schwinn140

CSO

What are your thoughts on offering free trials for Enterprise SaaS Martech Solutions?

As the title suggests, I'm looking to get some feedback on whether you think offering a free trial (think 10-14 days) is a viable GTM for an enterprise MarTech/AdTech product selling at $75k-$125k

From what I can see, most vendors in this space sell on the value of what their software COULD do for their customers vs. attempting to offer a trial experience that embeds a real data for them to review/test.

Perhaps my lens on the space is too limited which why I'm reaching out to you folks for another perspective. Thoughts?

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36 comments

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poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Can you realize value in 14 days?

schwinn140

Valued Contributor

CSO

Being that our customer's own sales cycles are 6-12 months, I'd conclude that you cannot.

That said, you most certainly could get a taste of what is possible within 14 days via immediate access to relevant data.

BmajoR

Arsonist

Account Executive

To your point about sales cycle, that aligns with what I sell although different industry and we offer 30 day trials if there is a real project with a budget. IF those criteria are met, then we have no problem using company resources to implement the trial and I'd say we have a very high conversion rate.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

How much time, money, and effort you going to expend getting them set up on a trial vs just doing a demo?

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

If I’m a customer, it costs too much from a resource allocation perspective to spin up a 14-day trial. Implementation, tracking, meetings to track progress, etc. I would instead offer an opt-out clause of 30 days post “go live”.

schwinn140

Valued Contributor

CSO

Good suggestion.

GDO

Politicker

BDM

value can also be increased their pipe! But indeed a deal would be better

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

Very few products for enterprise will have any value add in two weeks, I can see this hurting more than helping

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Freemiums are a strategy. Sometimes this is done as a "sandbox" or a pilot, or some other name. The question is - what does it cost YOU (or the company) to set that up?

I have been in companies where to set that up was as big a project as if they were a real, paying customer. Most of the time its a bit easier though. But regardless, the company has to extend time and resources to do this.

I will approach these opportunities with a couple things in mind - (1) You need to have a mutual objective in mind - what are you trying to accomplish - and put it in writing, (2) have a defined timeline, (3) if you can, get the customer to put up some $$. I tell them I have to pay my developers for their time but we can wait on the SaaS licenses til we have completed the objectives of the project.

Hope that helps.

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

Solid outline.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Do you already have the capability to show how this can work and provide value in a trial environment?
If so, it is a differentiator and certainly a way to separate yourself (we're so confident you'll find value, we're able to let you try it out!). This alone can give you a perceived competitive advantage.
That said, you have to control the trial. Too many times, I've seen customers request a trial and never go into it, and/or they poke around for 30 minutes the first day and that's all. Prospects should still be qualified before the trial is provided, and managed during the process (a walk through, a check in at some time during the trial, a meeting at the end to discuss findings).

schwinn140

Valued Contributor

CSO

Yes, can can certainly show how the product works within the trial environment and deliver real market data for prospects to review.
The challenge with the above is that many prospects have the right intentions but they get busy/distracted. They also conclude that many of their peers could benefit from seeing this data. As a result, their trial concludes without all of their peers getting access. The prospect will next ask for a trial extension which then needs to be delivered in tandem with another demo (light version) for the new peeps that have not had exposure to the product.

Clearly, all of this extends the selling cycle and makes things take forever.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

It's definitely part of the consideration for sales cycle time. I had one recently blow out their trial time (by months). HOWEVER, I got the sale, they leveraged what they learned in the trial to launch exceptionally early, and are now already looking for expansion and are referenceable, which never happens so early in the term. It came down to partnership for them.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

This happens so much. Making sure they have some skin in the game can really mitigate it.

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

#BunnyFactsAreMoneyFacts$

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

Just curious if your company is new or quite established with some known logos? In how much time do they generally see the results?

schwinn140

Valued Contributor

CSO

Well established but entirely new product

saaskicker

Celebrated Contributor

Enterprise AE

Free trials for MarTech is a crutch. Better building a business case and leveraging case studies to win the business.

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

I would have agreed with this 100% a year ago. I agree with it 94% now. 6% is a GTM adjustment based on the getting through factor. Free and live POC could cross a few fences. Interesting thought anyway.

saaskicker

Celebrated Contributor

Enterprise AE

For sure, have to adjust to win deals. I would position it as a "one time thing" - would be tough for a seller if this was part of an everyday deal cycle or if it was plastered on the pricing page "FREE TRIAL"

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Cringe on the web posting.
Free trial should be a tool to assist a cycle and showcase something specific and measurable, not be a giant billboard to get foot traffic.

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

Yeah, that would make it a sample at Costco. Gotta be stronger than that.

saaskicker

Celebrated Contributor

Enterprise AE

we love a costco sampler

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Costco samplers are the bomb.

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

After reading the comments, you've gotten some solid thoughts. Martech can have some serious mic drop moments - high shiny object potential - and not disruptive to an orgs process either. The trial thing always depends on engagement, so, in my opinion, to make it stick you've almost got to force it.
Do you have enough resources to require an implementation geek on it for setup? If so, you may just find love in this model. I'd be interested to see where you land with this.

schwinn140

Valued Contributor

CSO

Agreed.
Yes, we have resources to guide the adoption of the trial. That said, it has continued to be a challenge to manage due to our prospects constantly wanting others to see the data. It's great news that they see the value immediately. It's bad news however because with each new person(s) introduced to the trial, the sales cycle continues. In many cases, the trial needs to be extended well beyond the default period.

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

So many ways to go with this. Sounds like you've got dev resources to convert it from free to some sort of nominal-fee token based consumption model - maybe a second phase of POC.
"Free trial for one campaign. When you love it it costs very little. When you can't live without it. It costs X. Most of our clients skip the tokens, but its an option."
Just stair step them into ownership. Could close organically. Just thoughts...
For what it's worth... really good problem to have.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I really love this approach.

Beans

Big Shot

Enterprise Account Executive

Can you move through implementation in that time frame?
Enterprise solutions time to value is usually 3,6,9,12 months in some cases, and implementation can take a heavy lift both internally and with your prospects.

schwinn140

Valued Contributor

CSO

Implementation and connectivity to SFDC and other apps can happen in minutes. That said, our customer's own sales cycles typically are 6-12 months so connectivity is one thing...deriving value over time is another.

Beans

Big Shot

Enterprise Account Executive

Appreciate the integration insight, that's one aspect solved.

Sounds like the TTV would be a gap, perhaps you expand your pilot timeline and target organizations with shorter sales cycles for a proof of concept before going all-in.

schwinn140

Valued Contributor

CSO

Only challenge is that going to orgs with shorter sales cycles usually means that their ASP is lower which will make the justification of our product that much more difficult.

SaaSyBee

Politicker

Founder

I believe in giving some sort of sandbox environment so people can play around and get a sense of the UX, but if they can't see value in 10-14 days, it's a waste

LambyCorn

Arsonist

A mfkn E

I always think this should be a must. I worked briefly at a company that to try their 14 day trial version they had to bat $250. Prospects would FLIP and cuss us out lmao I always thought that was strange. Free trial should be a given!

schwinn140

Valued Contributor

CSO

Not sure of your space but think we're in the space more similar to Terminus, 6sense, Demandbase, etc.
None of them offer free trials. We were trying a different path but perhaps they already concluded what we're experiencing.

ventox35

Politicker

Sales Leader

i'm team SLG. no PLG for me. it sounds like you and your team need to work through how to present pricing. sounds like you need some confidence in the product.
maybe i'm way off...unless your product is absolutely unbelievable must have, you should never consider product-led GTM strategies.

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schwinn140

What are your thoughts on offering free trials for Enterprise SaaS Martech Solutions?

36 comments

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