Intro offer

A discounted first period for new subscribers, in three shapes: free trial, pay-as-you-go (discounted price per period), or pay-up-front (one discounted payment covering several months). Only the free-trial shape is $0. The paid shapes contribute real revenue at the intro price, which MRR math must use instead of the standard price.

Each customer is eligible for one introductory offer per subscription group, which is what makes an intro offer different from a promotional offer aimed at existing or lapsed subscribers.

On the server side you find out which shape applies by decoding the transaction inside the notification and reading its offer fields: that is how you distinguish a free-trial start from a discounted paid start, since both arrive as the same SUBSCRIBED notification type.

The revenue consequence: a pay-up-front intro is real money on day one, and a subscriber on a pay-as-you-go intro contributes the intro price to MRR, not the list price, until the intro period ends. Using list price for either overstates MRR right up until the moment those cohorts renew.

See: Intro offers in the funnel →