How to create free or discounted trials for premium subscriptions

One of the best ways to convert your non-paying readers into paying subscribers is to incentivise them by offering a free or discounted trial for your premium tier. You can customize the trial experience, decide whether a credit card is necessary, craft a personalized upsell email, add a gift, and more.

Watch and learn: Trial offers for premium subscriptions

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How to set up premium trial offers

1. From the left hand panel in your account, go to Settings > Publication > then click on the Premium tab found up top.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Scroll down to the Premium Offers section. Click on the Add New Offer button.
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. A new offer form will appear on the right. Give it a Name (required) and a Description (optional).
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Under Terms, you’ll need to select a Free Trial or Percent Discount from the dropdown options.
   
   
   
   
   
   

Free Trial Selections

• Length of Trail: Select the number of days you want the trial to run.
• Advanced Options: Choose from the following:
  • Allow trial redemption without a credit card
  • Set when subscribers must redeem this offer by
  • Limit this offer to specific plans
• Upsell Email Date: Select the number of days before or after the trials ends that the upsell reminder email should be sent. 
• Set as Default: You can set it to be the default monthly or annual subscriptions offer.
• Edit Upsell Email: Click the Edit Reminder Email button to be brought to the post editor where you can customize your upsell email.
  You’ll have access to all of the beehiiv editor tools to help you create a high-conversion upsell email reminder. Use the Preview option to review what the email will look like on mobile and desktop. When finished, click Save.
  
  
  

 

Percent Discount Selections

• Percent Discount: Select the percentage of the discount that you’d like to offer. 
• For how long: Choose between Forever, Once, or Repeating.
• Advanced Options: Choose from the following:
  • Set when subscribers must redeem this offer by, then select a date
  • Limit this offer to specific plans, then select monthly or annual
• Set as Default: You can set it to be the default monthly or annual subscriptions offer.
  
  
  

5. Review your selections and click on Create to confirm them. You’ll see a success message at the top of your screen and your offers will be visible under Premium Offers.

 

6. Below your offers on the Premium page, you’ll need to enable the Upgrade Email Reminder by toggling the option on. You can also view and update the email reminder from here. 

 

 

7. Under Gift Premium Subscription, you can choose to provide your subscribers with a free stint of premium access by. To do so, click on the Add Gift button and determine the length. Click Save to confirm the new gift. 

 

 

Refer to this article for instructions on how to apply a premium subscription gift to subscribers in your account.