Try Before You Buy: Are Coworking Space Free Trials the Right Choice for Your Business?

Hybrid working is the most common way to work, with 53% of employees choosing this approach. Add in the 27% choosing remote working, and there’s a significant opportunity for coworking space owners to secure new members.

One way to differentiate your company from other providers is to offer prospective members a free trial of your coworking space.

But, will providing a free trial help people choose you over the competition, or is it likely to result in a poor return on your investment? Let’s find out in our comprehensive guide.

Quick Summary

• Coworking space free trials allow potential users to try before they buy.
• Free trials offer several benefits to individuals, teams, and coworking space owners and managers.
• Offering a free trial has the potential to be an important tool in your marketing playbook.
• Make sure to send a timely and personalized offer after the free trial for the best chance of securing new business.

What Are Coworking Space Free Trials?

A coworking space free trial is an opportunity for individuals or businesses to try a coworking space for free. For coworking space owners and managers, offering free trials can support your lead generation efforts and help you grow your business.

The free trial may vary in duration, from a single trial day up to a week trial, or more. During the trial, the prospective customer might have unlimited access to all the coworking space amenities or only a specific selection.

Coworking space free trials are powerful tools for showcasing the facility, its amenities, and the benefits it can offer potential members. By understanding what your prospective customers gain from a free trial, you’re better placed to market it effectively.

What Are Freelancers Looking for in a Coworking Space Free Trial?

For small business owners, freelancers, and other individual users, a free trial is a risk-free way to try before they buy. In their eyes, this is a sign of a good coworking space.

There are several things they’re likely to take into consideration when finding the perfect remote workspace, including the overall design, how flexible your coworking space is, and your amenities.

Facilities

During the free trial, you can show potential members how your facilities meet their needs, or they can explore on their own.

Whether it’s collaboration rooms fitted out with media technology or cozy, quiet spaces for confidential calls and deep work, if your space offers what their home office lacks, they’re more likely to sign up.

They can also explore the furniture and lighting to see how well they can focus in your coworking space environment.

Are desks and chairs adjustable and comfortable? What is the lighting level like and does it differ in different spaces? They also likely expect high-speed internet, there’s nothing worse than glitching on a Zoom call while battling for bandwidth.

Flexibility

Freelancers often have greater flexibility in their working schedules. As such, some might prefer the stillness of early morning hours.

Others might want the ability to pop in and out anytime, including well past the traditional 5 o’clock end of the workday. Also, freelancers working with international clients may need access outside of the typical 9-to-5.

All your prospective members will want to understand if your opening hours suit them.

During the free trial, share information on extended hours and how they can check for available meeting rooms online. Also, let them know about access and security to show the coworking space will be safe and comfortable when there are fewer people.

Additional Amenities

Competition for new members is increasing. Large cities like Chicago, for example, have over 230 coworking spaces looking to grow their revenue. Use a free trial offering to highlight additional amenities that you offer.

These could include both on-site facilities, such as the kitchen and any outdoor space, and off-site partnerships, such as reduced-rate membership at local gyms or discounts at local cafes and restaurants.

Freelancers are often interested in socializing or building a network through their coworking space. Show them any shared spaces you offer and explain how you engage your coworking community. If you run events, talk them through the calendar.

What Are Businesses Looking for in a Coworking Space Free Trial?

Businesses and remote teams may use coworking spaces for one-off events, client meetings, or team development days.

Hybrid teams with a small office footprint may also use coworking spaces to boost capacity on occasions when the whole team needs to be present, such as quarterly town halls.

For coworking space owners, offering free trials for local businesses is a great opportunity to attract additional members. So what are they likely to be looking for in a free trial?

Flexible Workspace

For those leading teams, a coworking space free trial is an opportunity to check whether the space is appropriate. Is the layout flexible enough and are there different workspace configurations that allow for changing team sizes or needs?

If the predominant use case is hosting clients, is there enough privacy, and are the amenities up to standard? If catering is required, how easy is that to arrange?

Does the space enable collaboration, creativity, or focus, as needed for team development sessions or events? Can it accommodate breakout sessions? Is it easy to set up the meeting rooms without any prior knowledge of the space?

Make sure to respond to these queries as you offer a tour of the space during the free trial. Highlight how other teams use the space and point out how the technology you use can help simplify setup.

Cost

Unsurprisingly, businesses are likely to be price-sensitive and will want to understand the membership options available.

As a coworking space owner, you’ll need to decide if you’ll only offer a monthly cost or allow businesses to pay-as-you-go. Will you offer any enterprise packages or business perks?

Whatever you decide, use free trials to showcase anything that makes your coworking space particularly attractive compared to competitors.

What Are the Drawbacks of Offering a Free Trial?

There may be some drawbacks to offering a free trial including additional operational costs, disruption to existing members, and over-working staff.

Operational Costs

Offering a free trial comes with additional operational costs. Extra tea, coffee, or printing supplies may be needed, and there will be higher utility costs as more people use the water and electricity. Maintenance costs also typically increase with additional users.

Free trials may attract non-serious users, like tourists or other visitors who have no intention of signing up. This means coworking space owners or managers are unlikely to recover the additional cost associated with their free trial.

Disruption to Existing Members

Running a lot of free trials could mean less workspace and amenity availability for existing members. Trialists may not have the same understanding of norms and etiquette in the space and frustrate other users.

To mitigate any dissatisfaction among existing members, try and plan free trial availability on lower-use days and keep certain spaces reserved for paying members.

Resource Intensive

Free trials, especially if linked to a free tour, place an additional ask on staff. They will need to be available to process paperwork, answer questions, and encourage sign-up.

Software that allows visitors to complete paperwork in advance can help free up staff from some of the more administrative tasks associated with free trials.

Staff will need to balance their availability and support to existing members with oversight of trialists, and that might be tricky during busy periods.

If free trials do disrupt existing members, they could also have more complaints to deal with, adding to the resource crunch.

Tips for Getting Started With Your Free Trial Offering

Free trials can provide valuable information that helps you target your offer and respond to any potential concerns. Offering them should also boost retention rates as customers will likely have a higher commitment post sign-up if they’ve tried the space and know it meets their needs.

If you are ready to run a free trial in your coworking space, here are some tips for getting started.

Decide on the Offer

First, you need to decide on the offer. How long are you going to offer the free trial for? What spaces and amenities should trialists have access to? Is there anything you need to put in place to mitigate some of the drawbacks?

It’s worth researching other businesses that offer free trials to help with your decision-making. With market research, you can make sure your offer is compelling, but that you don’t offer over and above the market, potentially costing you more.

Personalize Your Welcome

Always have someone meet potential members at reception when they come for their free trial.

Get your team to use information gathered during sign-up to personalize the welcome.

Start by providing them with a tour of the space. Ask them what they hope to use the space for and the amenities and facilities that are valuable to them. Make sure to highlight where your workspace meets those needs and mention any planned additions or upgrades if you don’t currently have what they are looking for.

Make sure to also use their name during the tour so they feel like you care about them as an individual, not just as dollars on your profit and loss sheet.

Show Off Your Amenities

Once your potential customer is settled in a space, provide them with a tour to make sure they see everything that’s on offer and have an opportunity to ask questions. Step them through the facility floor plan so they can see the layout and range of rooms available.

Don’t forget to also highlight features that make the space easy and inviting to use.

What to Do After Hosting a Coworking Space Free Trial

Setting up and running your free trial isn’t all you have to do to secure new members and grow your space. Effective follow-up is also key, and it starts before the trial is even over.

Gather Feedback

At the end of the free trial, it’s important to get immediate feedback on how your potential customer enjoyed the space.

As well as providing an opportunity to immediately respond to any concerns they raise, you can use that feedback to tailor your follow-up offer to them.

Knowing their priorities and what they might need for the future can also help you upsell them when the opportunity arises. And, if it’s not for them, you can learn why and gain valuable insight into what you might need to secure other customers.

Provide a Follow-Up Offer

Within 24 hours, you should provide a follow-up offer. It’s worth incentivizing a rapid sign-up while the experience is still fresh, perhaps by offering a discount or access to amenities that are normally an additional cost.

You might want to also consider a special offer for a longer-term commitment. For example, if they purchase a year’s membership, they only pay for 11 months.

Ask for a Recommendation

Don’t forget to ask the potential member to share their positive experience on social media and tag your business. Word-of-mouth is a powerful tactic to attract new members and personal experience acts as positive social proof.

If they’ve had a great experience and decide to join, ask them to refer other potential members.

Boost Business With a Coworking Space Free Trial (And the Right Coworking Software)

While there are some drawbacks to offering a free trial of your coworking space, the benefits usually outweigh them. A targeted, well-thought-out offer can help grow your bottom line by showing off the best features of your business and encouraging new signups.

To make the most of this approach, be clear on what you want to achieve with your free trial offer, and make sure to prioritize the needs of current members if your resources get squeezed. Combine the free trial with a welcome tour to draw attention to any features that set you apart from the competition.

FAQ

How Does a Free Trial Benefit Coworking Space Owners?

Offering a free trial benefits coworking space owners by providing information on what potential customers are looking for. A free trial can also boost member retention rates.

What Should I Offer in a Free Trial?

Free trials can be for a single day or longer periods. Trialists can gain access to the entire coworking space or only to specific areas. Decide on your offer based on what feels right for your business.

How Do Members Choose Coworking Spaces?

Members of coworking spaces will look for a space that meets their needs and way of working. They may have specific amenities that are important to them. Offering a free trial allows potential members to test your space and see if it’s right for them.