It was a trial. It was the extension of a 3-day trial to a 10-day trial. A *trial.* There was nothing said about We need your credit card to set up an account when you register. (Though I wouldn't have done that, either.)
Are they asking for credit card information to ensure that the account registrant is real rather than a bot? What in credit card information ensures that? Nothing.
What is going on when a company asks a new user to surrender credit card information but says they're not going to charge the card is this: A blatant attempt to secure you as a paying customer, not secure your account or personal information. It's overkill, it's rude, and it is very uncool.
- They're trying to manipulate the relationship so you'll automatically become a paying customer when you've exhausted your trial.
- They're treating you like you're a customer already, and just giving you 10 free days. So, even if you click the button for a free trial, both of the buttons on the page mean the same thing:
That's not "verifying" the account. That's establishing an account against the will of the customer. That's sleazy.
Don't worry, we won't charge your card? Then why do you want it? There must be some other way to accomplish your goals, rdio, without asking me for payment information you don't need yet.
A better user experience would be to
- Not ask for credit card as a verification for the trial, but instead to do something fun, authentic, and clever, like check in with me each day of the trial to see how much I love the service.
- Help me tell other people how much I love the service.
- Ask me questions about my usage so far
When I said I wanted to extend my trial, they assumed that I liked the service and wanted to keep going -- and that they could capture me as a customer at the first opportunity. But the opportunity for them was not the seducible moment or method for me. I'm going back to Pandora.
