Free Trial and Credits Case Study

The Business Problem

A new kind of tool is a hard sell if people have to talk to someone before they can see what it does. Impact Measurement wanted visitors to register and start analysing dishes straight away, at no cost, and then pay only for the analysis they used. Every analysis has a running cost, so usage had to be measured fairly, and purchases had to be handled securely without staff processing payments by hand.

The Solution

wildesoft.net built a self-service sign-up with spam protection, a welcome email and password reset, and a credit system. Each new organisation receives free credits on registration, and each analysis a user runs uses credits from the organisation's balance, which is shown on every dish page.

New users don't start with an empty screen. Their account is set up with a small set of example dishes, already analysed, so they can see the finished results before entering their own. A demonstration mode keeps the first experience focused on dishes, with the fuller project and service features available to paying organisations.

When more credits are needed, users buy them online through Stripe. Payments, refunds and errors are recorded against the organisation, and administrators can see payment history and adjust credits from the admin panel. Contact, terms and refund pages complete the public side of the service.

The Result

Anyone can now try Meal Analyser for free, with no card required, and buy more analysis when they need it. Impact Measurement has a product that sells itself online, with payments and usage tracked automatically.

See all case studies for Meal Analyser Tool