SaaS (Software as a Service) companies offer free trials in around 44% of cases. For these businesses, enhancing the trial experience is key to increasing conversion rates. After all, a trial allows a prospect to confirm whether they’ll receive value from your product or not. It's a bit like dating. Are there any red flags? Is this person who they say they are?

So the question is, how can Customer Success teams create a great trial experience without consuming a lot of resources and time? We’ll show you how we empower teams to automate trials with Vitally’s Customer Success Platform.

The Trouble with Trial Management

First, let’s explore why SaaS organizations may have a hard time tracking trials. For example, let's say you have a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform. In this case, you might manage trials using a pipeline stage or a simple field.

Although CRMs can tell you which accounts are actively trialing your product, they rarely provide insights into user behavior. To even enrich CRMs with usage data is typically a huge undertaking and requires dedicated technical resources.

Goals of Automating the Trial Process

Tracking Trials in Vitally

With Vitally's wide range of Product Analytics integrations, teams can easily and effectively manage trials from start to finish. You can segment trial accounts from existing customers and designate health scores specific to trials. Moreover, you can create a variety of automated workflows and view built-in reports on trial conversions.

Product-Led Growth (PLG) organizations and those using Tech Touch and Hybrid Touch Customer Success motions will especially benefit from automation.

Tracking trials with a Customer Success Platform (CSP) can help teams provide a seamless experience for their customers. For example, you can set up a Playbook workflow to automatically segment trial accounts (e.g., SMB Trials vs. Enterprise Trials vs. Subscribers). This can help you separate activities and maintain a clean and organized database.

In addition, you can create a Project Template that outlines what steps need to be taken whenever a prospect requests a trial. A "Trial Setup" Project could include the following Tasks:

1. Confirm trial start date and end date
2. Ensure all users have been invited to the trial account
3. Follow up with product tips specific to their use case

You can then augment this process even further by using Automation to complete and assign next steps.

Automate Based on Buying Signals

There are numerous ways you can use Automation to promote a successful trial. With Vitally's powerful workflow builder, you can trigger certain actions to occur whenever a user does a specific activity in your product.

For example, a user who increases their daily product usage or turns on key features is likely to be a highly engaged prospect. You can then auto-assign a Task to the Account Executive to do a personalized follow-up and secure the deal. Or, if user engagement is low, you can create a Playbook that sends an in-app message to re-engage the user.

In addition, Playbook automation allows you to not only identify certain buying signals, but also proactively engage with high-intent buyers. You can send email nurture sequences, assign critical Tasks and Milestones, and more without much manual effort. Here are a few examples of workflows that SaaS Customer Success teams may use during a trial:

• When users turn on key integrations or product features, trigger an email sequence that is personalized to their journey. If a user enables a certain feature, you can email them a message along the lines of, “Congrats! You've set up [KEY FEATURE #1]. Now, let’s try to get [KEY FEATURE #2] going. Here are some resources to help you along the way.”
• If trial users are deeply engaged (i.e., high product usage), you might want to automatically flag them. You can set up an automated workflow that creates an Opportunity Indicator. Once created, the automation can also assign a Project for the AE to follow up on.

More Ways to use Automation for Trials

Vitally offers a wide range of capabilities that teams can use to build the most effective trial automation:

• Personalized Nurture Sequence: Create personalized trial onboarding email sequences at scale. Send a variety of product tips and touch points throughout the trial period. If a user doesn't respond to your email, create a Playbook branch that takes them on a different conversation path.
• Proactive Support Emails: Create a Playbook that tracks when a user was "Last Seen" as active in your product. If it's been a few days, send an email sequence to see if they need any assistance or support.
• Risk and Opportunity Indicators: Alert your Revenue team of risks and opportunities by firing Indicators for each scenario. If product usage decreases, a trial may be at-risk. If a user has maxed out all their seats, there may be an upsell opportunity for a higher-tier package.

That's a Wrap

Automation can help you scale your trial motion to new heights and create an engaging experience for everyone involved. For any additional questions, please contact your Vitally Customer Success Manager or learn more in our help center.

‍Get in touch with an expert today to learn more about these features and how Vitally can help accelerate your Customer Success!