Key Concepts: How Piano Determines Trial Eligibility
In Piano, a user is considered a new customer only if they have never completed any monetary transaction within the Piano application.
Once a user completes any successful monetary transaction (including converting from a free trial into a paid period), they are no longer considered a new customer and will not be eligible for trials restricted to new customers.
Important notes:
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The "new customer" definition is global to the application, not tied to a specific offer or term. If a user has ever transacted on any payment term, they are no longer "new" for purposes of this setting.
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"Monetary transaction" refers to a completed conversion/payment in Piano. Conversions on external, grant access, custom, and registration terms are not counted the same way for this specific "new customer" trial logic.
Term Settings That Control Eligibility
Apply Trial Period for New Customers Only (Payment Terms Only)
This setting is available on payment terms only. When enabled:
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The trial pricing/period is applied only for users who have never completed a monetary transaction in the application.
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Users with any prior completed transaction will still be able to purchase (unless you restrict the offer separately), but they will be placed directly onto regular billing — no trial applied.
Use this to prevent users from canceling and re-subscribing repeatedly to receive trial pricing.
This setting does not exist on dynamic terms. On dynamic terms, any new-customers restriction applies to the entire term — not just an introductory or trial-like period. See Dynamic Terms for details.
Restrict to First-Time Customers Only
This setting is available on both payment and dynamic terms. It restricts access to the offer itself (not just the trial portion) to users who have never successfully paid before.
It is commonly used when you want to prevent a user from taking the same offer more than once, while still allowing non-new users to purchase other products/terms.
How Term Type Affects Trial Behavior
Trial configuration and eligibility control differ significantly between payment terms and dynamic terms.
Payment Terms
Payment terms have a dedicated trial period concept with two distinct configuration fields: a trial price (a one-time charge at the start of the trial, regardless of its length) and a trial duration. The "Apply trial period for new customers only" setting applies specifically to that trial period — meaning existing customers can still purchase the term at the regular price, but will not receive the trial.
For example, a monthly term at $9.99 with a 3-month trial at $2.99 would charge $2.99 once at the start of the trial for the entire 3-month period, then $9.99/month thereafter.
Dynamic Terms
Dynamic terms have no dedicated trial period concept and no "Apply trial period for new customers only" setting. Instead, any initial period in the billing plan can serve as a trial-like experience — for example, a $0 first month followed by standard pricing. This provides significantly more flexibility (step-up pricing, periods with no billing, temporary discounts within the same term), but comes with an important limitation for eligibility:
On a dynamic term, a new-customers restriction applies to the entire term, not just the introductory period. This means you cannot restrict only the trial/discounted period to new customers — restricting to new customers blocks non-new users from accessing the term at all.
Summary Comparison
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Payment Terms |
Dynamic Terms |
|---|---|---|
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Trial as a concept |
Dedicated trial period (price + duration) |
No separate trial; any period in the billing plan can serve as a trial |
|
Trial price |
One-time charge at the start of the trial |
Configured as part of the dynamic billing plan (e.g., a $0 initial period) |
|
"Apply trial period for new customers only" |
Available — applies to the trial period only |
Not available |
|
New-customers restriction |
Scoped to the trial period |
Applies to the entire term |
|
Flexibility |
Fixed trial configuration |
Greater flexibility (step-up pricing, free periods, temporary discounts, etc.) |
Practical Guidance
If you need a simple free trial with a new-customers restriction scoped specifically to the trial period, payment terms are the appropriate choice. If you need more complex introductory pricing structures, dynamic terms offer more flexibility — but plan your eligibility strategy accordingly, as any new-customers restriction will apply to the whole term.
Common Configuration Scenarios
Scenario A: Only brand-new users should get a free trial
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Use: Enable Apply trial period for new customers only on a payment term.
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Expected behavior: Users with any prior completed monetary transaction will not receive the trial. If they can still access the checkout, they will see standard pricing.
Scenario B: Users with canceled/expired subscriptions should be able to get a trial
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Use: Use a payment term and disable Apply trial period for new customers only.
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Expected behavior: Any user without an active subscription can use the trial (subject to other offer/term rules).
Scenario C: Monthly trial, then upgrade to an annual plan with controlled eligibility
A common pattern using payment terms:
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Monthly plan: enable Apply trial period for new customers only (trial only for truly new users)
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Annual plan: use Restrict to first-time customers only (to prevent repeat use of the annual promo/offer)
This helps prevent users from re-accessing promotional annual trial pricing after they've already used it, while still allowing legitimate upgrades.
Upgrades and Trials: What to Expect
If a user upgrades into a new payment term that includes a trial:
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If the new term has Apply trial period for new customers only enabled, an existing customer (any prior completed monetary transaction) will not receive the trial and will move to the regular billing plan for that term.
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If the new term is not restricted to new customers, upgrades can include the trial (depending on your upgrade and checkout configuration).
If your goal is to allow existing customers to receive a trial on the new product/term, you may need to create a new payment term without the "new customers only" restriction, and direct upgrades/offers to that term.
Operational Limitations and Planning
No bulk edit for "new customers only" across terms
If you need to change this setting on existing payment terms, it must be updated term-by-term in the dashboard (there is no bulk edit).
Plan carefully: changing terms after conversions
Once there are conversions on a term, changing eligibility behavior may not be feasible in-place for your use case. The safest approach is often to create a new term with the correct eligibility settings and update experiences/offers to point to it.
Troubleshooting: Trial Not Showing or Not Being Applied
1) Confirm you are using a payment term
The Apply trial period for new customers only setting only exists on payment terms. If you are using a dynamic term and expecting this behavior, it is not available — consider switching to a payment term or restructuring your eligibility approach.
2) Confirm the user is actually eligible
If Apply trial period for new customers only is enabled on a payment term, the trial will not apply if the user has ever completed a monetary transaction in the application (including converting from a trial to paid). For accurate testing, use a truly new user identity (never converted) and avoid "preview" users or accounts that may have historical conversions.
3) Confirm the term's setting is correct
On the payment term used in the checkout flow, verify whether Apply trial period for new customers only is checked/unchecked as intended.
4) Campaign/experience visibility vs. eligibility
Users may still see campaigns or land on offer URLs even if they are not eligible for the trial terms being advertised. If users are seeing a trial message but not receiving trial pricing, review experience messaging and segmentation so conditions are clearly communicated, and ensure the campaign is appropriately restricted by eligibility/targeting (not just the term).
5) Test in a proper environment
When validating trial behavior, test in a sandbox environment connected to a staging/test site (recommended), using fresh accounts that match the intended eligibility definition.
Best Practices
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Align your business definition of "new" with Piano's transaction-based definition.
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Use payment terms when you need a simple free trial with new-customers eligibility scoped to the trial period. Use dynamic terms when you need flexible introductory pricing, and plan eligibility accordingly.
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Explicitly decide how to handle users with freemium access or prior access paths, and test those flows with clean accounts.
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Keep eligibility rules consistent across brands/apps when managing global configurations.
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Make experience copy explicit when trials apply only to certain user types (for example, "new subscribers only") to reduce confusion.