Thrive Market offered a free trial and free coconut oil to new customers, but most sign-ups were just after the gift and never used the service. When they ditched the free trial and charged upfront instead, conversion rates went up because they attracted people who actually wanted the grocery service.
There are also mistakes that successful companies make. Thrive Market, for the longest time, their opening offer was a month-long free trial. At one point, they gave away a free jar of coconut oil to everybody who signed up for a membership. There's a flood of new signups, and it turned out a huge proportion of these people just wanted the free jar of coconut oil. They didn't actually want to use the service. Over time, as they looked at the cohort, they said, let's just offer the annual membership upfront rather than this one-month trial. It converted way better. It's counterintuitive that removing the 1-month free trial led to better customers, right? But the people who understood the value proposition of Thrive were willing to say yes
