Case study / 03
Free Trial
Summary
In today's competitive ecommerce landscape, enhancing customer experience and satisfaction is paramount. This project aimed to integrate a Free Trial functionality into our ecommerce platform, specifically tailored for subscription models based on order shipments. Not only does it attract new customers, it also fosters loyalty by allowing users to experience products before committing to a subscription.
- Role
- Main UX Designer
- Timeline
- 4 months
- Company
- Ocado Technology
- Platform
- Desktop & Mobile · Android & iOS
01
The Problem
Since our solution was an ecommerce platform focused on grocery shopping, many of the retailers we worked with offered, among their options, several Subscription models in which, by paying a specific amount, their customers wouldn't need to worry about delivery fees for their purchases.
As a retention option, we explored adding a Free Trial feature, so users could try the service before committing to the subscription. Our solution didn't have such a feature, so it was our task to include it.
First, what I needed to know… to choose the right tools
How other platforms handled their Free Trial?
→BenchmarkingUsers' behaviours regarding such feature: what are their needs, what do they like, are they subscribed to other services, what motivates them?
→SurveyWhat existing UX knowledge could help us ensure we deliver the right thing?
→Desk Research02
Benchmarking
Identify common patterns in other platforms and products to adjust to our users' expectations: take what's good, discard what's not.
Not many grocery retailers included subscription models in their solutions, so we decided to pick some of the most subscribed platforms out there. And the chosen ones were:
Conclusions
Standardised 30 days Free Trial
The way to go in most cases is a 30-day Free Trial. Most of our users did their purchases twice per month, so following this pattern would ensure they get to at least try the service.
What will happen is explained visibly
Transparency ensures trust. All the information users may require is at hand and visible before trying out even a Free Trial. Any perceived hiding or misinformation could cause rejection.
Trial “Gateway”
Users can't subscribe right away, before trying out the Free Trial first. If they were able to subscribe first and only then realise a Free Trial existed, it could read as a treacherous move, hurting their trust and making them more reluctant to subscribe in the future.
Auto-renewal
Auto-renewing after the Free Trial is the way to go in most cases: convenient for the business, but also for users who feel confident in the product. It probably simplifies the payments process too.
Notifications
Allowing us to send notifications to the user on Free Trial expiration date will be useful in reducing cancellations and complaints, while also increasing push notification opt-in.
03
User Survey
In order to understand the expectations and needs of our users, we decided to conduct quantitative research beforehand by sending a survey to 100 participants, UK residents, who had to be online shoppers.
100 participants
UK residents
Online shoppers only
Results
91/100
Participants were already subscribed to a service
86/100
Expected a 30-day trial
82/100
Never tried our subscription model
77/100
Trying the service is the reason to give the trial a chance
Motivations
75/100
Liking the service is what would make them stick to the subscription
50/100
If the fees are competitive, is another plus
Key insight
82/100
Forgetting to cancel is the biggest reason not to try the Free Trial
Users fear that if they don't like the service, they'll forget to cancel it and be charged at the end of the free trial. The problem is, that fear is exactly what's preventing them from trying in the first place.
So now we got a problem to solve!
04
Desk Research
Good for checking good practices, design principles and cognitive biases that we could apply for delivering the best solution, while we awaited the survey's results. For this we consulted existing knowledge that exists online.
The clearest fit was the Goal Gradient effect: motivation increases as users get closer to their goal. Getting users to understand the process will help them reach the end, which is exactly what a Free Trial asks of them. We also looked into reminder and progress patterns around free trial expiration, to see how other products build trust and increase conversion through clear, well-timed communication.
05
Workshop Time
With all this information gathered, I organised a workshop to kick off the project, where everyone who was going to take part in it was invited.
1.5h duration
The structure was as it follows
- Icebreaker
- Presentation of: Benchmarking insights, Survey results, Desk Research findings
- Ideation: Insights to Opportunities, Impact/Effort Matrix, Quick sketch ideation
- Wrap-up & Next steps
Some of the ideation activities
At the end, everyone drew, based on what they learned, what they thought was the best approach
06
The Design
With everyone's input and vision, knowing what could be done and what couldn't, it was time to get to work and start the actual design of the feature.
Subscription Page · No Plan
This page originally was empty, and a lot could have been done. But we preferred to keep it as simple as possible: the messaging is clear and simple, free deliveries for 30 days and you're able to cancel anytime.
“Find out more” opens a dialog where more information is displayed. The CTA is named “Add an address” because if users didn't already have one stored, we needed them to provide it first. To avoid confusion, this is explained right above the button.
Subscription Dialog
This dialog explains the process a bit more, ensuring transparency as much as possible, and tries to follow the Goal-gradient effect, giving the user a sense of progression.
The #1 user's fear was proven to be forgetting to cancel the subscription. To avoid premature drop-offs, we make them know they will be reminded before the charge happens.
Other explorations of the same dialog, which were discarded
Passes Page
In this page, all plans are shown, so users can choose whichever is more convenient for them. Usually, the copy of the buttons said “Buy this plan”.
Since the usual duration of a Free Trial is one month, we used the 1-month plan to carry the primary call to action that starts the Free Trial. To prevent mistakes and draw the most attention, the Free Trial CTA was set as Primary, while the rest of the plans (that don't have a free trial) remained Secondary.
Subscription Page · Active Plan
This page is essentially the previously shown Subscription page, but with added information relevant to the user regarding the status of their Trial/Subscription.
Users are reminded about the time of Free Trial left (Loss Aversion and Transparency). By default, and because of implementation and business interests, auto-renewal is set to ON. Still, users can cancel it whenever they want. They can still access the Subscription Dialog, whose “Find out more” button was relocated to the bottom of the screen.
07
Prototyping
With the help of UX Research, I built the prototype that we would be testing with real users. Given that the feature was originally requested by our United Kingdom (Ocado) and Canada (Sobeys) retailers, we decided to perform the testing with users from there.
We decided to run 3 tasks for the users to go through:
Free Trial Subscription Flow
This flow covers the user's journey from Homepage, until the subscription is done successfully.
Interesting bits to mention here
- It was needed to add a step to add a payment method for the subscription. We added a reassuring banner with a transparent message to reinforce trust.
- We didn't have a proper loading page, so I took the chance to remake it from scratch. The title explained clearly what was happening, and the body encouraged users not to close the modal.
- A confirmation summary page is presented at the end. Here users can understand that they won't be charged yet, and when exactly they will be charged for the first time.
Cancellation Flow
This flow covers the user's journey from Homepage, until the cancellation is done successfully.
Interesting bits to mention here
- The copy in the Cancel dialog was written to leave no room for misunderstanding. We explained that users can reactivate whenever they want, as long as the trial is still running.
- We reused the subscription page banner (in a different colour) to let users know until when their trial is running, reassuring them they won't be charged. Once the renewal is cancelled, the secondary button changes to “Enable auto-renewal”.
- Once the renewal is reactivated, a dialog lets users know when they will be charged and the subscription will start.
Switching Plan Flow
This flow's purpose is to let users choose the plan they wanted to be subscribed to, if the trial convinced them about the service. Since the Trial can only be chosen from the 1-month plan, if they wanted the yearly subscription instead, they can switch while still enjoying the Free Trial.
Interesting bits to mention here
- In the Plans list, when a trial is running, we display a banner at the top with the number of days left. At the original plan we show another banner reminding the renewal day and charges. On the rest of the plans, the button says “Change to this plan”.
- At the confirmation dialog, users are told clearly and straightforwardly the implications of switching a plan.
- Once the switch is done, we display the same confirmation summary as in the Subscription flow, adjusted to the new context.
08
Testing Time
With all the prototypes shiny and set, it was time to make them shine even more! For this, we prepared a testing round with the following criteria of users:
12 people
Potential users
UK
Canada
3 Tasks
Subscribe to plan, Cancel renewal, Switch plan
Results were really good overall
This person literally didn't even read the task and closed UserZoom lol
Some specific insights
How they behaved when facing the task:
0/12
Users questioned why they needed a payment method to qualify for a free trial
9/12
Understood their Subscription status once active
11/12
Identified which Plans had Free Trial available (the one missing didn't even arrive to the Plans page)
40%
Average of users who noticed the dialogs during testing
Interesting feedback
Valuable, pretty actionable pieces of information, quite repeated and requested during testing.
Requirement 01
Users wanted easy access to complete the action in the Home screen.
- UK
- 6/6
- Canada
- 6/6
- Total
- 11/12
Requirement 02
Users want to know how many days of trial they have left, before cancelling the auto-renewal.
- UK
- 3/6
- Canada
- 5/6
- Total
- 8/12
09
Baptism Of Fire
With all the gathered and valuable feedback, we made the last adjustments to the designs, granting us the Final Flow ready for handover after many, many, many reviews within our colleagues!
- Web Desktop
- Web Mobile
- App Mobile (Android & iOS)
And here the final result: a recording of the Free Trial Subscription flow for Web Mobile.
Free Trial was the first proper, big, and important project handed to me when I joined Ocado Technology. As you could see (if you reached this point) it was of considerable magnitude. To wrap things up now…
Learnings
- Started doing my first Workshop, and the subsequent catch-ups after it.
- Learned a whole lot about subscription models: good practices as well as user expectations.
- Learned how to prioritise features and simplify designs based on what could be done in the given time.
- How to defend design decisions, based and supported by direct user feedback.
Skills demonstrated
The Challenge
- It was my first big project, with quite an impact.
- Having to align development constraints, user feedback, business goals and manager input.
- This solution affected directly users' money, it had to be handled with extra care and ethics.
Impact
We were able to deliver a solution which not only met the business objectives, but also satisfied the user's needs, because feedback from both parties was taken into account during the design process. It improved the conversion of registered users to paid subscribers, increased user retention during the trial period, and drove new user acquisition.
Until the next project
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