Microsoft Marketplace Partner Digest
What's new in Marketplace Convert more buyers into customers Microsoft recently expanded Marketplace listing capabilities with enhancements to free trials and the introduction of an option to request private offers, giving partners more ways to engage buyers at different stages of the purchasing journey. Customers can now discover and evaluate solutions through expanded trial experiences and transition more easily into paid subscription discussions by requesting custom pricing and terms directly from your Marketplace listings. ✨ Help customers evaluate your solution with free trials What's new On July 23 we announced the release of Marketplace enhanced trial capabilities. Customers can try solutions with confidence with the free trials in Microsoft Marketplace. Trials are available for multiple offer types, including SaaS, Azure virtual machines, Dynamics 365, and Power BI offers. New capabilities include: Custom meter trials: Partners can configure trials for SaaS solutions with metered pricing. Flexible trial durations: Partners can now configure SaaS trial durations from 1 to 180 days. Partner analytics: Partners can access SaaS trial analytics - including free trials initiated, active free trials, free trials converted, free trials not converted, and average trial duration - all within Partner Center Insights workspace. Customer discovery and management: Customers can better discover and manage trials. Upgrade to paid subscription during trial: Customers can upgrade to paid subscription at public pricing any time during a SaaS trial. Why it matters With enhanced trial capabilities in Microsoft Marketplace, partners can run self-service trials that make it easier for customers to try before they buy — whether for metered, per-user, or flat-rate pricing offers. Marketplace gives partners one place to manage trials end to end — from provisioning and mid-trial changes to insights — while improving offer discoverability through improved search, filters, and dedicated trial badges. Recommended action Review your Marketplace offers and trial strategy. For eligible SaaS offers, evaluate whether free trials can help you engage with more qualified buyers, faster. 📖 Learn more about free trials for SaaS ⚡ Customers can now request a private offer on Marketplace What’s new As of July 20, you can add a private offer request option directly on your Marketplace product pages. Customer requests are captured as Marketplace leads in referrals workspace and connected customer relationship management (CRM) integrations you’ve setup. This setting is disabled by default. You can easily activate it for applicable public offers. Why it matters More and more customers are seeking customized contracts and subscription pricing and terms tailored to their individual needs. This simple call to action reduces friction and helps you start the conversation with prospective buyers. Recommended action In the Marketplace offers workspace of Partner Center, update each of your offers for which you provide customers private offers. Enable the Request Private Offer setting and republish the offer. Events Recent events Multiparty private offers expand channel growth opportunities in Australia, Japan and South Africa Multiparty private offers continue to help software companies accelerate channel-led sales through Microsoft Marketplace. This past month, we hosted two region-focused Marketplace office hours sessions designed to help partners better understand local market opportunities, engage distributors and resellers, and scale Marketplace transactions through channel ecosystems in Australia and Japan. Whether you're looking to expand an existing Marketplace motion or explore new geographic opportunities, these sessions will provide practical guidance and market-specific insights to help you grow. See a list of currently supported countries/regions. Check out the recorded sessions: • Channel growth in Australia (English) • Channel growth in Japan (Japanese) Helping developers build, monetize, and scale AI solutions with Marketplace Discover how Microsoft Marketplace helps software companies access AI models and developer tools, accelerate application development, and reach customers through Microsoft's global commercial ecosystem. Learn how to monetize applications and agents without building and maintaining your own commerce and distribution infrastructure. Watch the recording Upcoming events Build AI-powered solutions, monetize through Microsoft Marketplace, and scale revenue through Microsoft expertise, skilling, and investments. Frontier Accelerate for Marketplace is an upcoming unified offering for software development companies to bring AI-powered solutions to market, drive customer acquisition and revenue growth, and scale through Microsoft Marketplace with technical guidance, skilling, and investments aligned to every stage of growth. 📆 Join us on August 26th before general availability to learn about the new offering, benefit alignment, migration guidance, and enrollment requirements. Next steps Turn insights into FY27 success — starting today. Ready to carry the momentum forward from MCAPS Start for Partners? Get everything you need to refine and execute your FY27 strategy in the Partner Activation Zone, including session recordings, ready-to-use playbooks, and tools to start building pipeline. Leverage your Marketplace Rewards benefits Discover use cases and how to leverage your Azure sponsorship. With Marketplace Rewards Azure sponsorships, eligible software development companies can increase sales through Microsoft Marketplace by using the sponsorships for customer deployments tied to Marketplace deals—and to offset infrastructure costs from eligible free trial offers. 📍Review the Marketplace Rewards Azure sponsorship policy guide for the latest
