The free trial is a common SaaS marketing strategy. According to Totango, 44% of SaaS companies offer a free trial. But the strategy is only as good as how far it gets you — to the end of the free trial.

What happens after the free trial? You can’t rely on the free trial alone to persuade customers to convert. You must have a method for retaining the customers once the free trial is over.

This article shows you how to do that. What you’re about to read are seven techniques that will give you the most marketing bang for your buck. This is the point at which it really matters. Don’t let those potential clients get away!

1. Offer your free trial without requiring credit card information.

Let’s back up to the beginning of the process. In order to best convert customers at the end of the free trial, you must make sure that you’ve created the best process for them to do so — the beginning of the free trial.

That brings us to a crucial question.

Should you require users to provide their credit card information in order to get a free trial? If you do, then you may be able to convert them easier when the free trial is over, right?

There are two strategies surrounding credit card information.

Strategy 1: Require the customer to provide credit card information in order to start a free trial. This makes it easy for the customer to convert after the free trial. However, it may cause the customer not to try the free trial at all. You sacrifice lower initial conversion rates for higher post-trial conversion rates.
Strategy 2: Don’t require credit card information to start a free trial. Instead, only require credit card information when it’s time to purchase an actual subscription. This makes it easy for the customer to engage in a free trial. However, it may produce lower post-trial conversion rates. You sacrifice high free trial users for lower post-trial conversion rates.

So, which one is better?