30 Minute Trials A Good Idea?

11-16-2002

Paycom has now given their webmasters the option of putting up 30 minute trials. I'm not sure whether this is a good thing or a bad thing; maybe good because the 30 minute rebill will increase chargebacks and weed out the little ripoff artists trying to get affiliates into their programs by offering higher payouts.

Personally I've heard the retention is only 40%, I think it was mentioned on this board. If so, what is the advantage? You can offer these free 30 minute trials, make $0 on your signup, and still maintain the same conversion ratio as a regular trial signup? I know the argument is that more people will sign up if it's free, but In this day and age I can't see that outweighing the risks for smaller merchants, who don't have the volume of sales to compensate for the inevitable chargebacks.

I have run free trial sites on a merchant account and I can safely say that it is a regular haven for frauders. Switching to a flat monthly did not hurt sales at all, but then again I don't run cookie-cutter paysites. Anyone else have thoughts on this? Some programs do better with free signups, no argument. But offering it to every webmaster who decides to use paycom? Luckily they have to answer directly to VISA now.

C.

11-16-2002	#1
Cal Guest Posts: n/a	Paycom has now given their webmasters the option of putting up 30 minute trials. I'm not sure whether this is a good thing or a bad thing; maybe good because the 30 minute rebill will increase chargebacks and weed out the little ripoff artists trying to get affiliates into their programs by offering higher payouts. Personally I've heard the retention is only 40%, I think it was mentioned on this board. If so, what is the advantage? You can offer these free 30 minute trials, make $0 on your signup, and still maintain the same conversion ratio as a regular trial signup? I know the argument is that more people will sign up if it's free, but In this day and age I can't see that outweighing the risks for smaller merchants, who don't have the volume of sales to compensate for the inevitable chargebacks. I have run free trial sites on a merchant account and I can safely say that it is a regular haven for frauders. Switching to a flat monthly did not hurt sales at all, but then again I don't run cookie-cutter paysites. Anyone else have thoughts on this? Some programs do better with free signups, no argument. But offering it to every webmaster who decides to use paycom? Luckily they have to answer directly to VISA now. C.