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When I launched Audience I started with the standard free trial of 30 days. I've decided to drop this and switch Audience to a new business model.
I'm going to add a credit system to Audience, so when you sign up to try Audience, you get 5 credits. This means you can send 5 email newsletters or 5 editions of a newsletter.
That could be 5 weeks or 5 months it really depends on what the user wants to try. But it does mean that you will have a lot more time to try out Audience and grow a list to email.
No Subscriber Limits
There are no subscriber limits with Audience. This is something I decided very early when I started. I don't think you should be charged more for succeeding. A lot of the time I see when someone grows their email list they are forced into making money off their list, not because they want to but because they have to pay because their email list has grown.
Ditching the Free Trial
There is a problem with using a day limit on the free trial and that is what if someone doesn't have the time to give it a try, we've all been there signed up for something we're excited to try and then just didn't get a chance. That's why we all have to use engagement campaigns to try and get people to remember your product and keep it top of mind during a trial.
Now, this is also a problem when you have a tool for sending newsletters. If you only want to send an email per month a 30-day free trial is really not very handy.
Plus a lot of people when they signup to try Audience, aren't ready to start sending emails right away, they want to build a list.
Of course, there are also people who already have a list and want to move to something new, I think these will also enjoy a more relaxed trail.
From my side, it just means I have to accept it could be six months before someone is ready to pay for Audience. I'm ok with that at the moment, I don't plan on making a free account so a six-month free trial feels like a good way to compete against other free apps.
Email Credits
I plan on taking the idea of email credits further and allowing users to purchase more credits.
An email credit allows you to send 1 email newsletter to however many subscribers you want.
I plan on adding in packs, I'll have a few different options on these, but one option will have 12 email credits, that way if you are a 1 email a month kind of person it works for you.
I'm still working out the pricing for these.
Monthly/Yearly Subscription
The original plan of charging monthly/yearly as a SaaS is still happening, I plan on leaving that there.
This will include unlimited emails, plus the email sequences and automation features and a few others I am still working on.
Other Features
Email Sequences and Automations will be available to users during their trial, even if it lasts 6 months but these features won't be available for users using credits (as things stand)
Reactivate Trial
If you tried Audience. I have added a new reactivate trial option, this allows you to try it again. It's the same trial that the new signup will see, but it gives you a chance to try it out and see the new features I have added since then.
At the moment it's available to anyone who tried it out over a year ago. At the moment I'm thinking of leaving that in place, I might move it to a year after your trial ends but I want to try and give users who maybe weren't able to try it before a chance to try it again.
Onboarding
I'm reworking the onboarding as well, with these new features I want to make it easier to get up and running and use the different features effectively but also in a more useful sequence.
For example, once you add a form to your website you should then create the welcome email as an email sequence. Then as you grow your list you are already starting to email them and introduce yourself. A good welcome email is highly underrated.
I'm happy with making these changes I think offering the credits as a way for people to try Audience makes it more flexible for users to try and see if it works for them.
I've felt over the last while people trying to use audience weren't able to give it a fair go compared to other tools.