GUIDE
What a free trial actually tests
A trial can answer workflow questions. It rarely answers the data-handling questions a firm actually needs answered.
Updated September 20, 2026
A trial tests fit, not terms
A trial is a workflow test. It shows whether the product fits the way the firm already works, whether staff open it without being told to, and whether the output needs so much correction that the time saving disappears.
A trial is not a terms test. The confidentiality wording, the training statement, and the data-location statement are published documents, not trial features. If those are the deciding questions, a trial will not answer them.
Decide the questions before the trial starts
A trial with no written questions becomes a demo. Before the clock starts, write down the three or four things the trial has to settle, and who in the firm will judge each one.
Each record carries a set of evaluation steps for exactly this purpose. They are the points a short trial can actually reach, ordered so the cheap checks come first.
Use real work, not sample data
A trial run on a vendor's sample matter tests the vendor's demo, not the firm's practice. The useful test uses a real matter shape with the names and identifying details removed.
Check what the vendor's terms say about trial data before uploading anything. A trial environment may sit outside the commitments that apply to a paid account, and that difference is worth reading rather than assuming.
Write down what the trial did not answer
At the end of a trial the useful output is a list of what remains open: the questions the product could not demonstrate, and the terms the vendor has not published.
Those open items become the questions to put to the vendor in writing. A written answer is evidence a firm can keep, and it is the material a record can be updated against.