Trial / POC Conversion: Evaluations That End in a Decision

Buyers now default to testing before buying: 70% of enterprise AI buyers prioritize speed of deployment in vendor selection, 57% expect POC ROI within 3 months and 11% expect it immediately, and evaluation is increasingly one-shot, with no second audition for a failed test (a16z Enterprise Survey, 2026). At the same time, most evaluation programs are designed as access grants rather than decision processes, which is why trial pools fill with expired, undecided, silent accounts.

The core rule: an evaluation is a mutual project with an end date and a definition of done, or it is a giveaway. Every element of this skill enforces one of those three properties.

Pick the Motion Before Setting the Metric

Benchmark ranges differ so much by motion that comparing across them is the most common evaluation-metrics mistake (trial-benchmark aggregations, 2025-2026):

(Ranges are self-reported industry aggregations, not audited surveys; treat the between-motion differences as reliable and the exact figures as indicative. Your own motion's two-quarter cohort beats this table.)