# Customers and trials

> Start a MailConnect trial for a new customer, how long it can run, who extends and converts it, cancelling a subscription, and marking a customer as a demo.

Source: https://getmailconnect.com/partner/docs/customers-and-trials/

## Starting a trial

Your Owners, and employees who manage all your customers, can start trials. On
**Customers**, select **Start trial** (or **New** → **Start trial** in the top
bar):

1. Enter the customer's Microsoft 365 tenant ID, or one of its domains (`contoso.com`), and select **Lookup 🔎**. The Admin Center finds the tenant and its name.
2. **Customer name**: filled in with the name Microsoft gives; change it if you want.
3. **Trial length**: 21 days, or longer, up to your limit.
4. Select **Start trial**.

The new customer is linked to Fabrikam, and you land on its pages. Its trial is
enforced: MailConnect stops working at the end date unless the trial is extended
or converted. A tenant that already has a MailConnect subscription can't get a
trial.

![The Start a trial dialog after Lookup: the tenant found, Customer name, and the Trial length slider with the end date](https://getmailconnect.com/partner/docs/customers-and-trials/partner-start-trial.png)

### How long a trial can run

At least 21 days. Pinksky sets your longest trial: 21 days unless agreed
otherwise. With a longer limit, a slider picks the length, and the dialog shows
the end date. Ask Pinksky if you need longer trials.

### Trials customers start themselves

A customer can also start a 21-day trial from Outlook, the first time someone
there opens MailConnect. That trial has no partner: ask Pinksky to link the
customer to Fabrikam.

## Extending and converting

Extending a trial, turning it into a paid subscription, and changing a customer's
plan or seats all go through Pinksky. A customer's **Overview** tab says so:
*To extend a trial or change the plan, contact Pinksky.* A trial shows in
**Needs attention** from two weeks before it ends, and once it has ended.

When a trial ends, nothing is deleted: the customer's archived emails, setup and
history are kept. See [Your trial](https://getmailconnect.com/docs/getting-started/trial.md), which you can
share with customers.

## Cancelling a subscription

If a paying customer's subscription shows a **Renews** date, your Owners and
Managers can cancel it on its **Overview** tab with **Cancel subscription…**, as
the customer's own Admins can. It keeps working to the end of the period already
paid for, and can be taken back until then. A cancelled subscription shows in
Needs attention until it ends.

## Demo customers

A customer you use for demos can be marked as one: on its **Overview** tab,
switch on **Demo tenant** in the 🤝 strip under **Details**. Only your Owners can
switch it, and everyone at Fabrikam sees it. The customer doesn't.

A demo customer keeps its pages, and a **Demo** pill wherever it's listed. It's
left out of your totals, the headline numbers and Needs attention, apart from a
trial that's ending. On **Usage**, **Include demo tenants** brings demo customers
back in. Your own subscription can't be a demo.