Free Trial

Some businesses, like selling health supplements, give a referral fee. But to get one prospect in your network, some people would actually want to know if the particular health product is worth a buyer's buck. In other online businesses, free trials would also be necessary when introducing a product to a rather hesitant, skeptical client. Do you go for free trials when applicable? -clarise

Not usually. Not even the free samples in Costco. :in -AZBroker

That is what some of the companies do to recruit new members, but I also encountered some who gave out free membership all the way. The main thing that is making it hard for me is in marketing the products. So, I tend to shy away from them. -matefork

For computer games, I do like to have a trial before buying the game. Free trials and free memberships are just ways to get people join their site. I guess this is not unusual even in the real world marketing. There are companies that will offer free trial in order for people to test the product. For me, I guess its ok. -encoder

Before I buy software I always download the trial software first. -Iceman

My kids can't pass these in Costco without wanting to stop for a free sample. I feel bad about trying but not buying so I just avoid them. -Marcus

I think it is a good idea to give out free samples or free trials so people can test your product or service. This gives the consumer a choice of whether they want to buy from you or not. -wlctrent

I think a free trial is generally a good idea *if* the little bit of product you offer is going to demonstate what the product can do. For instance, like the health supplements mentioned... If they make a patient feel like a new person without any aches and pains "within two weeks," then you don't want to give a free trial because in the 5 or 7 day trial period, there'd likely be no difference and thus, a LOT of lost sales. So I'd say make sure that the sample is truly going to show the benefits. -destiny

Effective free trial of services are generally structured so the buyer has to actively opt out of moving to paid membership. Plenty of them are borderline dishonest like the thinkall products which seem really cheap but hide a pricey subscription deal in the very fine print. -theglyphon

Yes I did try the free quart when I was searching for a good liquid nutritional supplement and I'm still taking that product 19 months later. That company has the best customer service I have ever seen. There is no obligation to continue ordering and no penalty for cancelling future orders and all requests for changes to my orders are processed immediately.

Of course since it is an MLM company, I became a distributor to earn the money to pay for my own product and was able to do that and much more right away because the free quart made it easy for people to try and the product results were so desirable they continued ordering like I did.

So I would say that my experience with a free trial has been superb!

Karen -Karen Sargent

I have had some good experiences with trying free trials but I've also had some experiences that made it very difficult to stop the service when the free trial ended. That makes me very careful when I'm offered a free trial for something. -ozzie

We all know that when a client says "Leave us your business card", your getting the old heave-ho. A free trial to my way of thinking is a Sales Rep offering you his business card HIMSELF, and giving himself the push out of the door.

* The free gift is seen by me as a business card - sort of. -Incidentally

I'm actually trying out one of my company's free trials right now. I ordered the trial size for myself because I want to know if the product actually makes a difference. It's the new Thermalift cream. If it helps then I will be able to honestly tell my customers that. Maybe they will even be able to see the difference on my face! ;sm -ozzie

Sounds good, ozzie. Here's a tough question for you, though. What if you give the cream a try and you truly can't tell any difference at all? I'm not trying to be cute, it's a real question... what if we try the product we're selling and honestly don't like it? I think sometimes I'd rather be blissfully ignorant about how well something works (or doesn't!) :hu Is there a script for how to handle that? -destiny

That's a good question Destiny. With Avon there are so many different products that I would simply recommend to my customer that they try a similar one that I can vouch for. I think there are about 6-8 different kinds of lip balm alone!

Of course, a customer might like something that I didn't since we all have our own personal preferences.

By the way, after using the new cream for only 2 nights, my husband and I can already see a difference on my face. Now he wants to try it for his drooping skin. ;sm -ozzie

Giving away free trial is good way of increasing awareness about your product , sometime people dont want to invest before trying anything -mtajim

I agree, we are supposed to give away a lot of samples because they will help customers decide to buy a product we are promoting. Samples is one of my biggest sales tools expenses next to brochures. -ozzie