Production and Operations Management 2014

Optimal Software Free Trial Strategy: Limited Version, Time‐locked, or Hybrid?

Hsing Kenneth Cheng¹; Shengli Li^2,3; Yipeng Liu⁴

¹ University of Florida · ² Xi’an University · ³ Xi'an Jiaotong University · ⁴ Northern Illinois University

Abstract

Limited version, time‐locked, and hybrid are three software free trial strategies employed by software firms to exploit increased installed base and/or reduction of consumers' uncertainty about software quality. We develop an analytical model to examine these three software free trial strategies. We find that the hybrid strategy weakly dominates the limited and time‐locked versions, and the intensity of the network effects is a key factor determining which strategy is optimal.

DOI

10.1111/poms.12248

Sources

openalex

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APA 7 MLA 9 Chicago (author–date) Harvard Elsevier Harvard (JFE, JBF…) The Accounting Review Academy of Management American Marketing Association INFORMS (Management Science) Copy citation Copied ✓