Trial Management

Before newbie's or customers switch to a paid subscription you may allow them to use your product or service on a free trial basis for a limited period. You can fix for how many days an account using Free Trial should be on trial mode. ChargeMonk will automatically convert an account from trial to active subscription and tries to process the initial payment when the trial days are over.

Is it possible to extend a trial subscription?

Yes. you can specify the trial days in the plan. Edit the subscription to change or extend the trial days of the customer. Another way to extend a trial is via the API with the help of "trial_end" in the update a subscription section. If the billing mode of your site is based on mili-second, the time component of the trial will then be applicable only.

Collection of card details using different methods of trial sign up

Card details should be collected on sign-up when using ChargeMonk's hosted pages, because they are having fields for card details that are compulsory to get filled). On the other hand, if you are using the API, collection of card details is not compulsory at sign up, you can do that later during the trial period. You can charge your customers during the trial or after it is over at any time with either option.

During trial can a card be charged?

Yes, the card can be charged in a trial subscription if its details are available, all you have to do is to charge the card and via API change the subscription immediately from trial to active.

What will happen if the trial period gets expired and no card details are available?

When the trial period gets expired, the card details of the customer are needed so that the customer can be charged for the subscription. Once the trial expires and the card details of the customer are not available then there are two options to consider:

• Auto Collection - OFF: The subscription of account will switch to the Active state and the invoice generated status will be Payment Due.
• Auto Collection - ON: The subscription of account will switch to Cancel state and no invoice will be generated.

What will be the scenario if the provided card details are not valid?

ChargeMonk tries to charge the customers automatically, once the trial period is ended. In case the card details on file are not valid or incorrect due to which the transaction fails then ChargeMonk will perform the dunning (retry) process.

Configuration of the dunning period and the intervals in the dunning settings can be done by you. In case of a recurring subscription the final action done in the dunning setting will occur. (Once the dunning period is over, what happens to subscriptions). If not, the method of payment will be marked as invalid and the Invoice as Not Paid. Read more about Dunning. Customer should add substitute for payment method or can make payment offline and mark it in the invoice.

Can I extend a trial on a canceled subscription?

Yes, it is possible to reactivate a canceled subscription. You can set a new trial date/time of a subscription on its reactivation. When the activation of the subscription is complete, it will be in trial.

Is it possible to create a paid trial subscription?

Yes, it is possible. The Customer should be signed up with a trial plan and will be invoiced immediately, after adding a charge.

Note: Signing up a customer for a paid trial need to have the card details.

Can I send emails to customers who are in the trial?

Yes, it is possible to send emails to the customer notifying them about the days left in their trial with the options to promote to an active subscription. Emails are sent to customers 6 days before the ending of the trial. Email configuration and automation on a customer-defined frequency will be added soon.

Is it possible to change a plan with different trial days?

Yes, it is possible to switch plans during the trial with ChargeMonk. The new plan configurations will be used over the existing ones. In case there are no trial days in a new plan, credit card info has to be available on the subscription and the customer will be immediately charged.

In case you are changing to such a plan that has more trial days than your existing plan, then the subscription will upgrade automatically to the new plan and remove the number of days used already.

In case the new plan has lesser trial days than the existing plan, the customer will get invoiced immediately.

Why is it not possible to set the time while changing the trial end date?

In ChargeMonk if the billing mode setting is set to the day-based billing, then the time component of the trial end date is imposed as 23:59:59 hrs.