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Trial Expired State — Founder Interview Input File

Tier: Trial Expired (applies to Starter Chat, Pro Chat, Suite Chat after 14-day trial without paying) Purpose: Define exactly what a customer sees when their free trial ends without a paid subscription. How to use: Fill in YOUR ANSWER under each question. Then in a new Claude session, say: "Read knowledge/acceptance/decisions/trial-expired-interview-prompt.md and write the complete Trial Expired acceptance spec at knowledge/acceptance/trial-expired.md."

Note: Voice plans have no trial, so this spec applies to chat plans only: starter_chat, starter_chat_annual, pro_chat, pro_chat_annual, suite_chat, suite_chat_annual.

Reference: knowledge/acceptance/starter-chat.md shows the active trial dashboard state. This spec covers what changes AFTER trial ends.

Section A: The Dashboard — What Does the Pastor See?​

Q1: When a chat plan trial expires, what does the dashboard look like? Pick the closest option:

  • Full lockout — redirected to a "Your trial has ended" page with a subscribe CTA, no dashboard visible
  • Soft lock — dashboard is visible but all interactive elements are disabled/greyed out with a banner at top
  • Partial lock — some tabs still visible (e.g., read-only data), others locked
  • Full dashboard still visible but chatbot is disabled (can browse, can't use the product)
  • Something else:

YOUR ANSWER:

Q2: If there's a banner or overlay on the dashboard — what does it say? Write the exact headline and body copy, or describe the tone (urgent/friendly/neutral). Example: "Your trial has ended. Subscribe to keep helping your congregation." vs "Your 14-day trial is over — don't leave your church unanswered."

YOUR ANSWER:

Q3: Can the pastor still SEE their data (conversations, requests, training content they entered) after trial expires? Or is all data hidden until they subscribe?

YOUR ANSWER:

Q4: If data is visible (read-only), how long does it stay visible? Options:

  • Forever (until they delete their account)
  • 30 days after trial expiry
  • 7 days after trial expiry
  • Immediately hidden on expiry
  • Something else:

YOUR ANSWER:

Q5: The chatbot widget on the church's website — what happens to it when the trial expires? Options:

  • Goes silent (stops responding, shows nothing)
  • Shows a "service unavailable" message
  • Shows a generic fallback message (e.g., "Please contact the church directly")
  • Keeps working for X days after expiry
  • Immediately stops working at midnight on day 14
  • Something else:

YOUR ANSWER:

Section B: The "Trial Ending" Emails (Days 11–13)​

Q6: How many "trial ending soon" emails go out, and on which days? Options:

  • 1 email on day 11
  • 1 email on day 13
  • 2 emails: day 11 + day 13
  • 3 emails: day 11, day 12, day 13
  • Something else:

YOUR ANSWER:

Q7: What is the subject line for the "trial ending" email(s)?

YOUR ANSWER:

Q8: What does the body of the "trial ending" email say? Key elements to decide:

  • Does it remind them of what they've set up so far ("You've trained your chatbot with 3 FAQs and 12 ministry descriptions")?
  • Does it show the price they'll be charged ($14.95/mo for Starter, $34.95/mo for Pro, etc.)?
  • Does it have a single CTA button — what does it say?
  • Is the tone urgent, friendly, or both?

YOUR ANSWER:

Q9: Does the "trial ending" email differ by plan (Starter Chat vs Pro Chat vs Suite Chat)? Or is it the same template with just the price/plan name swapped in?

YOUR ANSWER:

Section C: The "Trial Expired" Email (Day 14 or Day 15)​

Q10: When does the "trial expired" email send — the day the trial ends (day 14) or the day after (day 15)?

YOUR ANSWER:

Q11: What is the subject line for the "trial expired" email?

YOUR ANSWER:

Q12: What does the body of the "trial expired" email say? Key elements:

  • Does it mention that the chatbot has stopped working?
  • Does it mention data retention (how long their data is kept)?
  • Is there a reactivation CTA — what does it say and where does it link?
  • Tone: empathetic/urgent/neutral?

YOUR ANSWER:

Q13: Is there a win-back email sequence after trial expiry? If yes:

  • 1 follow-up email (how many days after expiry?)
  • 2 follow-up emails
  • 3+ follow-up emails
  • No follow-up sequence — just the one expiry email
  • Something else:

YOUR ANSWER:

Section D: The Re-Subscribe Flow​

Q14: When a trial-expired customer clicks the subscribe CTA (from email or dashboard), where do they go? Options:

  • Straight to Stripe checkout with their plan pre-selected
  • A "Choose your plan" page where they can pick Starter/Pro/Suite
  • Back to the pricing page (churchwiseai.com/pricing)
  • A dedicated "reactivate your account" page
  • Something else:

YOUR ANSWER:

Q15: When the trial-expired customer subscribes, do they get a NEW 14-day trial, or do they pay immediately? (i.e., can the same email address trial twice?)

YOUR ANSWER:

Q16: After the trial-expired customer successfully subscribes, what confirmation do they see/receive? Is there a "Welcome back" email distinct from the original welcome email?

YOUR ANSWER:

Q17: If the trial-expired customer subscribes to a DIFFERENT plan than they trialed (e.g., trialed Starter Chat but subscribes to Pro Chat) — what happens to their training data? Is it carried over or reset?

YOUR ANSWER:

Section E: The Dashboard CTA Copy​

Q18: On the locked/soft-locked dashboard, what is the primary CTA button text? Options:

  • "Subscribe Now"
  • "Reactivate My Account"
  • "Keep My Chatbot Running"
  • "Choose a Plan"
  • Something else:

YOUR ANSWER:

Q19: Is there a secondary action on the expired dashboard? (e.g., "Download my data", "Contact support", "See what's included")

YOUR ANSWER:

Section F: Edge Cases​

Q20: If the customer entered payment info during signup (Stripe collects card details at trial start) but the charge fails on day 14 — is that treated identically to "no card on file"? Or is there a separate "payment failed" flow distinct from "trial expired"?

YOUR ANSWER:

Additional Notes​

Anything else about the trial expired state that isn't covered above:

YOUR NOTES: