Trial Sessions vs. Free Intro Calls
Trial Sessions are Leland's alternative to Free Intro Calls. Instead of a free 15 minutes, a Trial Session is a reduced-price meeting of at least 30 minutes. The idea is that a small paid commitment upfront reduces no-shows and surfaces real buying intent before you've invested any real time.
How you first connect with a client is a key decision that impacts your conversion. Free intro calls vs. trial sessions are your top of funnel on Leland, and it's worth experimenting with as your business fluctuates.
The data:
Free Intro Calls generate about 30% more new connections with leads. This is a real advantage, and it's exactly why intro calls are the default. If you're optimizing for lead volume and top-of-funnel reach, free intro calls are a better first touch point.
Trial Sessions convert about 23% better than free intro calls. A higher share of those initial conversations go on to result in an additional booking, and you get paid for the trial session itself either way.
Free intro calls get you more at-bats. Trial sessions get you fewer, higher-intent conversations that are more likely to turn into paying clients.
Why there's no single right answer:
Category, pricing, search rank, and your existing offerings all play a part, so we can't tell you definitively which option is right for your business. This is squarely in experiment territory. The new Beta Analytics tab is the best way to check your work: it shows the impact on your leads and profile views in close to real time, so you can tell fairly quickly whether a switch is working for you.
One expert's approach:
"My personal strategy at the moment: I'm in the Software Engineering category, not ranked relatively high. I don't want to maximize 'at bats,' and would prefer higher purchase intent leads. I have enabled trial sessions, targeting a trial session price of ~$10. Low enough to simply validate the buyer intent, but not so high as to scare people off from investing in our relationship before meeting me. I'm looking forward to see how this impacts my coaching business!"
Jake's setup fits his specific position: a lower relative search rank means fewer total leads to begin with, so he's optimizing to make the most of each one rather than maximizing volume. Your own answer might look different depending on your category and where you currently rank.
Getting started:
Trial Sessions can be turned on and priced from your Pricing tab. A few things worth weighing before you switch:
Check your current lead volume from intro calls first. If leads are already tight, trial sessions could shrink your top of funnel further, even if the leads that do come through convert better.
Price it to validate intent, not to gatekeep. Low enough that it doesn't feel like a barrier, high enough to filter out people who aren't seriously considering coaching. Jake's ~$10 is a reasonable starting point.
Watch your Beta Analytics tab closely after you switch. The impact on leads and profile views shows up quickly, and it's the clearest signal for whether the change is working for you.