A marketer with 17 years of experience, Bob has taught over 1,000 webinars and spoken at over 50 events.
A marketer with 17 years of experience, Bob has taught over 1,000 webinars and spoken at over 50 events.
A free trial is a great way to introduce potential customers to your brand. Assuming your product or service lives up to its promises, you’ll likely convert a good number of trials into paying customers. Of course, in order to promote your offer you’ll need a high-converting free trial landing page. Here are a few examples you can learn from, plus some best practices to keep in mind when building your page.
A free trial landing page is a page that’s only focused on promoting your free trial. All the content on the page is dedicated to your free trial without any other distractions like links or menus. The only goal of the page is to get people to sign up for the trial.
If you’re running ads for your free trial or promoting it on social media, this is the link you’ll want to include. Sending people to this page will ensure they don’t get distracted by other offers and gives you the best chance to win the conversion.
The average conversion rate for all landing pages created by Leadpages users is 11%. However, the average free trial landing page conversion rate is 13%.
A free trial is a lower funnel offer and it involves a little more commitment. So, you’ll find it has a lower conversion rate than something like a free ebook or webinar. However, if you’re selling software or any program that requires a recurring fee, free trials are critical for turning leads into customers.
Sometimes simple is better. This landing page just offers a title, an image, a description, and some reviews—and it works. In just a short paragraph, visitors understand what they’re getting and the benefits. Plus, there’s no worry about someone losing interest and not finishing the page. Everything users need to know is right in the hero section.
The CTA button is also bright yellow which contrasts with the blue and white color scheme (while not looking out of place). This ensures that as soon as someone lands on the page their eyes are drawn to the button.
One of the first questions people will ask when they land on your free trial landing page is “what do I get?” Just because something is free doesn’t mean they’ll automatically go for it. You need to show how much value your free trial provides if you want to generate conversions. This page does a great job of that by listing out all the features and benefits in their “What You Get” section.
There are also plenty of reviews from former students which helps establish social proof. Remember, if you’re the only one who’s promoting your offer people might become suspicious. By providing testimonials, visitors to this page can rest assured that their peers recommend the program as well which makes them feel a lot better about signing up.
One thing to remember when you’re building your free trial landing page is that you don’t just want people to sign up—you want them to sign up right now. Someone might leave your page with the intention of signing up later, but life has a habit of getting in the way and more often than not they’ll forget about you and never come back. One way to prevent this is to use a countdown timer to let them know this is a limited-time offer like this landing page does. A timer creates a sense of urgency and lets visitors know they should sign up right away, otherwise, they’ll miss out.
If you’re in a competitive space (like the fitness industry) it’s also important to differentiate yourself from the competition. Why should someone choose your business when there are so many other options? That’s why this page includes a “How We’re Different” section. It does a good job of showing the value, plus a few features they offer that their competitors don’t.
As we’ve all heard, attention spans on the internet are dwindling, so it’s no surprise that adding a video to your landing page can increase conversions by up to 80%. Not everyone has the time or patience to read all the text on your page, so providing a video gives them an easy way to quickly understand your offer. This page includes a video in the hero section that summarizes the program being offered which is perfect for those who aren’t keen on reading.
We also recommend getting creative with your call to action (CTA) button text. Standard phrases like “Sign Up” and “Buy Now” work fine, but any time you can add a little personality it’s a plus. This example uses their program name “GeT” in their CTA (GeT Started Now). It’s subtle but effective, and a little playful.
We already talked about the importance of social proof. You can provide submitted testimonials with headshots like the previous example, or you can take the approach of this free trial landing page and grab your reviews straight from social media. While both tactics work, the reviews and pictures on this page come off as a little more authentic, so it’s definitely something to consider if you receive a lot of feedback on your social channels.
If you’re teaching a course or are the primary face of your business, it’s also a good idea to introduce yourself. This page has a “Meet Your Instructor” section, which details his story and credentials. It gives visitors confidence that the person they’re learning from knows what they’re talking about and is qualified to teach the material.
Your headline is usually the first impression people will have of your landing page so you need to make it count. This page does a great job of hitting visitors with a benefit-rich headline that basically sums up everything they need to know about the offer. It’s a little on the long side, but when done right even lengthy headlines like this can be very effective.
This landing page also provides another example of social proof. It includes the logos of all the publications and media sources they’ve been featured in. While not as powerful as a testimonial, when you can say you’ve been mentioned by sources like Homes & Gardens and USA Today you’re bound to earn a lot of trust and respect from your audience.
Don’t be afraid of too much whitespace. In fact, when it comes to design, less is usually more. Too many colors and graphics can be distracting, leaving visitors unsure of where to look. However, this free trial landing page certainly doesn’t have this problem. Its clean and minimalist design is easy on the eyes and keeps users focused on what’s important.
Sticking with design, if you head over the this company’s website (https://coachinggenie.com/), the design and branding are virtually identical. This is important, as it can be jarring for visitors to arrive on your page if it looks completely different from your other marketing materials. They’re bound to wonder “Am I in the right place?” By ensuring your branding is consistent, you’ll provide a better user experience as potential customers travel through your sales funnel.
Have a free trial that you want to promote? Here are the steps you need to take to launch your landing page.
Before you create your free trial landing page you need to figure out how your free trial is going to work. Here are some things to consider:
Once you’ve figured out the details of your free trial offer you’re ready to start designing your page.
Creating a free trial landing page is a lot easier than you think. There are plenty of landing page templates available that you can start with to drastically cut down on the time it takes to publish a page.
For example, Leadpages has over 250 templates, including a number of designs that are perfect for free trials (check out the end of the article for a few examples). All of these templates are conversion-optimized and mobile-friendly.
Leadpages templates are pretty much ready to go right from the start—all you have to do is swap in your own text and images. That being said, we recommend you take a few more steps before sharing your page with your audience:
Don’t worry if you’re new to web design. The Leadpages Landing Page Builder uses a drag-and-drop interface that’s super intuitive, even for complete beginners.
After your page is live you’re ready to start driving traffic to it. But you don’t just want to send anyone to the page. Make sure the people you send here are actually interested in your product to increase your conversion rate and make the most of any ad dollars you’re spending
Here are a few ways to get traffic
Ready to build your own free trial landing page? Follow the tips below to maximize your conversions.
A good headline can be the difference between someone signing up for your free trial or clicking away to one of your competitors.
There are a few different approaches you can take with your headline:
Because your headline is so important, consider creating a few different variants and split-testing them to see which one drives the most conversions.
Your imagery is just as important as your copy when it comes to driving conversions. Avoid using generic stock photos and come up with some unique images that really sell your product or service.
The best images show the benefits of your offer. This could be photos of specific product features or of someone using and enjoying your services.
Also, don’t be afraid of using images of yourself, especially if you’re a service provider and the face of your business. If people are going to be working with you they’ll want to get to know you, and a picture of your smiling face is a great start.
A free trial might be free, but it’s still a bit of a commitment. So, you’ll want to show prospective customers what they can expect from your product or service. You can do this through images or videos.
Are you selling a digital product? Take some screenshots inside the product to show off the various features. You can also provide a video demonstration that walks people through the entire product.
If you’re offering a service, include a bio that talks about your credentials and experience. Or film a video where you introduce yourself and your services so people have an idea of what it will be like to work with you.
What’s included in your free trial that makes it worthwhile? Make sure to list out all the features and benefits. The more you can include the better, as it will heighten the value. Try including a section that discusses three or four key benefits, then have a feature list with everything someone gets when they sign up for your trial.
You can also attach dollar values to certain features. People may only have access to these tools for a few weeks, but there’s still value to that, and if you tell them how much it usually costs they’ll feel like they’re getting a deal.
One of the biggest selling features of a free trial is that it’s risk-free. Someone can test out your product or service, and if they don’t like it they can walk away without paying a cent. Simply stating it’s a “free trial” might not be enough to make that clear, so be sure to hammer that point home in your copy.
If you require a credit card to sign up, clearly state that people won’t be charged if they opt out before their trial is over.
Put yourself in your visitor’s shoes. You land on a page where someone says they have the answer to your biggest problem. They say they’re product is great and you should sign up for a trial (and eventually become a customer). The thing is, they’re talking about their product. Of course they’re going to say it’s the best.
This is why it’s so important to include reviews. People want to hear from actual customers to get another perspective and ensure you’re not the only one who vouches for your product. A good way to gather reviews is to simply ask for them once someone has been a customer of yours for a little while. Assuming you’re delivering value they’ll probably be happy to give you a testimonial.
You can also include other forms of social proof on your page, such as logos of publications you’ve been featured in, a list of clients you’ve worked with, or social likes and followers.
The best way to get someone to sign up for your free trial is to ask them. Tell them the action you want them to take and ask them to perform that action right now.
This is called a call to action (CTA). It’s a simple direct phrase that appears on your sign-up button. Some good examples of free trial CTAs are:
You’ll also want to use the last section of your landing page to reiterate your call to action. This is your final pitch, so you can do a bit of a hard sell and ask them one more time to sign up.
Download The Complete Landing Page Optimization Checklist to learn what you need to include to maximize your conversion rate.
Building a free trial landing page is easier than you think. Get started with one of these templates to have your page up in running in as little as 30 minutes.
This free trial landing page template has everything you need, including sections for features and benefits, testimonials, and a bio for you or your business.
This is a simple but effective template that’s perfect for offers that don’t require a lot of explanation. Be sure to choose a captivating image to draw visitors in.
Ideal for apps and other subscription services, this template offers plenty of space for features, benefits, and product screenshots. There’s also a countdown time at the end for limited-time offers.
Do you run a service-based business? Then this template is for you. There are sections to highlight your services, introduce people on your team, and include testimonials.
Leadpages’ Landing Page Builder is designed for professional marketers and beginners alike. Simply choose a template, customize it with the Drag & Drop Builder, and publish your page with just a few clicks.
Try Leadpages free for 14 days and launch your free trial landing page today.
Easily create your website and landing pages with the only platform engineered by marketing nerds.
A former high school history teacher turned entrepreneur and marketer, Bob has educated business owners worldwide on how to leverage lead generation to grow their brands for over 18 years. Bob is a conversion expert, specifically when it comes to landing pages. Hosting over 1,000 webinars, he has walked thousands of business owners through advanced strategies to help them optimize their pages and maximize their leads and sales. Bob works with Leadpages affiliates and users to ensure they have all the tools, knowledge, and resources they need to build high-converting landing pages that grow their businesses.
Create web pages, explore our integrations, and see if we're the right fit for your business.
Create web pages, explore our integrations, and see if we're the right fit for your business.