Trial Management
You can let prospects or buyers try out your product or service for a limited period before switching them over to a paid subscription. Trials are independent of the normal billing cycle and plan price.
Using Free Trial you can set the number of days an account can be on trial mode. Once the trial days are over, Chargebee automatically converts it to an active subscription and attempts to process the first payment.
Example
You set the trial to 14 days for a plan
Sign Up Date: 1 Jan 2012
Trial days: 14
Billing Date: 15 Jan 2012
How can I create a plan with a Trial period?
To create a plan with a trial period, follow the steps below:
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Create a Plan for your Chargebee site.
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Navigate to the Price Point configuration section and click Set Price.
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Select to enable This plan has a trial period checkbox. Learn more about Price Point Actions.
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Enter the duration of the trial period for the plan.
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Click Create. The new plan, including the defined trial period, is now available on your Chargebee site.
How can I create a subscription with a Trial period?
Once you create a plan with trial period, all subscriptions that are created for this plan will automatically inherit the configured trial period.
Can I extend a trial subscription?
Yes. Trial days can be specified in the plan. If you need to change or extend a customer's trial days, you can do that by editing the subscription. Trials can also be extended through the API using "trial_end" in the update a subscription section. The time component of the trial is only applicable if your site billing mode is millisecond-based.
Collecting card info during trial sign up
If you are using Chargebee's In-app checkout, you can choose to forgo . If you are using APIs you can choose to collect card details at sign-up or at a later time during the trial period.
Can a card be charged during trial?
Yes. If a subscription is in trial and the card details are available, you can charge the card and change the subscription from trial to active immediately through the Chargebee user interface or using APIs.
Via Chargebee user interface:
Via API:
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To end the trial immediately and change the subscription status to Active, use the Update subscription for Items API & set the trial_end parameter to 0.
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To generate a checkout link for your customer to activate their subscription immediately, use the Create checkout to update a subscription API and set the subscription[trial_end] parameter to 0.
Trial expired, no card info, what next?
At the end of the trial period, customer's card information is required to charge the customer for the subscription. When the trial expires, there are two scenarios to consider if there are no card details saved in the customer's records:
- Auto Collection - OFF: The subscription will move to Active state and the invoice generated will be in Payment Due state.
- Auto Collection - ON: The subscription will move to Cancel state and invoice will not be generated.
What if the card info provided is invalid?
After the trial period is over, Chargebee automatically tries to charge the customers. If the details of the card on file are invalid or incorrect, and the transaction fails, Chargebee will go through the dunning (retry) process.
You can configure the dunning period and the intervals in the Dunning Settings. If it is a recurring subscription the final action set in the dunning setting (When dunning period ends, what happens to subscriptions?) will take place. If not, the payment method will be marked as invalid and the Invoice will be marked as Not Paid. You can ask the customer to add an alternate payment method or make an offline payment and record it in the invoice.
Extending trial on a canceled subscription
If you need to reactivate a canceled subscription, you can do so. When you are reactivating the subscription, you can also set a new trial date/time for it. Once the activation is complete, the subscription will be in trial.
Can I create a paid trial subscription?
You certainly can. Sign up a customer with a trial plan and add a charge that will be invoiced immediately.
Example
Sign up a customer with a 14-day trial plan. Once the subscription is created, use "Add Charge" and charge them for say $2. The customer will be billed $2 immediately and after 14 days, the normal subscription price will be applied.
Note: When you want to sign up a customer for a paid trial, you need to have the card info.
What happens to addons during a trial?
When a subscription is created with a trial period, the base plan charges are deferred until the trial ends. However, addons associated with the subscription may behave differently depending on whether or not they have their own trial period.
Example: Addon without a Trial
If a subscription includes an addon that does not have a trial period, the charges for the addon are collected immediately, even while the subscription’s plan is in trial.
Scenario:
Plan A has a 14-day trial.
Addon B has no trial.
A subscription is created for Plan A with Addon B.
Outcome:
The base plan charge is deferred until the trial ends. The charge for Addon B is invoiced and collected right away.
Example: Addon with a Trial
If the addon also includes a trial period, its charges will be deferred until the addon’s trial ends.
Note
Trial periods are applied independently to plans and addons. Ensure your addon configuration aligns with the experience you want customers to have during the trial phase.
Emailing customers who are in trial
Yes, you can send emails informing them about the remaining days in their trial with options to upgrade to an active subscription. At the moment, emails are sent to trial users 6 days before the trial ends. Email automation and configuration on a user defined frequency can be accessed via Configure Chargebee > Email Notifications > Trial Management > Edit default emails to customize mail frequency or add new notifications.
Changing to a plan with different trial days
Switching plans during trial is certainly possible with Chargebee. The new plan configurations will override the existing one. If the new plan does not have trial days, credit card details need to be present on the subscription and the customer will be charged immediately.
If you are changing to a plan that has more number of trial days than your current plan, the subscription will automatically update it to the new plan and deduct the number of days already used.
Example
Initial Plan Trial: 10 Days
Trial days used: 5 Days
New Plan: 30 Days
Trial Ends: 25 Days after the new plan is started.
If the new plan has a lesser number of trial days than the current plan, the customer will be invoiced immediately.
Example
Initial Plan Trial: 14 Days
Trial days used: 10
New Plan: 5 Days
Trial Ends: Immediately
The new plan will update the subscription to be active and attempt to charge the customer because they have already used 10 days of trial and the new plan has only 5 days in it.
Why can't I set the time while changing the trial end date?
Check the billing mode setting in Chargebee. If it is set to day-based billing, then the time component of the trial end date is implied as 23:59:59.999 hrs.
Usages not displayed prior and during Trial Period
The first invoice cannot be marked as pending when creating a trial subscription. As a result, usage during the trial period will not be reflected in the billing system. This is intentional, as trial plans are designed to allow users to explore and experience the service without being charged. Billing for usage will only begin once the trial period ends, ensuring that users can fully evaluate the service before any charges are applied.
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