Is a free trial conversion your goal for your marketing ads? If so, this post will share the 4 things you need to make sure your ad journey includes that help convince your customers to act.
Many of the Facebook ad journeys I see lead to a free trial of something, so I thought one of these posts should focus specifically on the free trial and what your customers and prospects need to act if conversions are the goal for your ad journeys.
The ad we’ll look at it for an app called Habyts. I’ve never heard of this brand or app, so that puts me at the beginning of the customer funnel: Awareness + Hook.
My first introduction to them is in this ad below:
I’m a mom, so it caught my attention. I’ve tried other apps for screen management. The copy of the ad hit on the relevant points for parents who struggle with how to manage screen time for their children. In my case, my son is pretty great about getting off the computer when we ask. But apps like these can help keep us honest as parents, too, not just better train a kid who doesn’t want to listen.
It’s not always just the child who needs to set limits: it’s the parents who need those limits set for us automatically. It’s easy for us to let it go, so we can have some time to ourselves. (And let’s face it, we all do that.) So either way, I want to see what the Habyts app has to offer.
Momentary petty annoyance break
Every time I type the brand name, it keeps auto-correcting. This is not related at all to the funnel vision, but something to be aware of when your brand name is something unusual. It’s the little things that can annoy us and may or may not keep us from sharing the word. Just keep it in mind.
Back to the regularly scheduled post…
1. They need Social Proof
The first thing I’m going to do with an ad like this one is look at the comments, presumably made by other parents.
Social proof, showing me like minded people who have seen benefits to this app, will be imperative for a product like this one. Parents don’t want to waste their time. They don’t often have time to waste and we rely on other parents to share what they’ve discovered before us. This isn’t just true of parents. We all need social proof and we’re all looking for the message that other people like us see and need what we need, and that this product can help.
If your ad hasn’t received comments, you need reviews from parents on your landing page. You need to build in social proof somewhere along the journey that I won’t miss.
2. They need Pricing
The comments on this ad tell me that something is missing in this journey, and it’s an important something:
As a parent and a perpetual tech-tryer-outer, if the pricing isn’t accessible, I’ll skip trying this, right here. Pricing is one of the pieces I need to know going into a free trial, because I’m not going to waste my time if the pricing is out of my budget.
3. They need You to Respect their Time
Don’t assume that you can get someone on board to try out a product because it’s free or they don’t have to input a credit card. Time isn’t free. Often times marketers forget that. You’re asking for a lot from your prospects with a free trial.
[Tweet “Time isn’t free. Respect what you’re asking from a customer when you offer a free trial.”]
But what’s great here is that they responded to the comments. They listened to what was needed:
And did Habyts learn and adjust? Let’s go take a look at the landing page and see if it’s changed:
Looks like they did listen and added a link at the bottom. However, that link didn’t take me to their pricing page but to the trial form:
This is probably just an incorrectly linked button, but it’s an important one. Make sure all your links are correct so your customers get the answers they need and they don’t feel like bait and switch. (And for the record, their pricing is very reasonable.)
if you’re asking someone to jump into the deep end of your pool with both feet and give you their time and willingness to learn a new app, software, whatever, there are a few things your free trial goal needs somewhere in the journey. You’re asking a lot from them, you’re asking them to fit your product into their lives, spend time learning it well enough that it becomes a habit in their day. You want them to get to the point where they can’t live without your app or product or service. You want a lot from your prospective customer.
4. They need to see the product
I didn’t screenshot anything but the pages above, so I can’t recall what they did or didn’t include in the way of what the product does. I don’t remember anything about how the product looks just by having seen the ad and clicked on the pages, though, so I’m going to guess there wasn’t much.
Respecting their time also means showing the product. Showing what it looks like, what it can do, the best and biggest benefit you want the prospect to walk away from this funnel with. Because chances are high they will probably walk away from this FB ad journey on the first try.
5. You Need to Stay the Course…
Don’t abandon the journey and give up before it’s time. With a free trial conversion journey or any journey, it can take time. If you are starting from the top of the funnel, getting them aware of you, make sure you’re continuing the conversation. After receiving that first ad from Habyts, I haven’t received any additional ads – but there is so much more they could do to build that relationship with me.
Their website and FB page are filled with great content that could serve as the next levers to entice me deeper into their funnel.
When I went to visit their home page, two pop ups occur :
The first pop up was for a 5-step guide – a great piece of content marketing that they could build an ad journey around. The second was asking what to add to the page to build confidence in the product – I love that they are asking for feedback as well. (Though two pop-ups on one page is a bit much… especially for parents who might have kids tugging on them, yelling behind them — if the goal is helping them relax, make sure the journey and experience they have with your brand every step of the way fulfills that promise.)
In fact, their website and their Facebook page both have a ton of really great information, which as a parent is everything I need to see to determine if this app will meet my needs. I love this graphic on their website below:
From that graphic alone there is a goldmine of additional content that could be created and boosted to extend the journey and convince a prospect to dig a little deeper. Each one of those points could (and probably is) a blog post or topic that offers tips, tricks and support for parents. Boost that greatness! Share it.
They also have a quiz that parents can take:
It’s your job as the marketer to know what the right content mix is, what information they need to know, how they need to connect with you on an emotional level and build that in. An ad journey should be just that: a journey. Not a one-and-done. It’s the next ad you place in their path that can move someone to the next stage in the funnel…and the next and the next.
So in return, up front, give them everything they need to justify that leap of faith in you. To recap, your free trial conversion ad journey should:
- Give them Pricing upfront
- Show them Social proof from their peers
- Respect their time and what you’re asking of them
- Let them see what the app looks like and the benefits it will give them
- Keep visiting them with more helpful content that will connect
