Let’s dive into the contentious world of opt-in vs opt-out free trials - how most companies get it wrong, and how one company gets it very, very right.

Chapter 1: To Credit Card, or Not To Credit Card?

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Why asking for payment details for a free trial makes for terrible UX

Let’s start with the pain-point.

Have you ever wanted to try a certain website or app, but before even being able to look around and figure out if it fits your needs, you’re slapped with a “Sign Up for a Free Trial! [AND ADD YOUR PAYMENT DETAILS] screen?

Yeah, me too.

9 times out of 10 - unless I’m absolutely certain I need that service - I make a hard exit out of there.

Conversations, surveys, and research across websites and forums all point to the same conclusion: users universally loathe entering their payment details when signing up for a free trial.

Why?

You’ve encountered an Opt-Out free trial, which uses a practice called **Negative Option Billing** (NOB). NOB is where a merchant offers a free trial period to access their services, and automatically enrolls the cardholder into a recurring subscription after the trial period ends.

This is really frustrating for the following (+ more) reasons:

So because of transparency, trust, effort and risk, you are significantly less likely to sign up for a free trial requiring payment details than one that doesn’t.

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As such, it would naturally follow that companies focused on a good user experience and attracting more customers, should not ask for payment details when offering a free trial.

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