Plugin trials
An initiative that unlocked self-hosting user potential and expanded our premium plugin base.
Matomo's self-hosting service offers default features, with additional plugins available at a cost. We identified a business opportunity to unlock potential in our self-hosting users and expand our premium plugin customer base by effectively communicating and swiftly delivering value.
Problem space
We began by mapping the user journey from the dashboard to starting a trial, identifying steps, blockers, and opportunities. We collaborated with the Support team, who were closest to users' needs and pain points during plugin activation.
We analysed various industries to benchmark trials or subscriptions and address questions like: Is a credit card required before the trial? Do users need to re-enter passwords to start a trial? Is the credit card charged immediately after the trial? Is the trial part of the purchase process? Can anyone start a trial?
We then conducted an internal UX audit to identify flaws in the current experience. The audit revealed several issues: we were not promoting the marketplace in-app, the plugin cards had poor content alignment and hierarchy, making them hard to scan and read, the plugin modals were cluttered with information, and each step to start a trial had constraints that hindered a smooth experience.
Other key issues identified during the discovery stage were users having to leave the product to start a trial, filling out excessive forms, and entering credit card information.
Solution space
To optimise the journey, we decided to address the tedious process users faced when trialing a plugin, which can be summarised as navigating to the marketplace, selecting the number of users, inputting personal and payment details, and managing license keys.
Our hypothesis was that this complexity contributed to a significant drop-off rate, as potential users abandoned the process, frustrated by its demanding and time-consuming requirements.
We started ideating possible solutions for this journey in collaboration with the Developer team, and involved key stakeholders ensuring the solution balanced good user experience with a business outcome. Once we aligned on the user journey, we proceeded to create initial low-fidelity wireframes.
Before launching the new journey and optimisations, we conducted two successful usability tests on a partial journey and involved the QA team to test the full journey.
Objectives and key results
The plugin trial optimisations drastically simplified the user journey. Users no longer needed to leave the product, fill out excessive forms, or enter credit card information to start a trial. By reducing these steps, we minimised abandonment and encouraged more users to explore our plugins, resulting in better conversions.
The goal was to increase plugin trials from 60 to 120 per week. After the release, we tracked the implementation for multiple weeks and found the average number of trials per week went up to 150 on average. Additionally, we reduced support inquiries related to trial activation.
