Concept
A trial period is a specific period that allows your end customer to test an offer. Once the trial period is over, your customer will automatically transition to the paid part of their subscription.
This trial period is represented by adding a unique period (regardless of its duration) at the start of the subscription.
You can add a trial period to any offer from the catalog section of your ProAbono back office.
Attributes
There are two configurable variables when creating a trial period:
- Price
You can choose to associate a price with the trial period. The fees associated with the trial period will be charged at the start of the subscription.
Of course, you can also configure the trial period as free.
- Duration
The trial period is a unique period with its own duration. Therefore, you can choose any duration regardless of the recurrence of the associated offer.
Examples:
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- Monthly subscription with a 14-day trial period
- Monthly subscription with a 1-year trial period
Use Cases
Free Trial Period
Let’s take the example of a monthly offer that includes a free trial period.
- With a duration of 1 month, which is equivalent to the recurrence of the subscription. The periods are synchronized.
- With a duration of 1 month and 15 days, different from the recurrence of the subscription. The periods are desynchronized.
What happens at the start of the subscription?
No invoice will be generated at the start of the subscription because the trial period is free.
What happens at the end of the trial period?
Once the trial period is over, a renewal will take place, and the first invoice will be issued with the first paid period of the subscription.
What happens next?
Subsequent renewals will occur according to the recurrence of the subscription (monthly, quarterly, yearly, etc.), along with the invoicing.
Paid Trial Period
- Duration synchronized with the recurrence of the subscription:
Let’s consider a monthly offer that includes a paid trial period.
The duration of the trial period is 1 month, which is equivalent to the recurrence of the subscription (or a multiple: 2 months, 3 months, etc.).
What happens at the start of the subscription?
An invoice will be generated at the start of the subscription because the trial period is paid. The invoice date will be recorded and serve as the basis for future invoices. In this example, the invoice date is set on the 10th of each month (the start date when the fees for the paid trial period were invoiced).
What happens at the end of the trial period?
Once the trial period is over, a renewal will take place, and an invoice will be issued with the first paid period of the subscription.
What happens next?
Subsequent renewals will occur according to the recurrence of the subscription (monthly, quarterly, yearly, etc.), along with the invoicing.
- Duration desynchronized from the recurrence of the subscription:
Let’s consider a monthly offer that includes a paid trial period with a duration of 1 month and 15 days, which is different from the recurrence of the subscription.
What happens at the start of the subscription?
An invoice will be generated at the start of the subscription because the trial period is paid. The invoice date will be recorded and serve as the basis for future invoices. In this example, the invoice date is set on the 10th of each month (the start date when the fees for the paid trial period were invoiced).
What happens at the end of the trial period?
Once the trial period is over, a renewal will take place, but no invoice will be issued with the first paid period of the subscription. This is because the next billing date is not automatically set to the end of the trial period.
In this example, we can see that at the end of the trial period (February 25th), a renewal occurs, but the next billing date is March 10th. Therefore, the subscription will not be invoiced until March 10th and so on.
What happens next?
Subsequent renewals will occur according to the recurrence of the subscription (monthly, quarterly, yearly, etc.), and the billing will continue with the desynchronized schedule.
Learn More
For more information on:
- Trial periods in the context of an offer change, refer to the article: Trial Period and Upragde
- Creating a trial period in an offer, refer to the article: How to Create an Offer?