Credit Card Charging for Free Trial

"I want to offer a free trial as a strategy to entice new subscribers to my e-mail cleaning service. Should I get their credit card information first and delay processing until the end of the trial period? Or should I defer any attempt to get their credit card information until after the trial period ends?" -- Matt Biskup

Sleazy operators sometimes get credit card information prior to a free trial for the purpose of taking advantage of people's forgetfulness -- making a quick dollar when they forget to cancel. But I think this approach is flawed in two ways:

1. Many more people are likely to try your free service if you don't have any barriers, such as trusting you with their credit card number. Your strategy should be to make people so dependent upon your service that they will want to pay for it when the free trial period expires. The more who become dependent, the better your business.
2. Great businesses focus on serving their customers, not taking advantage of them. Treating your customers the way you'd like to be treated is always good business and helps you build a service with thousands of delighted customers who will tell others.

The only reason I see to ask for credit card information up front is to qualify your prospects by charging a very nominal set-up fee. This drastically reduces the number of free trial customers, but may be necessary to avoid incurring expenses on account of those who aren't serious anyway. You could start by offering to waive your "normal" $5 set-up fee for the next 30 or 60 days. That way you can always re-institute it if you find that your completely free trials approach isn't working.