Is it just me or is asking for Credit Card details on the sign-up page for a free trial the worst idea ever? I can think of nothing else that makes me close the browser window faster than someone asking for Credit Card details. PayPal can make me re-consider the option but there’s no chance in hell of anyone getting my CC details for a free trial. Is it just me?
I know why they do it, they are either dodgy or they want to get your money on day 31 hoping you forget. Or as they say “to make the payment process easier”. As we all know 21 days to form a habit, so after a 30 day trial you have either a sold customer or not.
NetNerd, I’m in the same boat, it’s a big no no from me too Especially for a Trial service/product - I don’t like conditions, it’s either free to try (and no strings attached) or from me! I also dislike that old chestnut of “making payments easier if you do decide to keep the service/product” - bleugh! It’s taking advantage of those who do forget or those who are vulnerable, it’s a disgusting tactic IMO!
I have met that sometimes in the past. I recommend you do not accept their rules if you do not want that. What if you dislike their service during trial?
Actually in many cases, it’s to prevent users repeatedly signing up for free trial periods using disposable email addresses/made up information. It’s one of the few pieces of personalised information that people can’t duplicate easily.
Agreed that it results in a massive bounce at the point where asked for, so it depends on whether the resources consumed by free trial users is an issue to the business, on whether it’s worth the hugely reduced sign ups.
I would never do it.
Online payments are for the whole product or nothing at all, in my opinion. Unless you are making a payment I can’t see why anyone needs credit card details.
Yes it is the worst idea ever. What they are doing is totally contradicting the concept of a free trial. The fact that you have to hand over extremely sensitive personal information in order to obtain the trial immediately means that it’s not free at all. My credit card details have an intrinsic value associated with them (to me) and I certainly wouldn’t offer them up in order to get hold of a trial. I used to work in the software industry writing commercial products so I know every tactic these types of companies use to get people to pay, and by far this is one of the most underhanded, blatant attempts to put people in the same kind of situations as spam. Effectively you tell them to hand over their payment details and the only won’t charge you if you cancel the trial (so it becomes opt out) - and thereby they make money from those who unfortunately forget to cancel during the period.
You shouldn’t be requesting ANY information in a FREE trial, the whole point behind the word free in free trial is that it’s free of restrictions or obligations. Anyone proclaiming to offer a free trial whom thereby enforces the handing over of personal information (or identifiable data) is not offering what they claim, it’s as simple as that. My best guess is that people who do this kind of thing have such a crappy product that their only hope of getting people to register is to try and tie them into that trial in order to hopefully force a purchase (due to how much effort went into getting it). If you really had a decent product you would simply have a download link on the site and say “enjoy” (for the period of however long) - no strings attached, the product would sell itself. From working in the software industry, the only thing such methods end up promoting is piracy as people who want to get that free without restrictions trial will simply revert to other means.
No - it’s certainly not just you. As a consumer I certainly wouldn’t part with my personal billing info for any purely “free” trial, and I can’t say that I’ve come across too many websites making this kind of offer. Smart marketers will always test and see what offers bring them the best results, but I honestly can’t see anyone that this idea would work well for.
Just as bad I think are websites offering a free whitepaper or video in exchange for your email address, while they neglect to tell you they’ll be emailing you every 3 days with a pitch to buy their product or service. If you want to send me a newsletter with some valuable info I can use that’s great, but at least have the guts to tell me upfront what I’m getting myself into.
Either I pay the end product or they can forget about getting my very personal billing info. That is not the kind of free info I intend. My guess is that it may work no more than 5% of the time.
It works too. Netflix asks you to enter your CC to receive their free trial. I canceled before the trial ended and it was very easy to cancel right from their site.
About two years later I signup again thinking I’m about to get another free trial. I even use a different credit card, but after entering in my street address, they pull up my original account and ask me to login. That’s when I knew I wasn’t getting another free trial.
I think trustworthy sites like Netflix can get away with it.
And the other changed to have a sign-up form later I believe.
The point of the author is that new web sites offering some fancy new service should let people try it out first, rather than scaring them away with nasty forms asking for your underwear size and what your dog’s name is.
Especially for a 
from me! I also dislike that old chestnut of 
