White Glove Free Trial
Today, we'll be testing a new approach to free trials where instead of provisioning a trial account automatically, the request will go to sales and the trial will be configured and delivered by sales.
Here are some FAQs on this new process:
Q:What has changed on the website?
A: The links to the free trial now point to: http://pages.vanillaforums.com/free-trial-of-vanilla-forums
Q: Where does that form go?
A: It will generate an entry in Hubspot and create a lead in a queue in Salesforce.
Q: How will trail requests be distributed?
A: Jeremy will distribute to the AEs.
Q: Will requests be qualified before we create a trial account?
A: Yes, the AE will validate the identity of the person and company on Linkedin. If the person cannot be qualified, we will send a follow up email asking for more information before creating a trial.
Q: How will the trials be setup?
A: The AE will customize the account before sending the login info to the prospect:
- Add a logo
- Update colours
- Enable features if those have been specifically requested
- Enable the Lithe mobile theme
The amount of time spent on the trial will depend on how qualified the prospect.
Q: What is the SLA, i.e. the time to turn around a trial request?
A: Our goal is two business hours?
Q: what about evening and weekend requests?
A: AEs will get to the overnight and weekend requests first thing in the morning. If this tests proves successful, we might code the website to allow self-serve trials overnight and on the weekends.
Q: How is the trial delivered to the prospect?
A: After the AE has configured the trial, an email with a link, login info and some recommended next steps will be sent. We will disable automated email that come from the product and Hubspot so they do not get any email until the rep has delivered the link.
Q: How long will we run this trial?
A: Until the end of June or until we see a positive or negative impact.
Comments
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Thanks for this Luc.
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So ICYMI here is how to go about creating a trial:
Open an incognito web browser window (this ensures you're not logged into another Vanilla account and that your cookies won't confuse Hubspot)
Paste this link into the incognito browser window:
Fill out the account info carefully using the prospects email address and other info provided. Create a password that is easy to remember and write it down. Always use the same forumla such as forumname+vanilla. For example if the community is acme.vanillacommunity.com make the password 'acmevanilla'
Log into the newly created trial and a) theme the account b) turn on any plugins that you think the prospect wants to see c) select the new mobile theme.
Do a quick QA of the site. Have a look at it in your browser and mobile phone (or emulate mobile in your browser if you know how to do that).
Send an email to the prospect using the following template
Subject: Your Vanilla free trial account is ready!
Hi Amy,
My name is Joe, i'm an account executive at Vanilla. I've setup a free trial account for you and customized it a little. I'd like the opportunity to find out more about your community initiative and take you through a quick demo of our product. I'm available by phone and email if you'd like to connect.
Here is the login info for the demo account:
Community URL: http://acme.vanillacommunity.com
Login URL: http://acme.vanillacommunity.com/entry/signinUsername: amy@company.com
Password: acmevanillaHere are a few tips on getting the most from your free trial:
1) When you log into the Dashboard, you can take a quick guided tour by clicking on 'Take the tour' link near the top of the page. (You can access the Dasbhboard by clicking on the 'gear' icon that you'll see in the top right corner.)
2) The Dashboard is where you can configure your account and turn on plugins. Vanilla has a lot of functionality so please let me know if you can't find what you're looking for.
3) Check our our 'how to' product videos at https://www.youtube.com/user/VanillaForumsTV
Again, please let me know if we can connect so that I can help you evaluate Vanilla.
Joe Flemming
Account Executive
Email
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Thanks.
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Excellent thanks
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We have been modifying the Deflector theme in the past, should we use the Lithe theme moving forward - or can we use both?
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@Jeremy @Mel @Tim @Adrian Since we launched the white glove trials at 1 PM on Tuesday, here are the trials that have come through as of 9AM Thursday:
6 White glove requests with a corporate email:
- MMIT
- Babybathwater
- Essensys
- Wattpad
- Quintess
- Sidekicks
7 White glove requests with a gmail or other free email
2 trial signups that bypassed the white glove form and had a corporate email:
- Krux.com
- Pricondi.de
4 trial emails that bypassed the white glove form and had a free email
31% of all trials are not going through the white glove form. We are looking at the path they took to get to that page, especially the corporate ones. It's interesting to see that in some cases people are doing a trial without following the normal path that we'd expect. Ex. going from google direct to the signup page.
In very little time, we have a growing list of legit white glove trials. At the end of the month, I'd like us to analyze:
- % of white glove trials that engaged with a rep
- $ pipeline created from white glove trials
- % of white glove trials with free emails that responded to the qualification request and ended up becoming qualified.
We can compare this to May data and see how many of the May trials ended up engaging and getting added to pipeline. I'm guessing that number is abysmal.
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Here is the link to the doc with theme instructions. This doc will get updated from time to time:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1JCGnClpjSUuQlXhZgq2oCptxEqtfMMo-MRn2D-iRTAI
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