Yesterday we launched a new feature on our website. All fonts are available for testing. Licenses are perpetual and for the complete version of the full family. This is an experiment partly in licensing because we have not created a separate testing license nor are we requiring customers to login with user names. Instead, they can simply add the testing fonts to the cart and checkout using the same method as for our free font (birra). Testing fonts are identified by the word "testing" in the file name and we have added language to the basic EULA everyone gets that modifies the rights for testing copies.
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Some highlights from my research:
1. Roughly 4-7% of customers who download a demo, go on to purchase that same product.
2. A clear subset of customers use the demo font to get a feel for it before spending four figures on a license. (These exact customers are the ones who asked for such a service.)
3. A customer who downloaded a demo and later bought any font spends an average 5% more than those who did not download a demo. (This probably means they are more professionally oriented.)
4. Nefarious users have not taken advantage of the demo program. I wouldn't believe there aren't any, but we give away far fewer downloads than I ever expected to.
5. The demo program has not made us tons of money in and of itself. But it is a great customer service tool.
So bottom line: very little obvious downside, some positive upside, plus goodwill with your customers.
The thing that has been really interesting for me is that in the few days since we have been quietly doing this - with no announcement to the public (I'm not counting this forum) - we have seen more downloads of the lesser known fonts than of our top one! So far only one trial has converted to a sale (and of the top seller) but it's only been a few days. Regardless I'm really excited to see interest in the lesser sellers.
I doubt that the actual character of the font makes much difference. I'd posit it has more to do with clientele.
What I can say is that we get plenty of positive feedback about the trials, and that many customers report that it makes it easier for them to sell a client on it. Given long’ish sales cycles in type, I wouldn’t worry too much about quick results. Happy to see more foundries are offering trial fonts (limited or not).
I'm pretty sure that if you increase the availability of your font files to the public, sales will increase. After all, what people buy is the license, not the fonts.