Collect payment data for free orders

Overview

Configure 2Checkout to collect payment details for full discount/zero value orders, and charge shoppers for all subsequent renewals at full price. Take advantage of this feature to incentivize potential customers to start using your software/service by providing it free of charge initially.

Drive shoppers to use your service by offering it completely free of charge for the first month, or the first billing cycle, whatever it might be. Set zero value prices via On-the-fly-pricing when configuring the purchase flow for your products. Alternatively, you can define 100% discounts for specific products/services, applying solely to the first transaction. Note: Discounts need to be equal to the value of the product or larger.

SaaS businesses can benefit from the increased appeal added to services through promotions, but this feature can also contribute to increasing your customer base and revenue even if you're selling subscription-based software.

Free or paid trials with payment details are also a viable alternative to offering customers the chance to try out your software/service free of charge or for minimal costs. To kick-off the trial, users need to first provide valid payment information, ensuring that you'll be able to charge for usage once the trial period expires, provided that no cancelations occur.

Availability

All 2Checkout accounts.

If you are using ConvertPlus and InLine shopping carts, keep in mind that zero value orders are obtained using regular (product level) promotions, generating 100% discount. For the moment, order level promotions are not supported on ConvertPlus and InLine carts.

Requirements

For the billing information to be requested from the shopper the following criteria must be met:

• The service/product needs to have a renewal interval defined.
• The purchase flow needs to be Checkout with cart functionalities. When a different purchase flow is selected, the system automatically defaults to Checkout with cart functionalities (the same as for the trial process).
• Supported payment methods: VISA/MasterCard/Eurocard, American Express, JCB, PayPal, Discover/Novus, Direct Debit, Dankort.

Usage

After we've activated the Collect payment data for free orders feature for your account, follow the steps below to enable it.

1. Log into your Merchant Control Panel.
2. Go to Setup -> Ordering options
3. Enable the Collect Payment details for full discount or orders with zero value option.

3. Save the settings.

Note: If unchecked, shoppers that already benefited from the discount will not be affected. New customers attempting to purchase a service/product for which you offer a full discount but do not require payment information, will not need to enter their billing details to complete the order.

When your shoppers provide payment details they're informed that no charges will be made and that a transaction will be done only for authorization purposes. Once the initial subscription period, which you offer for free, runs out, the 2Checkout system will use the payment data collected in order to charge customers the sum you set when configuring the pricing scheme of your service/product. Similarly, charges will continue to be made with every new renewal.

Why use Full discount/zero value orders with payment details and not Free trials with payment details?

It's really a matter of preference since the two options are somewhat similar in nature. However, there are a number of key differences that make Full discount/zero value orders with payment details a superior strategy for onboarding new shoppers compared to Free trials with payment details.