How do I compute activation_score?

Pick 3–5 product actions that correlate with conversion (created first X, invited teammate, connected integration). Score 1 point per action. Push as an attribute. Update on every action.

What's the right moment to send the upgrade email?

For engaged users, ~72 hours before trial end. For stuck users, much earlier, around day 3 of trial, because they need re-engagement before they ghost. Test the timing per segment.

Should I offer a discount to convert?

Not in the first 3 emails. Save the discount for late-stage (T-24h) users who have engaged but not converted. Burning the discount too early trains users to wait for it.

What about users on annual trials?

Same approach, stretched timeline. If your trial is 30 days, your behavioral segments and cadence scale proportionally. Don't copy the 14-day playbook to a 30-day trial.

How do I handle trial extensions?

Track trial_extended_count attribute. When it increments, the contact exits the ending-soon flow (because the deadline moved) and stays in the base trial nurture.

Do I need a conversion goal?

Yes. The goal (plan becomes Pro or event user_upgraded fires) makes SegMailer auto-stop the flow and credit the converting email. Without it, you'll keep sending upgrade emails to paid users.

What's the baseline conversion rate for SaaS trials?

Varies widely, typical B2B SaaS sees 15-25% conversion on opt-in free trials, 5-10% on credit-card-not-required trials. Your baseline is more important than an industry number; measure it, then improve.

Can I recover trials after they expire?

Yes. Create a separate workflow for trial_status = expired AND has_upgraded is false. Send 2–3 recovery emails across 30 days with the upgrade link.

Use case / Trial-to-paid

Convert trials by engagement, not day count.

Day-7 "your trial ends in 7 days" emails treat every trial identically. Behavioral conversion emails separate active explorers, stuck evaluators, and silent ghosts, and send each the email that actually matches their situation.

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The problem

The standard trial nurture is time-based: email on days 3, 7, 11, 13, 14. It converts the users who were going to convert anyway, annoys the ones who already churned mentally, and doesn't do enough for the ones in the middle, the exact users whose behavior you can actually move.

The behavioral approach

Segment the trial by real engagement signals (last_login, feature_touches, team_invited). Send different sequences to each: urgency to active users approaching expiration, education to stuck users, win-back to ghosts. Use conversion goals so paid users exit immediately.

Implementation

How to ship it, step by step.

Track trial state

Push trial_started_at, trial_ends_at, plan, activation_score, last_login from your backend. Event on upgrade: user_upgraded.

Build three segments

Active explorers (logged in 3+ times), stuck evaluators (logged in once), ghosts (never returned after signup).

Design parallel workflows

One workflow per segment. Each has its own cadence, tone, and offer. All share the same conversion goal.

Measure conversion per segment

You'll see which segment converts at 15%, which at 3%, and where to double down. SegMailer shows per-campaign conversion rate as a first-class metric.

Segment examples

Actual segment rules you can copy.

Active explorers

trial_status = active AND login_count >= 3 AND team_invited is true

Stuck evaluators

trial_status = active AND login_count <= 2 AND trial_started more than 3 days ago

Ghosts

trial_status = active AND last_login is null AND trial_started more than 2 days ago

Trial ending, engaged

trial_ends_at within 3 days AND activation_score >= 5

Email examples

Subject lines that actually work.

{{firstName}}, the 3 things our Pro users do differently

Education for active explorers

Not sure where to start? Let us show you

Founder email to stuck evaluators

Everything we built for teams like yours

Value pitch for ghosts

Your trial ends in 72 hours, what you keep if you upgrade

Urgency for engaged users

What good looks like

Typical results for teams who do this well.

+25–40% vs linear

Trial conversion lift

30% lower

Unsubscribe rate

2.8 (down from 6)

Emails per trial user

// Directional ranges, not guarantees, depends on your baseline, audience, and product.

FAQ

Trial-to-Paid Conversion, answered.

Pick 3–5 product actions that correlate with conversion (created first X, invited teammate, connected integration). Score 1 point per action. Push as an attribute. Update on every action.

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