CASE STUDY
Summary
For years, signing up for the Salsify free trial experience simply gave prospective customers access to an empty account. An analysis revealed that less than a quarter of trial signups ever successfully uploaded data, thereby unlocking anything to explore. For everyone else, the trial simply provided no value.
Our growth team was tasked with creating a revamped trial flow that would inspire confidence in the power and flexibility of Salsify. As the designer on the team, I led the definition and development of an in-app enablement flow that would encourage users to stay in the trial longer, and helped rework the signup flow to remove friction and increase conversions.
Data Collection
I used a combination of Google Analytics and FullStory to understand where users were falling off of the current trial flow. From the outdated landing page design and intimidatingly long form, to forcing users to check their email for the invite link, our flow was full of leaks.
Users had too many opportunities to abandon the flow before reaching the trial
Comparison Analysis
I walked through dozens of other free trial experiences to get a sense of other flows. Trials that required lots of user information for signup nearly always broke up their forms into multiple steps, or found clever ways to gather more information at various other points of the trial. They also did this with education and customer proof; instead of having one information-heavy landing page at the front, selling points about the platform were presented throughout the onboarding experience.
Nearly every trial also featured an onboarding wizard pointing out key parts of the platform. For B2C offerings, it was easier for them to drive users to upload some data and accomplish simple tasks. For B2B, like us, I wondered how this would work – and then I noticed how many trials gave users the option to explore with sample data.
The first screens of other SaaS free trials
Defining the Story
The trial attracted users of every flavor to the platform. In defining the story of our trial “wizard”, I sat down with our sales engineering team to better narrow down to a target persona and identify the “Aha” moments that would naturally occur in their in-person trials. I also sat in on sales demos as part of my research and observed how thoughtfully our team wove in customer anecdotes throughout the call. These two exercises helped me start to map out the enablement journey, and visualize how these “Aha” moments and anecdotes might come together.
Listing out our "Aha" moments from the enablement journey
Ideation & Iteration
As I started sketching and iterating on various parts of the flow, I made sure to keep the following take-aways in mind:
Users needed to get into the trial faster if we wanted to keep their interest
Sample data could help us more effectively explain a complex, B2B platform
“Aha” moments + customer anecdotes were a powerful combination in our sales demos
My handy notebook was covered in iterative sketches
The Solution: A preloaded and value-driven tour, powered by Appcues
To achieve our goals, this top-to-bottom revamp focused on two things: removing friction and providing better education. The simplified landing page was built for easier data capture and establishing trust through clean design and lots of social proof. The streamlined trial provisioning flow provided additional opportunity for education while reducing the steps and minutes required to wait for a new account.
The new flow also challenged the hypothesis that trial users would only see value if they explored Salsify with their own data. It introduced an option to explore with sample data, allowing users to immediately see the breadth and power of the platform without any lift. This preloaded account features an in-app educational flow powered by Appcues that incorporates customer case studies and success metrics in its walk-through of the platform.
Signup and social proof first
A cleaned-up landing page puts the form front and center, and uses Clearbit for progressive data capture. Customers and logos also have prominent real estate.
A new way to explore
The new trial flow offers an “explore with sample data” option to introduce users to the platform with minimal lift.
Education in the loading state
Taking advantage of the time to create a new trial account provides opportunity for education while minimizing the perceived wait.
An around-the-world tour
The in-app education flow gives users two paths to maximize exploration: either jump to various parts of the platform or take a deep dive into any section.
Only the highlights
Deeper dives into each section of the platform highlight “aha” moments observed by our sales engineering team during in-person demos.
