We’ve done the same thing with our Chrome extension. Someone can access our 2 week free trial without so much as entering an email address. We do this partly so it can be easily tried out by young students, partly because it makes things nicer for all users, and partly because it reduces customer support and refund requests.
The downside is that we can’t put folks in an e-mail drip campaign, which would help us educate our users and increase our conversion rate. But we hate spam, so we don’t view not-spamming as much of a downside.
I'm pretty sure there was one product i abandoned in spite of it being somewhat useful - all because they started to send me tips and tricks emails after i signed up.
The downside is that we can’t put folks in an e-mail drip campaign, which would help us educate our users and increase our conversion rate. But we hate spam, so we don’t view not-spamming as much of a downside.