I recently (at the time of writing this) wrote an entire “free-trial” sequence for a client who offered a low-priced 30-day trial for their monthly membership.
The goal was to get the low-price-trial customer to use the stuff in the membership… so they could see the value. This, of course, would increase the chance they stay on with the membership.
Oh, and it would allow us to upsell stuff.
To be honest: I had never done such a sequence before. I still knew how to apply copywriting and email marketing principles, but it was a new undertaking.
So ever since then, I’ve had my eye out for free trial emails/sequences… and I think I’ve got a great example.
Well, at least an example of one email in a larger sequence.
Keep reading to get the full breakdown.
About Sparktoro
Sparktoro is an audience research tool. It shows all kinds of helpful data about your target market, like hashtags they use, websites they visit, podcasts they listen to, and more.
Sparktoro was cofounded by Rand Fishkin (the CEO at the time of writing) and Casey Henry. Fun fact: Both of them cofounded Moz SEO many years back. So both of them get business and marketing.
The Email: Pushing Me to Use the Free Trial
Like most SaaS products, SparkToro offers a free trial. You get a specific number of searches before you have to upgrade to the paid product.
You can’t just toss your customer a free trial and hope they use it, though. You have to nudge them into using it if you want to convert them to a paid plan at the end.
Email’s an effective tool for that.
You can create sequences that welcome the customer, get them acquainted, show them around, and subtly sell the benefits along the way.
This email is the first of one of these “free trial sequences.” Let’s see how Sparktoro did.
The Subject Line: “I’m thrilled you’re here, Bradley!”
That first free trial email sets the first impression, just like any other welcome sequence.
I think the subject line scores well here:
Genuine emotion, the reader’s name, no all-caps — it’s like a human is writing to me.
Now, I’ve been told exclamation points are bad to use in writing. Maybe in some cases.
But imagine this line with a period. It would sound way too formal.
Or how about without any punctuation? It would look too “dashed off.”
The exclamation was the right choice.
The Body Copy
Rand (or his copywriter) introduces himself, continuing the “genuine excitement” theme:
Being a (relatively new) Texas, I appreciated the howdy. Adds some personality.
It looks like Sparktoro tailors emails to the activities you did in the software before the email goes out. Notice how it says, “I also wanted to congratulate you on your first SparkToro query!”
I bet if I signed up and didn’t do anything, that wouldn’t be there… it might have copy urging me to try it. Lesson about segmentation there.
The tutorial video link’s helpful. Yes, you generally don’t want CTAs to multiple locations in an email.
But the user’s trying to learn the software. So we can bend that rule pretty hard in this email.
Next, SparkToro lists what it does:
No need to get complicated. That’s a lot of valuable data — enough to excite the likely reader of this email.
Bullet points enhance readability and break up the text, giving the eyes a break.
Now, we’re going to see some more persuasion techniques in action:
The external benefits mentioned in the latter half of the sentence are all well and good…
But notice how Mr. Fishkin said, “The ‘best’ marketers”.
Instant social proof, and it taps into much deeper desires.
The reader wants to be known as a great marketer. They want praise, attention, and status. They want the promotion at work, the positive feedback from clients, and the personal satisfaction that they’re good at what they do.
Now, we get from that “dream” state to the current situation with a pain point:
No one wants to do hundreds of hours of manual research. Even if you liked that kind of work…
You can’t even become the “best” marketer that way. Those that use the right software will be miles ahead of those that don’t…
That software, of course, being Sparktoro.
The email then offers you a few example searches. You click on them and it takes you to your dashboard and runs the searches automatically.
It’s like Mr. Fishkin built a demo right into the email. Only the demo doesn’t curate the experience to look as good as possible because you’re using the tool in real-time.
Next section is great for a few reasons:
First and foremost, customer service. Readers aren’t just asked but encouraged to reply with questions.
Furthermore, it’s not a customer service agent who answers, but one of the cofounders or the VP of Marketing (Amanda).
The other thing: Replies also help deliverability. It tells email services that people want your emails. In other words, they’re probably not spam.
Before the email closes, Mr. Fishkin has a housekeeping note:
A bit meta, there, talking about how I’m in a short email sequence. I like the transparency.
Furthermore, I appreciate how he lets you update your email settings to stop receiving these emails but continue receiving product updates. That right there is a way to segment your list and demonstrate your honesty and integrity.
Takeaways
Free trial emails/sequences are all about getting your customer to use the product.
They sell, but more subtly. The selling is more “Hey, you can do this, here’s how” and then letting the product speak for itself — kind of like this email does.
You want to help your customer get the most out of the trial, be available for help when needed, and make them feel good about signing up.
That’ll help you secure the sale when it comes time to upgrade to a paid plan/subscription.
What to Do Next
- Get on my email list using the signup form below.
- Reach out to me if you want help writing emails like this one.
- Check out Sparktoro if you want a great audience research tool. It has a free trial!