Your free trial

Every new customer who buys directly from Footer365 starts with a free trial. The trial has every feature, you do not need a payment card to start it, and nothing is charged during it. This article explains how it ends.

If you buy Footer365 through a reseller, your reseller looks after your billing and none of the card steps below apply to you. See Working with a reseller.

How long it lasts

The trial lasts 30 days, as published on the Footer365 pricing page. It starts when a Global Administrator of your Microsoft 365 organisation gives Footer365 admin consent, not when you sign up, so the time it takes to connect Microsoft 365 does not come off your trial. The end date is shown in the portal on the Payment method page while the trial is running.

Before Microsoft 365 is connected

Nothing starts until admin consent is given: no trial runs, nothing is charged and no signatures are added. If consent is not given within 7 days of signing up, the signup is removed, and your organisation's free trial is not used, so you can sign up again later. Footer365 emails your account owner and technical contact 3 days before, with the setup link. See Connecting Microsoft 365.

Your seats during the trial

You do not choose a number of users. Each time your directory syncs during the trial, your seat count is set to the number of user mailboxes Footer365 finds. Shared mailboxes are not counted. See Shared mailboxes and seats.

Add a card to carry on

You can add a card at any time during the trial. Adding one does not start billing early: you keep the whole trial.

1. Go to Billing > Payment method (open it).
2. Select Add a card.
3. Enter your card details on Stripe's secure page and confirm.

See Your payment card for more.

Reminders

Footer365 reminds you as the end of the trial gets close:

• By email, 7 days before the end, to your billing contact, whether or not you have added a card. It gives the end date, what you will pay afterwards and how to cancel.
• By email, 14 days and 2 days before the end, if no card has been added yet.
• By email, on day 10 of the trial, a reminder of the switching offer, which can be claimed only in the first 14 days of the trial. It is left out once you have claimed it, or if your organisation is billed through a reseller.
• In the portal, while no card is on file, a banner at the top of each page shows when the trial ends with an Add a card button. Earlier in the trial you can close it. In the last 7 days it stays on every page until a card is saved.

Emails go to the accounts contact under Contacts on Account > Settings, or to the account owner when there is none. See Company settings.

When the trial ends with a card on file

Your paid subscription starts, on the term you chose, and Footer365 invoices you monthly in advance. Its seats are the user mailboxes Footer365 counts in your Microsoft 365 organisation that day, so a 12-month term commits to the users you actually have. Your first invoice also charges for the whole days from the end of your trial to the end of that month, in proportion to the month's price. The card is charged when each invoice is raised. Nothing changes for your users: signatures carry on as before.

When the trial ends without a card

Nothing is charged, and your paid subscription does not start. Instead:

• automatic signatures pause
• your email keeps sending and receiving as normal
• the portal is limited to adding a card, reading and accepting your agreements, or cancelling
• an email tells your billing contact what has happened

The Payment method page then shows Your free trial has ended and no payment card is on file. with the date your account will close.

If you add a card, your subscription starts that day and signatures switch back on within a few minutes. If Footer365 updated its agreements during your trial and nobody has accepted them yet, the page asks for them to be accepted, though a card can be added without it; see Your payment card.

If you do not add a card, the account closes 30 days after the trial ended. You get an email a week before. When the account closes, Footer365 removes its transport rules and connectors from your Exchange Online and switches your users' own Outlook signatures back on, as described in Cancel your subscription. With the Outlook add-in only, there is nothing in Exchange Online to remove, and the add-in stops adding signatures. Nothing is owed. As with any subscription that ends, you then have 30 days to export your data, and the account and its data are deleted within a further 30 days.

Moving from another signature product?

If you are moving from another paid email signature product, you can claim up to 4 months free in total, including this trial, on a 12, 24 or 36-month term. Claim it under Billing > Invoices in the first 14 days of your trial: the day your trial starts is day 1, so the last day to claim is day 14. The trial is not extended while a claim is checked, so you still need a card by the end of it: your term starts when the trial ends and you are invoiced as normal until the claim is approved. The months after your trial then come off your next invoices as monthly credits. See The switching offer.

Referred by another customer?

If you signed up through another Footer365 customer's referral link, your first paid month after the trial is free: one month at your price is taken off your first invoice. Signup says Referred by before you create your account. See Refer a company.

Not continuing?

If you decide not to carry on, you can cancel during the trial and it ends straight away with nothing to pay. See Cancel your subscription. If you do nothing, the steps above apply and nothing is charged.

Good to know

• The first charge after your trial is marked "TRIAL OVER" on the card payment, so it is easy to recognise.
• A Microsoft 365 organisation gets one free trial. Signing up again later does not start a second one.

Related articles

• Signing up
• Your payment card
• Signatures paused