Re: Why lots of sponsors have $1 trial?
If we have to address the lowest common denominator and make everything as easy for surfers to understand as possible, we have to look at what the general understanding of what a $1.00 trial would be. An inexperienced surfer would expect that for $1.00 they would get full and complete access to a website for a specified period of time.
A trial that allows a surfer only partial access should not even be called a trial. It is a sample, essentially a preview that the surfer pays for. And it should be specified in big red letters: GIVE US A BUCK AND WE WILL LET YOU WATCH PART OF A VIDEO AND THEN IN TWO DAYS WE WILL GIVE YOU ACCESS TO A BUNCH OF OTHER CONTENT AND SITES FOR AN ADDITIONAL $85.
Surfers don’t understand which browser they are using and certainly are not going to follow the fine print or below the scroll information that makes these things work. When they get hit with the additional costs, they scream and believe we are all running some kind of scam. I don’t know how many of us have actually spent time on the phone with surfers and polled them extensively, but I can tell you that most of them believe that porn sites are run by shady characters that they are loathe to even give credit card information to.
If we put material out there which indicates that the material is worth only $1.00, why wouldn’t they think that is was so valueless that they shouldn’t bother paying at all.
But then again, I suppose if one knows their customer base, they know what works for them. I know that if you want the fewest possible chargebacks and the best possible retention, you have to avoid anything that has a whiff of ‘scam’ to it. Everything has to be very very easy to understand.
Just because something is easier to sell doesn’t make it smart in the long haul. We can look at many of the problems we have today and chalk them up to short sighted choices that were made in the past.