[sebisaacsinflow]

- Opt in free trial without putting in card details - Longer free trial - One-off purchase vs subscription - Web sign-up

In addition to these we also send email and notification reminders before the free trial ends and refund everybody who requests one.

[crdrost]

Consider also “we only charge you at the end of the month if you actually used it” or so. Can be a much more difficult revenue model but user trust is way higher when you make that sort of commitment and if you are indeed struggling with getting user trust, it could be a lifesaver.

[dec0dedab0de]

This is the only honest way to do automatic payments, and I think it should be a legal requirement for streaming services, gyms, and anything else that charges recurring fees and has the means to track usage. I would even be ok with "we'll charge you for this month, but since you didn't use it we will suspend your service and stop billing you"

I don't know of any services that do this though. So I assume they are all dishonest.

[rrrrrrrrrrrryan]

> gyms

From my understanding, the profitability of gyms is actually dependent upon some sizable percentage of people paying for a membership and not using it. If that cohort didn't exist, membership fees would have to be much higher.

Software subscriptions are different though, as the variable costs are negligible: the cost associated with providing service to each new user is next to nothing.

Personally, I'd be way more likely to sign up for a paid subscription if I knew they would automatically stop charging me if/when I stop using the service.

[TeMPOraL]

> Software subscriptions are different though, as the variable costs are negligible

Depends on the service. Many boast about their large or unlimited storage for user's data, but this part of their marketing relies on the assumption that almost nobody will actually use a noticeable amount of the offer.

It's similar to the dishonest, but sadly normalized practice of ISPs, where the bandwidth offered would be impossible to provide if a significant number of customers tried to use it at once.

[crdrost]

I believe Slack has an "only pay for what you use" model? Or at least had one at some point?

And of course every cloud provider works this way, but that's not a "subscription model" anymore.

[neuronexmachina]

I like that suggestion, I'd be much more likely to sign up for something that used that charging model.

[chrsig]

oh, this would be very good for the adhd mind.

even with a monthly subscription, it's really easy to completely forget about a service and move on from it entirely without cancelling it

[luigi23]

I don't think that longer trial will help here. Rather it will worsen the problem.

[for1nner]

Why not offer the service with a paywall? And I don't mean the awful website kind.

I mean: someone signs up - regardless of whether you want to call it a subscription - and every month on renewal, they get a notice to confirm renewal (or have to re-enter payment, though I suspect that's probably _too_ much friction).

Is that a great way to retain revenue? Probably not. But it's way better for press than what I saw when I opened this thread and was immediately turned off. It's definitely the kind of consumer-first model that I'd love to see more of, certainly from a company/app whose target is helping people...