How To Sample And Bridge The Curious Into Customers

Author

Alex Garcia
August 08, 2023

Hey Alex, here.

Two updates:

  1. Our office now has a small couch haha. Big moves.

  2. In last week’s newsletter, I asked you to email me back with your product or startup and I’d reply with a growth tip. Hundreds of you replied and I’m still responding to each email. Every response is very specific and not automated - I’m just doing them between diaper changes and 20 minute crying sessions.

Again, if you want me to share how I’d grow your startup or product, then just reply to this email with your site 🙂

Onto this week’s case study.

How To Become A Better Marketer? Find a Marketer In The Shoes You Want To Fill And Learn From Them

So, Mailchimp & Co did it for you.

They talked to marketers to gather insights from 1500 agencies and freelancers and compiled it all in their 2023 Mailchimp & Co Benchmark Report.

You’ll learn how to:

  • Become more profitable

  • Find the perfect client who matches your business values

  • Market your business without breaking your budget

  • Prevent burnout and instill a strong sense of work-life balance

63 pages full of insights. You can download the full report here.

How To Sample And Bridge The Curious Into Customers

Reading time: 3 Minutes

You ever been to the mall, hungry as hell, and as you walk through the food court looking for what to scarf down, somebody holding a tray of perfectly seasoned chicken offers you a sample?

You take it and next thing you know, you’re waiting in line to place an order.

The birds-eye view learning: Sampling a product converts more customers.

Which leads to three questions:

  1. Why do companies offer free trials?

To let the right customer try its product before making a decision.

  1. Why do customers sign up for free trials?

To make sure the product delivers on the promised value.

  1. Where does it go wrong?

  • Companies ask for too much data before starting the free trial.

  • Companies don’t hyper-speed the right people to the wow moment

So what’s the fix?

Let customers experience the value for free by sampling the product → Create a bridge that connects customers to the WOW moment → Give a preview of the paid product

We’re going to cover:

  • The best practices to let customers sample your product

  • How to get customers to the WOW moment

  • How to push free trial consumers to paying customers

1. Give Tools

Ahrefs offers its subscription and also the 10% Webmaster Tool for free.

The 10% Webmaster Tool is for people who want a glimpse into the value without fully committing to it.

But that 10% shows you all the potential the remaining 90% could provide.

Plan A is optimal. Plan B is optional. But the best plan b bridges to plan a.

2. Give Credits

No credit card. Just credits.

SparkToro offers potential customers 20 free credits each month.

Only need 20 searches a month? Then you can use SparkToro for free, forever.

Need more than 20 searches? Wait till the following month or subscribe.

The best way to retain customers? Give them access forever until they find so much value in the product they need to subscribe for more access.

3. Give Time

Youtube doesn’t ask for data, only your time.

Interested in YoutubeTV? Hit one button and experience what it’s like.

Like what you experienced? Start the free trial.

Enjoyed the free trial? Subscribe.

A natural progression from curious to customer.

Quick Onboard To WOW Moment

A free trial isn’t the solution. It’s only part of it.

The second part is getting customers to the wow moment - the moment where they realize they need this product.

You don’t do this by reminding them of benefits in a welcome series - you do this by getting a potential customer to experience the benefits ASAP.

1. Instant Access

I previewed YoutubeTV for 20 minutes and 20 seconds later I was watching UFC live.

They didn’t make me jump through loopholes to experience the product, they just let me watch and put a time cap on the experience.

2. Direction & Results

I signed up for Sparktoro and before I tried figuring out the product myself, a guided tour with the Founder Rand Fishkin popped up on my screen.

Why?

Because he created a product to solve a specific problem so when you sign up, he’s going to walk you through how to solve that problem with his solution.

How To Convert The Curious Into Customer

They used your product, but do they know how to get every ounce of value out of your product?

If not, that’s where the work needs to be done.

Because your job is to make the customer feel like they can never go back to how their life was before starting a free trial.

1. Preview Paid Capabilities

Seconds after I used Sparktoro for the first time, I got an email from Rand.

And it does 6 things amazingly well, it:

  • Congratulates me for using the product

  • Shares a video showing what to do with the new data/info

  • Shares use cases to remind me about the value of the product

  • Shares a preview of the paid product

  • offers the ability to ask questions and get a personal reply

  • Lets me opt out of the email sequence

Here’s How To Implement

  • There’s three frictionless ways to let consumers preview your product

    • Give tools (give access to a tool that’s a preview of the paid tool)

    • Give time (let them use it for a duration of time for free)

    • Give credits (let them use it X amount of times before they need to pay)

  • After getting someone to preview your product, obsess over getting them to the WOW moment

    • The WOW moment is when the consumers says “This is incredible” in their head

  • Two ways to get customers to the WOW moment:

    • Create minimum friction and give instant access

    • Guide consumers to the WOW moment and share how to implement

  • Next you need to figure out how to convert the curious into customers

    • Here’s where you give a taste test of the paid product

    • Let the consumer experience the other side because once they do, it’s hard to go back

This Week’s Rabbit Hole Reads & Resources

This week’s newsletter was written in the 107 degree heat in Austin, TX while laying in a hammock wanting to go inside but not going inside until I finished writing.

If you’re interested in reading a new marketing book then here’s what I’m currently reading. It’s all about positioning - something not enough marketers talk about.

Your friend,

Alex Garcia

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