ask for a trial account. Much better and more reliable than giving out free accounts to random people. This way you know they are able to pay when the time comes.

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I have decided not to go the trial route and just use the 30 day money back guarantee. Your input is vary appreciated.

Has anyone had any luck with trial accounts offering users like 15 days without paying a penny to try your service? We are currently offering those and I wanted to get opinions on if that is something we should continue doing.

Also if its something we should continue doing what should be on the look out for other than like people making accounts to send spam?Yes I have been offering it for the last 6-7 years and had great luck with it.

If you have problems with people using your server to spam (whether it be free trials or a paid account), it is not configured properly.Well said.

Free trials used to work great. In fact, it is how I got the majority of my customers years ago. Now, there are too many host-jumpers and fraudsters for it to be as effective. Don't get me wrong, it can work, but it is a lot of hassle these days.

Unfortunately, times have changed, so I can no longer publicly offer a free trial. I still offer it sometimes if I have chatted with a potential customer for a bit and determined that they are genuine and trustworthy, but that is rare.