As online shopping continues to grow, customers expect something more than listing, prices, or reviews. They want reassurance that what they are planning to buy is the right choice for them before spending money on it. Although reviews by others do help in these situations, customers now want to see for themselves what they’re buying before actually buying it. This is where try before you buy plays an important role in eCommerce.
Instead of making an instant decision and then regretting it, this plugin allows customers to experience a product or a service before committing to a full purchase. The shoppers get a chance to go through the product or service, test it, and then purchase it.
This approach is increasingly being used in WooCommerce stores as it builds a strong foundation of trust and confidence. When customers feel confident and secure about a product, they are more likely to complete the purchase.
What Is Try Before You Buy in WooCommerce?
Try before you buy allows customers to test, explore, and experience a product before actually buying it in ecommerce stores, instead of buying something without knowing if it looks exactly the way on the website or not, or if it’s right for you. It gives customers a chance to decide after trying it. This makes the shopping experience more secure and confident.
Online shopping doesn’t allow physical interactions; this is where the WooCommerce trial before purchase comes in to help customers experience the product or service before committing to purchase.
It builds trust, confidence, and removes the fear of wasting money.
Benefits of Try Before You Buy in WooCommerce
Offering a Try Before You Buy option in WooCommerce helps store owners as well as customers. It builds confidence and creates a smoother shopping experience.
1. Builds Customer Trust
When customers try a product before paying, they feel more sure about buying it. They know they’re not taking a risk or making a mistake with their money. This honesty builds trust and makes customers more likely to purchase again from your store.
2. Reduces Product Return
Knowing a product, whether it suits your needs or not, saves time, effort, and shipping costs. It can only happen when a customer tries a product first and then decides to buy or not. When a customer knows it suits their needs, it would mean fewer wrong purchases and fewer returns.
3. Improves Conversion Rates:
When a customer is unsure about a product, they leave the website. In such a case, try before you buy, plugin removes that fear. When a customer knows that they can try a product without commitment, they are more likely to move forward and complete the process. This approach helps WooCommerce improve conversions with trials by turning hesitant visitors into actual buyers.
4. Enhances Customer Experience
This feature makes the shopping experience smooth and confident. It helps customers feel secure, reduces returns, and increases sales, making it a win-win situation for both store owners and customers.
How to Set Up Try Before You Buy in WooCommerce
Method 1 – Using a Plugin (Beginner-Friendly)
To set up a WooCommerce product trial extension, you simply install and activate the plugin from your WordPress dashboard like any other plugin. As soon as the plugin activates, it provides basic settings where you can state how the trial works, the time duration of the trial, and what happens when the trial period comes to an end. This method is ideal for beginners or those with no technical knowledge. Also, this method is beneficial for store owners looking for a quick and reliable solution.
Once the plugin is installed and activated, you can easily access the plugin fromthe WordPress Admin Panel. Below is the explanation of the panel
1. Trial Dashboard
The trial dashboard is the main overview screen of the plugin. It clearly shows you everything that is happening with trial orders in a single place. The dashboard displays
- Active trials
Shows customers currently trying products
- Recent trial activity
Each entry in it typically shows the customer name, product name, trial status, start date, expiry date, and action taken.
- Top 5 trial products
In this, the name ofthe product is displayed, along with its SKU, price, and total items selected.
The trial dashboard helps store owners in monitoring how many customers are using trials, tracking which products perform the best as trials, and identifying quickly-expired and overdue trials. And lastly, manages store performance without opening individual orders.
2. Rules
- Enable rule: Turns the option on and off. When this rule is enabled, it activates and applies to selected products.
- Trial period: Then there is a trial period that defines how long a customer can try a product before deciding whether to keep or return the product. The customer has 7 days to test a product.
- Try Now button: Then there is a showing try now button. This option controls whether the try now button appears on eligible product pages. When enabled, the customers can see it clearly. You can also customize this button.
- Enable Monthly Product Quantity Limit: This setting helps in setting limits on how many trial products can be ordered per month. When enabled, customers cannot exceed the defined limit.
- Set Monthly Product Quantity Limit: It sets the monthly product quantity a customer can try per month.
- Enable Monthly Purchase Limit Per Customer: This controls how many trial-based purchases a customer can make per month.
- Apply to all products: This option determines whether the rule applies globally. When disabled, you can choose specific products, categories, or brands.
- Product Selection: It shows specific products selected for the trial rule:
- Category Selection: The rule applies to products in categories such as
- Uncategorized, Accessories, Clothing, Decor, Hoodies, Music, and T-shirts. Any product belonging to these categories will inherit this trial rule.
- Brand Selection: Choose a specific brand
- Restrictions: There are two options for restrictions. User-based role restriction, which allowed roles include Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, Subscriber, Customer, Shop Manager, Vendor, and Guest. And in country-based restrictions, A long list of countries is given. Customers from these countries can use the trial feature.
- Shipping Zone-Based Restriction: This restriction applies the trial rule based on WooCommerce shipping zones. Customers in selected shipping zones can place their trial order.
- Custom Instructions: Custom Heading for Try Now Template lets you set a custom heading/title that appears at the top of the Try Now section or pop-up. Custom Instruction for Try Now Template allows you to add custom instructions or informational text shown to customers inside the Try Now template.
3. General Settings:
The general settings section tells you how the plugin will behave globally across your store. They define trial duration, start conditions, fees, and minimum selection requirements.
- Apply Trial Period On: This option defines how the trial period is applied across products. You can choose whether it applies to individual products, categories, or the entire store.
- Start Trial When Order Status Is: This option defines when the trial period officially begins, based on WooCommerce order status. Options include pending payments processing, on hold, and completed. The trial starts depending on the status.
- Trial Fee: This setting allows you to charge a fee for starting a trial, if desired. Can be a fixed amount or a percentage of the product price, and you can leave it empty if trials are completely free.
4. Trial Logs
The trial log records every trial order. It shows the product name along with
- Order ID
- Customer name
- Email of the customer
- Start of trial
- End of trial
- Status of trial
- Return reason (if returned)
- Return status (rejected, approved, pending)
Things to Consider Before Enabling Try Before You Buy
Before enabling the plugin, there are a few things that need to be properly planned in order to avoid confusion, losses, and customer issues later on.
1. Payment authorization and security:
Even though customers are not charged immediately, it would be good to set up payment authorization before enabling the plugin. When the customer’s payment method is verified before they receive their product, it will ensure that payment can be collected later if they decide to keep the item.
2. Return and refund policies.
Your return and refund policies should be clearly explained to the customers. Customers should know the time duration of trying the product, how to return it, and when and how refunds will be processed. Clear policies help in clearing out misunderstandings and build trust with the customers.
3. Shipping and logistics
Shipping has a huge role in Try Before You Buy. There should be a clear plan about who pays for return shipping, how products will be packed and tracked, and how long delivery and returns will take
Smooth logistics help in a smooth flow and a better experience for store owners as well as the customer.
4. Fraud prevention and risk management
There is always some risk as customers receive products before paying. To reduce this risk, WooCommerce’s try before you buy can be limited to trusted or registered users only, order limits can be set, and payment authorization and verification tools can also be used for protecting the business as well as offering flexibility.
FAQ:
1. Do customers need to create an account to use Try Before You Buy?
Yes, customers do need to create an account to use the “Try Before You Buy” plugin in WooCommerce.
2. What exactly does a Try Before You Buy plugin do in WooCommerce?
A Try Before You Buy plugin allows a customer to try a physical product before buying or paying for it. It helps them feel more secure and confident about spending their money. Instead of paying up front, it allows customers to receive the product first and decide later whether to keep it or return it.
3. Can I limit how long the trial lasts?
Yes, you can limit how long a trial lasts. You can define a clear trial period and automate what happens next after the trial ends.
Conclusion
WooCommerce Try before you buy extension lets customers try a product before purchasing it. This builds a foundation of trust and reduces hesitation. Using plugins makes this process simple to set up for the store owners and easy to use for customers, even for beginners.
These plugins offer features like trial periods, flexible pricing, easy returns, and smooth payment handling. It enhances user experience while also helping store owners increase conversion rates and reduce returns.
A plugin helps you launch and try before you buy easily. With the passage of time, as your business grows, you can upgrade the setup to match your store’s needs.
