For products with high trial churn, replace the standard "try before you buy" model. Instead, charge users upfront and offer a rebate or a free second month if they complete a key activation task. This creates commitment and incentivizes the exact behavior that leads to long-term retention.

The company initially used a one-time payment plan, resulting in low customer lifetime value. Switching to a recurring subscription model, even for a product with natural churn, massively increased revenue and LTV by capturing more value over time from each customer.

After removing free trials, the Asian Century Stocks newsletter experienced zero growth for a full year. Upon reintroducing them, growth immediately resumed at a rate of 30-40% annually, proving that a trial period was essential for converting subscribers in this high-value niche.

Goldcast sunset its PLG free trial after learning that for a complex platform, user error was unavoidable. Customers blamed the product for their mistakes, which cannibalized the sales funnel and hurt brand perception, prompting a switch to a sales-led motion.

Contrary to pushing subscriptions on the first order, analysis at beverage brand Hint found the highest-LTV customers subscribed after their third purchase. Allowing customers to first sample the product range before committing leads to more informed subscribers and lower churn. Brands should test this delayed approach.

Read AI discovered that the longer a user stays on the free plan, the more likely they are to eventually pay. By allowing users to build a large personal data archive for free, the value of upgrading to access and query that history becomes a powerful, self-created incentive.

The goal of a free trial isn't just to let users 'try before they buy.' It's to integrate your solution into their workflow so that its eventual removal creates a powerful sense of loss and deprivation. This feeling of losing the solution, rather than the initial desire for it, is what drives conversion.

TMC operated as a free community for years, building immense value and trust. When they finally introduced a paid tier, members were eager to pay, with many saying they would have paid earlier. This extended "free trial" model proves value first, making monetization seamless.

Free trials attract low-quality users who provide weak signals. Palta uses intro pricing instead. This forces a small financial commitment upfront, ensuring every acquired user has a proven willingness to pay and providing a much stronger signal for optimizing ad algorithms from day one.