Field note
When a trial conversion is not a charge
12 March 2026
Product can mark a person as paid at the end of a trial while the merchant file still shows a failed first collection.
Many analytics exports treat the day a trial ends as the day someone “converts”. That is a product event. A charge is a merchant event. They part company whenever a card fails, a store delays the first collection, or a grace day keeps access open without a settlement.
In one London reading, forty percent of a month’s “trial conversions” had no first successful charge within seven days. The chart was not lying about product state. It was lying about income. The fix was not a new slogan. It was a join: conversion timestamp next to first captured amount.
If your board pack uses conversion as a stand-in for cash, ask for the failed-collection file before the meeting, not after.