Being ethical is important, but how about being smart and yet honest?
Recently, I saw the following notice on a startup website, on their payment/pricing page stating that they are unable to process payments and hence using the system is free for 21 days.
Very simple and honest. Just what a typical geek will do [i.e. logical thinking].
Just that it will never work. Any user worth his/her credit card salt will not trust the company, since they are unable to accept payment and this shows how trustworthy are they.
Lets roll back and look at what 37Signals did when they launched. They announced a 1-month free trial offer (launch offer) and the truth is that they did not have the payment system in place to handle payment and hence the free offer!
What if the above startup splashes a big ‘21 days free trial offer’ instead of the honest note?
Do customers care about your backend inabilities?
You tell us.
I agree with you. Having a free trial offer is good for marketing and converting users. Their present notice makes them look like fly-by-night operators.
it seems Both, like they honestly told us that due to lack of best payment gateway they cant process the credit/debit cards. and at the same time as the product got launched they provided a message that until the payment gateway problem get solved ( it might be 21 days or 10 days it depends upon the company ) user can use the product or test the product for free.
I think this is a critical point where companies can get good customers in hand. Slow and Steady wins the race platform
Good point. From a startup perspective, involving consumers and being brutally honest is in the hope that consumers would empathize. But I guess, it is too much to expect without prior moments of truth. I would probably go with the later option of disguising it as a marketing offer.
the trick may work… and may not work.
Interesting comments. Why so Pradeep? – Arvind
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This is really a fantastic way to pass the services. Even if they have a payment gateway ready but they want make the system free for initial few days, this trick will work rather.
Good one
I wud say honesty, plus good customer care(21 day notice), plus good copywriting, plus helplessness(about not finding a suitable payment gateway).
@sinha and others: How would having a 21 day free trial help these people? They don’t promise to find a suitable payment gateway in the next 21 days. Only once they find a suitable payment gateway, they will let you choose between either continuing with a paid subscription to the service or get their data offloaded and head somewhere else.
Also why don’t you mention the startup? Is someone trying to solicit free feedback
Jitesh – How would having a 21 day free trial help these people? That’s what is suggested.
“Also why don’t you mention the startup? Is someone trying to solicit free feedback” – Cynical comment. the startup is in a very early stage to get any traction.
Pls focus on the core of the post [and not everywhere else].
The “Notice” is not required. The notice though plain honest,”DOES” create a doubt about the company’s operational capabilities.
Why?
The language has a negative connotation to it and customers would be wary about the issues they could face.
Just make it that “After 21 days free trial, you be given the option to retain the service for a small fee $$ ”
The trial versions are a good way to solicit customer interests and feedback.Can help the startup to save a lot on their initial capital investment.
Taking a different angle here, we all geeks so many times use the facade design pattern in our engineering work. Facade presents a simplified interface to the clients for a complicated underlying system!
Regardless of the reason, the fact here is that the company is unable to accept the payments for the time being, which means it is free, it shouldn’t matter to the clients why.
A simple message to the clients that the service is free for time being would be effective and honest.