I think the title says it all, but let me give a little background to spice things up.
Currently, my company is working on a product. The product is an e-learning application for a very specific group of professionals, that generally have a good to great income.
For this latest product, we're deciding on whether or not to include a free trial. We're considering this because it would obviously lower the barrier of entry, and we feel our product is good enough to convince users to start paying us for it. The trial period would be adjusted to be long and inclusive enough to give the client an idea of it's use, yet leave them wanting more.
Regardless of how we implement this trial though, there's a good chance that having a trial affects how people feel about our product. I recall reading some research papers somewhere about free vs paid accounts, and how users would complain more when they weren't paying, than when they were. (Unfortunately, I couldn't find any sources just now)
Can we assume that the free vs paid account "dilemma" also applies to trial vs no trial?
Does this in any way relate to the pricing psychology?
Would love some actual data on this.