How do I create a standard free trial?

ePublishing supports two types of trials.

  1. Trials that end and are not converted into recurring paid subscriptions.
  2. 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.