---
title: "Trial-to-paid conversion rate by source | Cometly Academy"
description: "Trial conversion rate (TCR) is the most important PLG metric, and it varies wildly by source. Meta often delivers a high volume of low-converting trials, while LinkedIn and direct often convert at 2–3× the rate. This report makes the difference visible and tells you which channels deserve more spend per trial."
source: "https://www.cometly.com/academy/trial-to-paid-conversion-rate-by-source"
---

# Trial-to-paid conversion rate by source

Some channels deliver trials. Few deliver buyers.

- Module 03: Product-Led Growth Reports
- Lesson: 3.3
- Track: PLG
- Format: Report
- Read time: 7 min

Trial conversion rate (TCR) is the most important PLG metric, and it varies wildly by source. Meta often delivers a high volume of low-converting trials, while LinkedIn and direct often convert at 2–3× the rate. This report makes the difference visible and tells you which channels deserve more spend per trial.

## Key takeaways

- Calculate TCR as Trial Converted ÷ Trial Started, grouped by source
- Compare against your blended TCR to find over- and under-performers
- Filter by plan to see if higher-priced plans convert at different rates per source
- Add cost-per-paying-customer (not cost-per-trial) as the headline column
- Watch TCR drift — falling rates often mean ad creative is attracting wrong-fit users

Trial conversion rate by source is the report that ends most arguments about which paid channel is actually worth scaling. It cuts through the noise of cost-per-trial and lands on the question that matters: which channels deliver users who actually pay?

## Why it matters

A blended TCR of 18% can hide enormous channel variance. LinkedIn can run 30%, Meta 8%, organic 25%, and the average lands in the middle. Without splitting by source you’ll over-fund the cheap-trial channels and under-fund the high-converting ones.

## Building the report

Create a Table report grouped by Source. Add columns for Trials Started, New Customers (or Trial Converted), Trial Conversion Rate (calculated as a percentage), Cost-per-Trial, and Cost-per-Paying-Customer.

Sort by Cost-per-Paying-Customer ascending. The top of the table is your scaling list. Sort by Conversion Rate ascending and the bottom is your audit list — channels with poor trial quality that need creative or targeting work before more spend.

## Watching for drift

TCR is a leading indicator of channel health. If a channel’s TCR drops 30% week-over-week without any other change, the algorithm has shifted who it’s showing your ads to. That’s usually a signal to refresh creative, narrow targeting, or pause the campaign before the cost-per-customer catches up.

Pair TCR with the LTV-by-source report. A channel with a low TCR but high LTV (the trials that do convert are high-value customers) is often more profitable than a channel with a high TCR but low LTV (lots of conversions to small plans).

- Sort by Cost-per-Paying-Customer ascending for the scaling list
- Sort by Trial Conversion Rate ascending for the audit list
- Watch week-over-week TCR drift as a leading indicator
- Pair with LTV-by-source for the full economic picture

## Common pitfalls

### Treating cost-per-trial as the headline

Cost-per-trial doesn’t predict cost-per-customer when conversion rates vary 4x by source. Always pair them.

### Ignoring small-volume channels

A channel with 10 trials at 80% TCR is more interesting than a channel with 500 at 5%. Don’t hide low-volume rows.

### Not segmenting by plan

Free-to-paid conversion looks very different from $1-trial-to-paid. Filter by plan to see real channel patterns.