Track the number of free trial subscriptions started, analyze seasonal trends, and evaluate the effectiveness of your acquisition efforts.
Overview
The Free Trials Started metric represents the number of free trial subscriptions that begin in any period of time. Together with your trial conversion rate, this metric is a key growth indicator.
Free Trials Started
This metric measures how effectively your marketing attracts potential subscribers, indicating the appeal of your platform. High trial starts reflect strong interest, while low numbers suggest issues with messaging or reach.
Trial Conversion Rate
This shows how well your platform retains trial users by converting them into paying subscribers, reflecting content and user experience quality. A low conversion rate signals issues with delivering perceived value during the trial period.
This metric can be found in the Trials Dashboard.
How Free Trials Started is measured
The number of free trial subscriptions started in the selected time period. The free trial chart will always show you the number of trials started within each of the sub-periods visualized. For example, if you view the last 6 months as your overall time period with each bar in the chart representing an individual month, the individual bar will only display the trials that were started in that month.
Importance of Free Trials Signup Rates
Free trials signup rates are a very important metric to analyze in the context of (1) your seasonal trends and (2) your customer acquisition spend. Seasonal spikes in trial signup rates are an indicator that other acquisition channels, such as winback campaigns, should also be intensified.
Related to this is the need to consider the effectiveness of your marketing efforts from a signup rate perspective. ROI should be examined in terms of what each individual new free trial is costing, and how this changes over time.