Make sure the pro software has more to offer over the free software, a couple examples I can think of off the top of my head that have caught me that way are Jing Project - Which is a screen capture product which is very easy, they got me to buy the pro by offering video screen captures. Flickr, not really a software.. but I paid for their service after I ran out of free space, in that case I didn't have much of a choice, but since I liked the service I was willing to pay.
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Show that your product is worth purchasing by offering the full version to try out. Recent example is Adobe Lightroom plugins like "Jeffrey’s “Export to Flickr” Lightroom Plug in" that I just purchased. He offers the full version of the plug-in that works for a few weeks with all capabilities unlocked but after the trial time you get some options dumbed down but not turned completely off.

After using the trial version for a while and enjoyed it so much that I sprung some cash for it.
Source(s):
http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/flickr

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As others have said, let all the bells and whistles work for a trial period, before the trial software becomes crippled. I bought four licenses of a gaming utility called UO Assist for four different Ultima Online accounts, back in the day (2003). I got so hooked on this utility during the 30 day trial period that I had to buy it -- four times.
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Well, one of the most common methods is limiting the use of the software, either by offering a better version or limit the trial version to a certain amount of time.

That method works really well. If you noticed, most software is being sold that way now. One example is Apple, which offers you an upgrade or newer software for your Ipod. Which of course you have to buy.

Most software that sells really good this way, besides Apple's software, is programs like Limewire's. Which offer an upgrade, that apparently works better than the free one.

Also, you can add in AVG Antivirus, they offer a free version but regularly offer an upgrade to a bigger version. It's very tempting to upgrade.
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A trend I have been seeing Software vendors (AVG, Winzip, McAfee) doing is offering a service called TrialPay.

"TrialPay provides software publishers of any size with compelling payment and promotion options that turn price-sensitive users into paying customers. "
Source(s):
http://www.trialpay.com/industries/software/

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Games work this way really well. I recall that the developer of Braid for the XBOX 360 wanted to put and extra two levels into the demo at the protest of Microsoft, but he convinced them to put the extra levels in there and it was one of the best-selling puzzle games on the 360.

On the iPhone, trial software, including games, is an important way to allow a person to experience your software, but I've found that I can use a lot of free trial software without having to actually buy the software. The best trials should only do so much, and advertise more features for the full version.

For other software titles, word of mouth is a big seller. If you have someone of authority on software endorse your product on something like twitter or a podcast, that kind of exposure is invaluable. Someone with a cult of personality around them can go a long way to making sales. The more people you can convince to try your software, the more sales you will make. For example: Last night I had a conversation about Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 with the mildly famous Internet celebrity Brain Brushwood. He chose to buy the game for PC, while I had to buy it for the 360. While we could not actually play together, he suggested playing another game called Catan. Now while I had heard of the game before, my only interest in actually buying the game was so I might have the chance to play with a mildly famous Internet celebrity, because he recommended it.

Now in terms of what to put into a trial piece of software to convince people to buy, you should just give them a taste of what your software is about. Don't give them a glass of Jack, give them a shot. They need to know just enough about what your software is about to want more. They need to be able to explore your software enough to see and experience a large portion of what it can do for them, but not enough that they can get by on just the trial. For some programs, this means liming functionality and/or content, for others it means limiting the time allowed to use the program, for some still, it means both.

Of course, the best way to get people to buy your product is to offer something unique, something they can't get anywhere else, something they'll want to use over and over again, and offer it for a decent, yet profitable price.
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I've successfully used TrialPay to convert non-buyers into revenue. I highly suggest it. The support service behinds the scenes is exceptional.
Source(s):
http://www.trialpay.com

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First is making sure the product we sell are really of exceptional quality meaning that is has been proven to deliver what it promises.

Second to create a marketing and advertising spree that could promote the benefits and uses of the products, even if you are already offering a trial version.

Third target a specific market at a time, specially those clients that really needs the product. There are lots of softwares that are top seller yet does not have even a trial version.

Fourth is create a atmosphere of trust with between yourself and the client a simple copywrite statement would be enough upon download, just letting somebody download a trial version and hoping they would order the product is like catching the mouse with a piece of cheese is old fashion.

selling a product online should not be a tactical battle between buyer and seller, It has to be a respectful understanding
Source(s):
own observation

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give him a best result but he dont save it that work or print it or publish it if he like your software he tell another he show another guy best way to publishing is a mouth to mouth publishing
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rather a limited time to use trial software, a better idea is the user has so many 'tries' at using the app. This seems like a fairer way to do this.

cant remember what its called but I used an app to make IMG files of floppy disks, for quick and easy duplication. Ok no one uses floppies at all much but I needed to try and make a bootable DVD for a project I was doing. To do this you needed to alter a windows 98 floppy with some changes then burn the DVD with the IMG file of the floppy embedded in it.

This app would knock one day's use of the countdown when you used it, so if its only used rarely you arent forced to go and pay for a licence to soon. Seems fair.
Source(s):
unsure.

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I have a method I've been using for years, and so far it's never failed, but it's based upon a condition and circumstance that might not be common.

In some respects I adopted the technique under duress, but there might be an aspect of it that could be generally applicable.

In the first place, I don't look at the marketplace and think, "Gee, I bet someone could use a program that would do such-and-such", and then look for financing to pay the bills while development is done.

Doing it that way takes too long, what with all the interminably long lunches with the MBAs while you try to explain concepts way outside of their mental capacity to see how it might translate into the R.Lauren suits and A.Romero cars that is their only motivation, and even then, 97.3% of the time they still never get it until they see someone else doing it, by which time the moment has passed.

Consequently, it means I pay my own bills in the here-and-now, sans external financing, which means not engaging in pure R&D, but instead, it means offering something that people need *now*, and very often that means hammering out a new tool in order to get the job done Fast, Good and Cheep enough.

In other words, it's like being a carpenter who's also his own blacksmith.

If I can't find a hammer or saw to do it right, I go to the metal shop and create a new one... which means I don't have to live within the confines of what PHP/mySQL or Java/Oracle or VBasic/uSQL etc. can (and cannot) do... I have the ability to make my own tools, which I do, and which that I can make something Good, Fast and Cheep.

Now, I know you know the general rule is "Good, Fast, Cheep... pick any two", such that if someone claims to be able to do something that's good, fast, and cheep, then clients won't be believed you, if for no other reason than because it scares the pants off the competition, such that instead of actually trying to compete on the basis of skill, they spend all their time running around to prospective clients saying, "It's impossible for anything to be 'Good, Fast and Cheep, so he must be conning you or else he's self-delusional'", and the prospective clients, being non-technical, are easily swayed by fear (free market systems only really work when the customer knows what they're buying... when they don't, it becomes a game of snake-oil marketing).

Therefore, what I found myself doing, just to shut up a sulky competition (with the only real talent being to bad-mouth) who would out of one side of the mouth insist on a "moral right of ownership of a patentable discovery" as long as they owned the patent, but would immediately switch their demand out the other side of their mouth to calls for a "level playing field" when someone else had the edge, was to offer them access to the tools I had invented for myself as an immediate need to get something done for a client in the here-and-now.

But they wanted those tools for free, even though it was taking me real time to maintain the things, and even though what they were really calling for is for me to empower them as viable competitors, yet if I tried to sell licenses for them to use those tools, they'd start the negative harping into the ears of the prospective clients again.

The compromise is that I declare the version I am working with as the beta (which is a fact...the versions of the tools that I am using are always the ones that are under constant development as I tweak them according to the requirements) and I offer the previous stable version as a freebie, which the competition can download and start using.

Then, when I'd made enough changes to the beta-version I was working on to wrap it up and mark it as an actual version, I'd post that, and tell current users that they could wither keep using the version they have, or they could pay for the upgrade.

What is curious is that although they would originally demand access to the original tool as a "right", they would be easier about paying for an upgrade, and the reason was two-fold, one positive, and the other negative.

Having worked with the earlier version, they had convinced themselves that it was worth the cost, which was a positive thing, but there were also those who had negative motivations, specifically...

... People who had built systems and applications that were dependent upon the tools, such that they had dug themselves in, but they needed some of the new features, and they got the idea that I was supposed to offer those for free too.

I tried different things, but what had the most magical effect at leveling things out and making people shut up about paying for upgrades was when I made it a rule that if anyone could come up with an idea for a new feature that would get incorporated into the latest version, then they got a free upgrade.

As soon as that policy was implemented, it did something to hush everyone up, such that whose who had contributed no ideas were now willing to pay for upgrades.

What I'm describing here is a situation where I invented some software because I needed it, and then competitors demand that I offer it to them, yet they whine when they have to pay for it, so this might only be applicable to developers who've inadvertently spun off some tools as a result of their own needs, but the essential aspects of it are:

1) Here's your first free version. It's not the one I'm working with, with is a beta, but go ahead and use this one all you want.

1.a) If you want to work with my current beta version then sign this liability release and report any problems you find and no I'm not going to let you work on the source code because that will create version-splitting.

1.a.i) If you want to work on the source code then you can buy ownership of the code, so make an offer, and I'm going to insist on a grandfather clause.

2) If a new stable version comes out and you want an upgrade, and it's not related to bug-fixes nor accommodations to changes to national security policies, then you pay a nominal cost, otherwise keep working with the version you've got.

2.a) (And sometimes that's what they do... there are people working with versions 4.x of stuff I've got up to 7.x, and they're happy enough with it...)

3) If you've contributed an idea for a new feature that got included in a new release, then you get the upgrade for free, otherwise you pay for upgrades.

3.a) Now they have to argue with those others who contributed new features, and not just me.
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It is difficult to convince most people to upgrade. A 10% upgrade rate is excellent. Most of that upgrade rate comes when a customer feels he/she doesn't have the best - they are missing out on something. In order to get them to upgrade, you must make them:

1. Understand what they are missing
2. Give them the incentive to upgrade NOW
3. Reward them with a SIMPLE process
4. Don't punish them for not upgrading (as most won't).

If you build your business model correctly, you will be fine.
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put a software lock and give a message that if you want the software to be running, please purchase it...
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