Overview
Free trials allow new users to access content for a limited period before their first payment. They help validate payment methods, gather basic user information, and support conversion decisions. This article explains how free trials work in Cleeng and how to configure them in the dashboard.
Prerequisites
- To create offers, including offers with free trials, you need access to the Cleeng dashboard with the Offer Management permission assigned to your admin account.
- The offer type must be a subscription.
Limitations
- Free trials must be at least 4 days long.
- Shorter trial periods (for example, 1-day trials) are available only in the Sandbox environment for testing.
- A user cannot receive a free trial for the same offer more than once.
Definition
A free trial is a predefined number of trial days applied at the start of a subscription. During this period, the user can access content without being charged. After the trial ends, the first billing event occurs unless the user cancels.
Key benefits
- Validate the payment method before the subscription renews.
- Collect user data such as email, demographic details, navigation patterns, and cancellation feedback.
- Increase the likelihood of conversion by allowing users to evaluate the content.
- Prevent repeated free trials for the same offer.
How free trials work
When a user signs up for a subscription with a free trial, their access is granted immediately. The billing cycle begins only when the trial ends. If the user cancels during the trial, no payment is taken.
Subscription switches and trials
When users move between subscription offers (upgrade or downgrade), Cleeng applies a set of switching rules. These rules determine whether the trial continues, is recalculated, or is lost.
The exact behavior depends on whether the current and target subscriptions include free trials.
Free trial behavior
Switch from a subscription with a free trial
An active trial period on the subscription from which an upgrade or downgrade is happening affects the switch behavior.
- If a switch is requested to an offer with a trial and the user is eligible for it (for both upgrade and downgrade directions), the switch happens immediately, and by default, the trial is continued, however, its duration is recalculated (see below on the recalculation formula). The calculation is made based on the time duration of free trials (number of days), not the money equivalent of the offer. Once the recalculated trial is finished, the user is charged the full price of the switched subscription.
Example: A user has started the BRONZE monthly offer with two weeks trial period. In the middle of the trial (50% of the trial duration), the user has decided to switch to the GOLDEN offer, which has one week trial period defined. After the switch, the trial shall be continued. As the user has used half of the BRONZE trial (50%), they still can enjoy (50%) of the GOLDEN offer trial which in this case is equal to 4 days (7 days * 50 % = 3.5 days = rounded to 4 days).
- If a switch is requested to an offer without trial (for both upgrade and downgrade directions), the user loses the trial, the switch happens immediately, and the user is fully charged for a new plan.
You can change the free trial behavior in the dashboard and override the default free trial continuation behavior and instead stop any free trial along with the subscriptions switch.
Switch from a subscription without a free trial
If a switch is requested to an offer with a trial, the trial is not started and the switch follows the behavior of the algorithm used in this switch.
Subscription switches in the In-Apps
Cleeng currently doesn't support upgrades/downgrades during trial for native apps (Android, Apple (StoreKit 2 integration), Roku, Samsung TV, and Vizio).
Setting up a free trial
You can configure a trial period directly in the dashboard.
- Go to Dashboard > Offers & Coupons > Offers, then select Create Offer and choose Subscription.
2. Complete the offer details. In Step 3: Pricing, enter the number of trial days.
3. Click on Finish Setup. Users will see the trial information during checkout.
Coupons and free trials
If your offer comes with a free trial period and a first-time user applies a coupon code at checkout, the trial period will be canceled, and the discounted coupon will take effect instead.
Next Steps
- Review how subscription switching works across your offers.
- You can test trial configurations in Sandbox before enabling them in Production.
If needed, combine trials with coupons to fine-tune acquisition campaigns.