Turning Trial Customers into Paying Clients

by | Sep 3, 2017

Whatever your business, you have likely engaged in providing a “freebie” to get potential new clients in the door in hopes of turning trial customers into paying clients.  Of course, this sometimes does not convert to a permanent customer.  Instead of thinking that these freebies do not work, figure out what you did wrong.  Or better yet, implement these strategies to make your free customers come back.

Initiate Contact Immediately

Research has shown that 90 percent of leads actually go cold within an hour.  Initiate contact almost immediately.  The easiest way of doing this is by sending an email.  Whether you get it by having someone sign up for a trial run of your service or by joining your email list to get a discount on a meal, the important thing is to get it.  Send out an automated email, That way, even if they quickly forget that they signed up, they will have a reminder. 

Offer Additional Incentives

Offering an additional incentive might seem like a bit much, especially after providing a freebie.  In the end though, this can seriously pay off.  The added incentive does not need to be another freebie.  A sandwich shop could offer an easy punch card loyalty program to keep people coming back.  Those offering marketing as a service could discount their yearly rate in exchange for payment made up front.  There are tons of other incentives to provide. Just use your imagination.

Keep Communication Open

Marketing experts say 10% of a small business’s monthly sales should go into free trials.  This is a large chunk of budget, so keep communication lines open.  Send out periodic emails or reminders. Make sure some are framed as helpful communications.  People forget, so while daily emails are a bit overzealous, a few friendly reminders never hurt anyone.

Too many customers take advantage of a free offer and then simply never come back.  Fortunately, you can reduce the likelihood of this by simply being proactive. It pays to anticipate and prepare for new business.