Having worked at a bunch of SaaS products, it’s actually not that shady (at least in those cases i’ve seen). Free users are low value but they can cost a ton in support and commercial effort. Asking for a credit card upfront is just a simple way to filter for people who actually intend to maybe buy the product.
Sorry, no. The only reason you could possibly want my credit card information is so that you can start collecting rent if I forget to cancel, which is the goal. That is an extremely shady way to collect customersmarks.
It’s a con. The goal is to collect rent from people who don’t actually use the service. It’s basically theft.
Again, it’s a filter. You give me card details, that means you seriously want the product and also that you trust me. If i treat you right and give you a great experience you’ll be subscribed for years, purchasing add-ons, and recommending me to your friends. That’s much more valuable for me than skimming 20 bucks a month because you forgot to unsub.
When it’s a big corpo sure they’ll do it cause they don’t give a shit about their customers or even their reputation. I’m honestly not saying it doesn’t happen. But when it’s a no-name with a small online product they can’t afford that shit. If they put a credit card wall it’s most likely because they were getting too many people on the free trial, and were having a hard time telling actual future customers from drive-bys. This solves that.
I don’t know if I’m “serious” yet - I am here to test the product/service. I can’t determine if I am serious or not until after I have tested it, and neither can you. I should not have to share financial information with you until after I have determined that, so this justification about “seriously” wanting the product is bunk.
You are dipping your hand into my wallet. Just because you haven’t pulled your hand back with money in it yet doesn’t mean this isn’t an attempt at picking my pocket.
Hey man I’m not saying you’re wrong, but you’re touching on another important thing which is trust. On average, high trust people are just easier to manage, especially when you’re a small outfit. It’s better for everyone if low trust users bounce away because of the cc wall. They’ll come back once the product has some brand recognition or social proof.
In the tech sector it can also work as free advertising for the company the trial person works at. I’m for example using a tool on the free tier for log aggregation and monitoring which I really like. I’ve thought of doing a startup sometime within the next year and at that point I already know that tool and will probably look at implementing that as the first option.
Or maybe they should keep their free trial and just filter out randos with a credit card wall. It’s a simple and cheap way to keep your user base high value. And as attested by the OP’s meme, it just works!
Having worked at a bunch of SaaS products, it’s actually not that shady (at least in those cases i’ve seen). Free users are low value but they can cost a ton in support and commercial effort. Asking for a credit card upfront is just a simple way to filter for people who actually intend to maybe buy the product.
OP’s reaction is not a bug, it’s the feature.
Sorry, no. The only reason you could possibly want my credit card information is so that you can start collecting rent if I forget to cancel, which is the goal. That is an extremely shady way to collect
customersmarks.It’s a con. The goal is to collect rent from people who don’t actually use the service. It’s basically theft.
lmao what a nuanced point of view, you seem to have vast personal experience of this kind of things
OK. For what other reason could you need my credit card information?
Again, it’s a filter. You give me card details, that means you seriously want the product and also that you trust me. If i treat you right and give you a great experience you’ll be subscribed for years, purchasing add-ons, and recommending me to your friends. That’s much more valuable for me than skimming 20 bucks a month because you forgot to unsub.
When it’s a big corpo sure they’ll do it cause they don’t give a shit about their customers or even their reputation. I’m honestly not saying it doesn’t happen. But when it’s a no-name with a small online product they can’t afford that shit. If they put a credit card wall it’s most likely because they were getting too many people on the free trial, and were having a hard time telling actual future customers from drive-bys. This solves that.
I don’t know if I’m “serious” yet - I am here to test the product/service. I can’t determine if I am serious or not until after I have tested it, and neither can you. I should not have to share financial information with you until after I have determined that, so this justification about “seriously” wanting the product is bunk.
You are dipping your hand into my wallet. Just because you haven’t pulled your hand back with money in it yet doesn’t mean this isn’t an attempt at picking my pocket.
Hey man I’m not saying you’re wrong, but you’re touching on another important thing which is trust. On average, high trust people are just easier to manage, especially when you’re a small outfit. It’s better for everyone if low trust users bounce away because of the cc wall. They’ll come back once the product has some brand recognition or social proof.
I’ve previously been converted off free trials that way. So it can definitely work.
Yes, it’s a classic.
Pre-market fit it makes sense to be 100% free, as you want to gauge whether your product is attractive to people.
Post-market fit you already know the product has traction, so now you want to gauge whether it is attractive enough for people to pay for it.
In the tech sector it can also work as free advertising for the company the trial person works at. I’m for example using a tool on the free tier for log aggregation and monitoring which I really like. I’ve thought of doing a startup sometime within the next year and at that point I already know that tool and will probably look at implementing that as the first option.
Self hosters are a powerful marketing tool.
Maybe they shouldn’t offer a free trial then
Or maybe they should keep their free trial and just filter out randos with a credit card wall. It’s a simple and cheap way to keep your user base high value. And as attested by the OP’s meme, it just works!