How do I create a standard free trial?
ePublishing supports two types of trials.
- Trials that end and are not converted into recurring paid subscriptions.
- Trials that do convert into recurring paid subscriptions.
This article is about scenario 1, a free trial that does not convert to a paid subscription. For this scenario, when the user's trial expires, then the user will not be a subscriber and will not have access to locked down content.If you are interested in scenario 2, then please see How do a I create a trial that converts to an active subscription?
Determine the length of the trial by editing a system setting.
To determine the length of free trials on your site, then update the system setting free.trial.term.
Note: some sites use other system settings to control the duration for a standard free trial. Talk with your Project Manager to determine which system setting is appropriate to edit for your site.
Go to Sys Admin > System Settings. Click Create & Edit.
Edit the system setting free.trial.term with a whole, positive integer. The unit is in days, so delineate the number of days. Click save when you are done.
Note the product ID of the product you want to create a trial for.
You will create a product in the Product Manager that you want used for the free trial. See this article for how to create a subscription product.
When your product is created, then note the product ID.
Direct Users to /subscriptions/trial/ID
The front-end template users will complete to sign up for a free trial is /subscriptions/trial/ID. The ID is the product ID that the free trial is for.
For example, if you have product 137, which is for a subscription to a publication and you want to create a free trial to that subscription, then direct users to /subscriptions/trial/137. Users simply complete the form and the free trial is automatically created.
