The surprising bit here is that dropping the requirement for a credit card had no effect on conversions or trial signups. I've only ever read the opposite, and my own testing at Improvely matched what I've read: the trial signup rate more than doubled when a credit card wasn't required.
At the same time, the extra people signing up were not good leads. These new users rarely completed the steps to start using their account, those that did submitted more support requests, and the conversion rate to paying customers at the end of the trial was more than halved.
I ended up putting the credit card requirement back in.
At the same time, the extra people signing up were not good leads. These new users rarely completed the steps to start using their account, those that did submitted more support requests, and the conversion rate to paying customers at the end of the trial was more than halved.
I ended up putting the credit card requirement back in.