Aol free trial cds

You probably remember getting them in the mail, in magazines and other periodicals, handed out at events, at checkout counters, bundled with other software, etc. Even people who could give a damn about the environment would scoff the appalling waste created by these efforts. At the same time, in hindsight, they appeared to be a wildly successful technique. Even with the massive production and distribution cost, expense of growing their call centers to assist new signups, need for increased capacity — not to mention the people who would jump from one trial to another without ever paying — America Online had over 30 million members across the world at its peak.

Because you needed software to dial up, having it given to you really did influence the provider that you ended up using. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account.

This commercial from shows the burden AOL marketers experienced — they were forced to list off every benefit of the web while also having to explain it:. The disks contained a free trial for AOL usually pegged to a number of free hours online, since usage was paid for by the hour. It didn't take long for AOL to double down on mailings and expand to new distribution channels. An early campaign gave away free trial CDs in Blockbuster video rental stores, and that showed Brandt that broader channels could be as effective as the mail.

From there, AOL was off to the races. Free AOL offers showed up nearly everywhere, including:. Later on, it offered a revenue share to computer companies that included AOL software. They were massively successful, in part because they were impossible to escape. It should be obvious the AOL CDs were a success from the beginning — that's the reason they kept sending them out.

On the Internet History podcast, Brandt said learning about the high response rate "was better than sex. AOL used the entire world's CD production capacity for several weeks. Brandt attributes the success to the base appeal of getting something for nothing. The biggest challenge was expanding the marketing spend to reach more people. One of the stranger stories from AOL's "carpet bombing" strategy came when the company found out that freezing and thawing these discs wouldn't cause them any damage.

So they could be packaged with Omaha Steaks, of course. Though some of the locations these discs wound up in can cause a chuckle, the raw numbers behind the campaign are almost hard to fathom. And remember, this was at a time when people were still actually buying CDs. It wasn't abnormal for a person to receive multiple free discs per week simply by being amongst the living. Though most of these ended up being discarded, turned into frisbees, or used as coasters, the numbers game was still in favor of AOL.

It turns out, the death of the AOL trial discs was caused by the internet itself. As the company changed its strategy and stopped charging by the hour and introduced broadband services, the discs had less of an impact as churn rates rose. Not clear yet on how it works? From June 5 until July 4, you would be on the AOL over high-speed connection plan with one month of unlimited dial-up access.

Note: All AOL plans may be subject to communications surcharges. These could be accumulated for dial-up access through an AOL number or for one of our international access numbers. Also, if you select an AOL access number that is a long-distance call for you and not covered by your local calling plan, you will be charged on your telephone bill. Please check with your phone company to make sure the access numbers you select for your calling plan are local and not long-distance calls.

Our standard trial period for new accounts provides unlimited hours during the first 50 days after the activation of your account. Communication surcharges may also apply and are charged monthly, along with any premium service charges or purchases made to your AOL bill.