Trials

The Trials report focuses on the middle stage of the customer funnel, tracking the volume of new trials started within a specific period and measuring the crucial conversion efficiency to paying customers. This report is essential for optimizing the product experience and onboarding process.

For an in-depth explanation of free trials, see the Free trial guide in the SaaS Metrics Academy.

Overview

The Trials report includes a timeline chart, a breakdown table, and a detail table for in-depth analysis of customer records.

Timeline chart

The timeline chart is a bar chart showing the number of New trials started over the selected period. Hovering over a bar displays a tooltip with the total number of New Trials for that period.

The bar corresponding to the currently ongoing period includes a crucial feature:

• Projected end-of-period Number: The dimmed and striped part of the final bar represents the predicted trial volume by the end of the period, based on current trends. This projection allows you to assess, mid-period, whether your trial volume is meeting expectations.

Breakdown table

The table underneath the chart tracks the performance of trials started in the given period.

Note on Date Logic: All metrics in this table are tied to the trial started date. The actual start date for the paid subscription may occur after the period shown in the table. This historical view helps measure the long-term effectiveness of trials initiated in a specific month.

If you click a number in the New trials or Converted columns, a detail table under the breakdown table is revealed, showing the individual customer records that contributed to that number.

Detail table

This table is shown when you click a count cell in the breakdown table. The table displays customer record attributes related to the trial lifecycle:

• Created: The date the customer record (lead) was created.
• Customer name: The name of the customer.
• Email: The customer's email address.
• Trial started: The date the trial subscription began.
• Paid started: The date the first paid subscription began (can be empty).
• Cancel date: The date the customer last canceled their paid subscription (can be empty).
• Status: The current status of the customer record: Lead, Trialing, Trial ended, Active, Cancelled, or Past due.

Clicking any row sends you to the customer's detail page.

Filters

The report supports a wide range of filters to help you analyze trial quality and conversion efficiency across segments. These include:

• Date range

  Select a custom range or preset periods (last 30 days, last quarter, etc.)

• Interval

  Choose how trial initiation is aggregated: daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly.

• Additional filters – source/channel, country, initial product plan, etc. (see all filters)

Filters are applied to both the chart and the table simultaneously.

Exporting the data

You can export the table as a CSV file for offline analysis or reporting by clicking the "Export" icon next to the date picker.

Practical tips

• Optimize Onboarding: If the Trial conversion rate is low, focus on optimizing your product onboarding flow during that specific period to help users realize value quickly.
• Isolate High-Converting Segments: Use Additional filters to view conversion rates by trial type, source, or initial plan. This helps identify which segments of users are most likely to become long-term paying customers.
• Conversion Lag: Be aware of the lag between the trial start date and the paid start date. For trials longer than 7 days, look at older periods (e.g., last month's trial cohort) to get the most accurate, fully realized conversion rates.