The Taste of Premium: How Reverse Trials Are Changing the Game

Did you know that only 3 of the top 50 consumer software products use reverse trials. The other 47 are missing out.

(Those 3 companies? Masterclass, Skillshare, and Spotify.)

To catch the full study of all 50 companies, check out the deep dive.

B2B has caught on faster. And ‘caught on’ is the right term. Because the data shows reverse trials actually do work:

→ I took the midpoint of consumer companies who do share conversions (only a third, so small sample).
→ While the freemium, trial, and combined ended up ~10%, reverse trials came in at ~14.5%.
→ This matches up strikingly close to what OpenView found in its B2B benchmarks.

Whether it’s B2B or B2C, you can significantly increase paid conversion with this model.

How do these reverse trails work?

Reverse trials leverage the psychological phenomena of loss aversion. People treat losses more seriously than gains. And the loss of premium hurts.

A single taste of premium functionality can leave you yearning for more.

So you should expect more companies to adopt reverse trials. It’s not just free trial or freemium in the modern day and age.

5 years from now, that 6% will likely be 24%+.