Free Trials are a mainstay of Evernote's monetization strategy, having proven across a variety of experiments that our users responded very favorably to free trial offers, in comparison to discounts or other types of offers.
We introduced a personalized free trial offer in 2022 across all clients. These offers all immediately followed the personalization questionnaire new users encountered during their initial onboarding, so the team aimed to tailor the specific benefits presented to each user cohort in a way that would feel more relevant and tangible.
User testing helped inform these approaches: we learned that users desired transparency around how the personalized offer was determined, as well as how that personalization would influence their overall experience in the product from this point forward.
Three iterations tested in the desktop client are shown above. Clearly demonstrating what informed a user's "track" (in this case, Work, School, or Home) and how this plan recommendation fits into that track was received positively by users.
The variants shown above were part of the first iteration on mobile, significantly increasing free trial starts and ultimately boosting conversion by +9% from this test alone.
Later iterations of this free trial offer focused on incorporating a 7- or 14-day trial, dependent on billing cycle. The two variants we tested helped inform whether a two-step sequence (left and center), or a single screen with higher cognitive load (far right) performed more favorably in increasing trial start rates.
