Comments on: Importance of Free Software Product Trials http://www.ondemandbeat.com/2007/12/31/importance-of-free-software-product-trials/ OnDemand Computing and Enterprise 2.0 Startup & Tech News Sat, 19 Nov 2011 07:54:31 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 By: Ameed Taylorhttp://www.ondemandbeat.com/2007/12/31/importance-of-free-software-product-trials/comment-page-1/#comment-69 Ameed Taylor Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:15:57 +0000 http://www.ondemandbeat.com/2007/12/31/importance-of-free-software-product-trials/#comment-69 William, You are right in that larger companies with a larger number of sales staff devoted to "nurturing" (touching base with trial customers during 30 day trial) will have an advantage over startups or smaller emerging companies. But there are lots of tools available in modern CRM and contact tools for example that can automate at least some of the effort required in followup and should help even the field for smaller On Demand Software Companies William,

You are right in that larger companies with a larger number of sales staff devoted to “nurturing” (touching base with trial customers during 30 day trial) will have an advantage over startups or smaller emerging companies.

But there are lots of tools available in modern CRM and contact tools for example that can automate at least some of the effort required in followup and should help even the field for smaller On Demand Software Companies

]]> By: William Janushttp://www.ondemandbeat.com/2007/12/31/importance-of-free-software-product-trials/comment-page-1/#comment-62 William Janus Tue, 01 Jan 2008 19:15:46 +0000 http://www.ondemandbeat.com/2007/12/31/importance-of-free-software-product-trials/#comment-62 One aspect of the software trial that was not talked about in the video(unless I missed it) is what % of trial customers turn into paying customers at the end of the trial period. This is where a larger company would have advantage over a startup in that the startup has to convert as many of the trials into paying customers as quickly as possible where a large company can get by with a much smaller % of conversion but make up for it with volume. One aspect of the software trial that was not talked about in the video(unless I missed it) is what % of trial customers turn into paying customers at the end of the trial period.

This is where a larger company would have advantage over a startup in that the startup has to convert as many of the trials into paying customers as quickly as possible where a large company can get by with a much smaller % of conversion but make up for it with volume.

]]>