Mass-produced free trials for 14 months. Finally realized why only 3% converted.

14-day free trial. Full access to everything. No credit card required.
Sounded generous. Convert rate: 3.1%
That means 97% of people who signed up never paid. I thought, "Need to make the product better."
But when I surveyed churned trials, the problem wasn't the product:
"I signed up but never had time to set it up" - 34%
"I forgot about it" - 28%
"Couldn't figure out how to do [core thing]" - 22%
"Found something else" - 11%
"Too expensive" - 5%
84% of people never really tried it. They signed up with good intentions, and life happened.

Changes I made:
Cut trial from 14 days to 7 days. Sounds worse, but creates urgency. People actually use it in the first 3 days or never.
Added guided onboarding. First login shows them exactly how to complete one core task. Not a product tour. An actual workflow they finish.
3 email if they haven't completed setup. "Need help getting started? Rep, l,y and I'll walk you through it."

Day
Required credit card upfront. Controversial, but it filters to people who are actually serious.
conversion rate: 11.4%

New
The product didn't change. The experience of trying the product changed.
Most failed trials aren't product rejections. They're attention failures.
What's your trial-to-paid conversion look like?