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We’ve Tested 100s of Paywalls. Here’s What Actually Converts. — Transcript

by App Masters · 3,001 words · 447 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Coming up, we've tested hundreds of
0:02paywalls and the apps that make the most
0:05money generally have the same things in
0:09common. So, in this video, we're going
0:11to show you what's working, what's not,
0:14and the paywall strategies you should
0:17steal for your own app. Stay tuned.
0:22>> [music]
0:27>> What is up, AppNation? It is Steve P.
0:29Young, founder of appmasters.com,
0:32the YouTube channel that's going to show
0:33you exactly what's working in the app
0:36space today. For this video, we're going
0:38to talk all about my favorite topic,
0:41money. And we're going to show you the
0:44paywall strategies that are working
0:46today and the fundamentals
0:49of any conversion rate optimization
0:53campaign. So, without further ado, let's
0:55get going. All right, we've got seven
0:58core principles that you need to follow.
1:00And principle number one, and it should
1:02be obvious if you've been in the app
1:04space, is paywall on your onboarding
1:07experience. Yes, most of the people that
1:11buy generally buy before they even use
1:15your app. So, this is the RevenueCat
1:17State of Subscription Report, and the
1:19key takeaway, I know you guys can't see
1:21it that close, so I'll zoom in for you.
1:24Nearly all trial starts happen on day
1:26zero, literally the day they open the
1:29app. Across all categories, users who do
1:32not try immediately rarely try at all.
1:37That's the principle. So, you want to
1:39show your paywall during the onboarding
1:42process, and you want to maximize your
1:45first open and paywall view. You want
1:48those to be as close to 100% as you can
1:50possibly be.
1:52Number two, speaking on that note of
1:55those who don't try immediately rarely
1:57try at all, you might want to test a
1:59hard paywall. Let me share with you two
2:02instances where a hard paywall is
2:04definitely beneficial. Number one, paid
2:07traffic. You're paying for this traffic,
2:09you might as well force them to either
2:11pay or get out. Number two, your app is
2:14getting downloads but no sales. So, you
2:16just launched an app and you're like,
2:18"Wow, my organics are hitting, my ASO is
2:21hitting, I'm getting some downloads, but
2:23nobody's buying." Right? You might want
2:26to test a hard paywall. It usually tests
2:29product market fit right away, cuz users
2:31either have to try, start a free trial,
2:33or leave the app entirely. And lastly,
2:37app launch. Yeah, I would be aggressive,
2:40especially if I'm in the in the health
2:41and fitness space, where hard paywalls
2:44generally exist across multiple big
2:46apps, I would test right on app launch,
2:49because you really want to test product
2:52market fit, right? Rather than building
2:55upon multiple, multiple features, just
2:58be aggressive and have a hard paywall
3:00during your app launch.
3:02All right, I'm going to give you some
3:03real data. Here's one of the apps that
3:05we actually had in our portfolio, but
3:08we're no longer a part of this
3:09particular partnership.
3:11Anyhow, we bought the app, it had soft
3:13paywall, allowed you to X out of the
3:15paywall. We added no new features, by
3:17the way, and all we did was have an
3:19onboarding experience and increase the
3:21price, put a hard paywall. Now, at the
3:23time, I was against a hard paywall, but
3:25that's how we coded it, so I said,
3:27"Let's launch it." We launched it, went
3:29from 1 to 2,000, immediately to 8 to
3:3210,000 right away.
3:35And when we put the X, we lost half the
3:37revenues. So, our trial-to-paid did not
3:41change at all, that percentage remained
3:42the same, but our start trial percentage
3:45went down in half. So, we've got half
3:48the revenues, right? And you can see
3:49this picture right away. So, I'm a firm
3:51believer in a hard paywall in certain
3:53categories definitely work better with a
3:55hard paywall. But, a hard paywall can
3:58lead to some one-star reviews,
4:01especially if you bought the app like we
4:02did, because users were so accustomed to
4:05getting the app for free that they're
4:06like, "Why do I have to now pay? I can't
4:09use the app for free." So, we did get
4:10some one-star reviews, and this is why I
4:12say, maybe only show this hard paywall
4:16on paid traffic. So, here's a normal
4:19onboarding sequence. You can see, this
4:21is Rest of Me. Welcome to Rest of Me.
4:23You go on and on, and then eventually
4:25you hit the paywall, right? So, if you
4:28notice on the screen where did you hear
4:29about us, if users select search on App
4:32Store, go ahead and show them the ads.
4:34But, if users selected Instagram or
4:37Facebook, maybe remove the ads,
4:40right? And it worked. This is a tweet
4:43that I screenshotted. This is wild.
4:45Superwall's new app stack integration
4:48has let us run a test showing a hard
4:50paywall to users that come from meta
4:51ads, while keeping our app premium for
4:54organic downloads.
4:55And you can see the difference between a
4:57hard paywall and a soft paywall, the
4:59start trial rate. A lot better with a
5:02hard paywall. Number three, explain the
5:04free trial, and I'll show you exactly
5:06what I mean by that. Here we go. This
5:09Blinkist paywall
5:10worked very, very well
5:13back in 2021.
5:15How solving our biggest customer
5:17complaint at Blinkist led to a 23%
5:19increase in conversions. Showing users
5:21how your free trial worked help
5:24not only increase conversions, but
5:26decrease customers wanting a refund. Be
5:29like, "Oh, I forgot to cancel my trial."
5:31Boom. Just tell them. Rest of Me then
5:33came up with this variation that I love.
5:35So, you got a video, organize your
5:37video. We offer 7 days for free. You'll
5:39get a notification 2 days before the
5:41trial ends, and then boom, ask for the
5:43notification, then the paywall, right?
5:47It worked a lot better.
5:49Here's Cal AI's version of it. You still
5:51have the video. We want you to try Cal
5:53AI for free.
5:54Try. We'll send you a reminder, and
5:57boom, they still use the timeline on
5:59their paywall like Blinkist first did,
6:01but this one worked too.
6:03Here's another variation.
6:06We want you to try out Masters free.
6:08This for a client. I'm just I don't want
6:10to reveal the client, so I'm kind of
6:11using app masters as dummy content. So,
6:14here, this is just a screenshot where
6:17with some of the features. Want to try
6:19free. Here's some social proof. So,
6:21rather than building in the reminders,
6:23they have a bunch of social proof in
6:25here. Continue, and then they had the
6:27timeline paywall at the very end as
6:29well. And that worked out really well.
6:31And if you want the data, here's one of
6:33our apps where when we had this
6:35three-screen process, we saw a 56%
6:39increase in trial activations. So, I
6:42showed you three different variations
6:43right here
6:45that you can test.
6:47Find one that works for you. Now, I
6:48wanted to show this one off.
6:50It's app masters one because we tried
6:53for that same very app, we tried this
6:55resume looking one. It did not work as
6:58well. And so, my hypothesis now is these
7:02do work. You just have to figure out
7:04what to say before each one. Depending
7:07on your app, you're going to have to
7:08show different variations of the same
7:10flavor. Number three, sell the outcome.
7:14Sell the benefits. Don't sell the
7:16features. So, here's what I mean. Here's
7:19Muscle Booster. You can see now and the
7:22goal. So, before and afters do really
7:24well on this paywall, and then it is a
7:26long paywall, so you can keep scrolling.
7:29Here's a utility app that allows you to
7:31clean up storage, and you can see the
7:34before and after. Here's how much you've
7:36used, and here's what we can save,
7:38right?
7:39Using the app. And then lastly, here's a
7:42fax. So, I really wanted to pick out
7:44three different categories and not just
7:46show you the health and fitness. So,
7:48here's another one where you can receive
7:51faxes, unlimited faxes to 90 plus
7:54countries, no ads, fax delivery
7:57tracking, all that. So, you're really
7:59selling the outcome and what you can get
8:01from from purchasing the app. Number
8:04four, add more context. And here's
8:07exactly what I mean. Now, most of the
8:10time people are not going to read what's
8:12in your app. They don't like reading,
8:15but they will read when they have to pay
8:19you. So, here's what I mean.
8:22A versus B, the only difference, same
8:24plans, a longer paywall. You Some people
8:28just want to scroll. They want to know
8:29exactly what they're getting from your
8:32app. So, definitely have your plans at
8:35the very top on that screen, but if they
8:38start scrolling, show some benefits,
8:40show some testimonials, show all the
8:43different features that are in the free
8:45and paid plan, and then have the call to
8:47action at the very bottom. Here's
8:49another example.
8:51These are four screens, but you just
8:53have to scroll, and so I wanted to
8:55separate it a little bit so that you
8:56guys can see clearly what each part of
9:00the screen says. Again, paywall above
9:02the fold, some social proof, benefits,
9:06pricing plan again, and then the call to
9:09action go unlimited is floating on top
9:12of while you're scrolling. Another one
9:14right here, this is an old case study,
9:16but I love it cuz he went from $200 with
9:19A to $1,000 with B with just 15, that's
9:231 5 downloads a day. 15 downloads a day.
9:26So, if you're getting some traction,
9:28really start optimizing the paywall. And
9:31when I mean traction, getting some
9:32downloads.
9:34Here's the last one that I want to share
9:35with you. This is a 50% increase in
9:38sales just by adding more context. So,
9:41you can see even for an app like this
9:42that's highly visual where you can
9:44create an emoji of yourself, you can see
9:47that adding more context to what users
9:50are actually get when they pay you
9:52increase sales. Number five, make the
9:55value obvious. And I'll tell you exactly
9:58what I mean. Here it is.
10:00So, sometimes what we've seen is video
10:02on paywalls work a little bit better.
10:04So, you can see this is an a friend of
10:06mine, Momingo, John. He shared this in a
10:09live stream where he said, "Look, I
10:11started with graphics, Steve, and I was
10:13getting 2.5 conversion. Then I put a
10:15real person, I got 4.7. Then I added
10:18video to show off all the features of my
10:21app, and the conversions went up to 6.8
10:25with a soft paywall, by the way, right?
10:27There's an X right here." So, really
10:28great job by John.
10:31Here's another one case study that we
10:33had with another client. So, he copied
10:35the Cal AI,
10:36and he just launched his A, and I was
10:38like,
10:39"Wait, what?" That was his paywall. He
10:41had the video, and this was his paywall,
10:44A. I was like, "But you know, if you hit
10:46continue, and he never did, you actually
10:49have two other screens after this." And
10:52he's like, "Oh, I didn't know that." So,
10:53we tested this for his particular app.
10:55We actually saw that the one with the
10:57video, the simple one, won. So, really
11:00make it obvious what you're getting from
11:03the app, from buying.
11:05Here's some few other ones that I really
11:06like.
11:08This is Norton. So, you can see it's
11:10more of a features table type of thing
11:12that where you get with standard plus
11:13and ultimate.
11:14Here's another example that I showed you
11:16guys from a cleaner app. Again, it's
11:17making it obvious you you're using up
11:1947%. Here's how much you can save if you
11:22buy premium. And then lastly, Microsoft
11:25OneDrive. You can see the different
11:28storage sizes you get with each
11:30different plan. So, make it super
11:32obvious what you're getting. And lastly,
11:34make sure this call to action
11:37this call to action is above the fold.
11:39All right.
11:40And spoiler alert, I'm going to show you
11:42guys what call to action works the best.
11:45So, stay tuned for that.
11:47Number six, test the offer. Seems
11:50obvious, but certain category of apps do
11:52better with weekly and certain ones do
11:55better with yearly.
11:56Monthly generally is not as good as
11:59you'd imagine. So, here's one. A
12:02we actually tested this for a client of
12:04ours. These are their exact plans, but
12:06this is a Figma. Anyways, you can see A
12:09had the yearly, just $10. The month was
12:12$1.99. Nobody was buying the $1.99 per
12:15month. So, they said, "Let's clean up
12:17the paywall and let's just show the
12:18$0.99 per year." Once we did that, our
12:21sales tanked. So, have some context,
12:25right? Have couple of different options
12:27cuz with this with A, you can see the
12:29true value and the $10 one looks a lot
12:33cheaper when I see $1.99 right next to
12:35it. Go, sign up for the $10.
12:39B, since $10 was the only option, I was
12:41like, "That seems kind of expensive."
12:43Bye, right? So, so test the offers, what
12:48you're showing. I generally like to have
12:49two or three. Three generally has the
12:52best conversion rates, but two or three
12:54is just fine. Here's another case study
12:56for one of our apps. We launched with A,
12:59again, we were getting downloads, but
13:01and we were getting start trials, just
13:04people were not converting.
13:06So, what we did was move the trial from
13:09the yearly. The prices are the same,
13:11it's $50 a year or $6.99 a week. We
13:15moved the trial from a 7-day yearly to a
13:183-day weekly and then sales 3x with
13:22similar amounts of downloads. So, that's
13:24what What mean by testing your offers?
13:27Having different options, but also
13:29offering different packages and putting
13:32the free trial. Now, you don't always
13:34need the free trial,
13:36but for most apps, apps convert better
13:39with the free trial. All right? And
13:42lastly, test your call to action. So,
13:45let me show you some case studies. Here
13:47it is. Here's the first one. Now, this
13:49is a lifetime plan, so it's a one-time
13:51in-app purchase.
13:52Get all features unlock.
13:55So, you want to guess which one won? Go
13:57ahead. Put it in the comments below.
13:59Hit pause. Leave a comment below.
14:02I'll do something special for somebody.
14:04All right?
14:06It was
14:07number four.
14:08Unlock lifetime insights. You see that
14:11one had the highest trial activations.
14:14People like unlocking stuff cuz it feels
14:17like ooh, right? Versus just get all
14:20features. Here, take it. And usually
14:22everything works pretty well, too.
14:24Unlock lifetime insights. It's a
14:26lifetime plan. They know that they just
14:28have to pay once and they get it
14:28forever. So, it sort of makes it the
14:31price look a little bit cheaper than
14:32anything else.
14:35Also, continue
14:37versus subscribe worked a lot better for
14:40our clients. So, I love continue. It
14:42generally does pretty well on iOS, but
14:45start free trial works better on
14:48Android. So, continue for iOS, start
14:51free trial on Android. And continue
14:53worked better than start free trial on
14:55iOS. Okay? And a bonus tip for those
14:57who've made it this far in the video.
15:00All right? I'm saving one of my best for
15:02last. The more paywall views you can
15:06get, the more money you are going to
15:09make. It is roughly around eight paywall
15:12views that you start to see diminishing
15:14returns. All right? So, keep showing
15:17your paywall. Here's what I mean.
15:20Here's one of the apps that we worked
15:22with. It's a fitness app. These are the
15:23Figma files. They have onboarding
15:25questions like most fitness apps. Then
15:27they ask you to sign up. Then they ask
15:29you to pay. Now, notice it's a hard sign
15:32up, meaning you can't skip this, and
15:34it's a hard paywall, no, meaning you
15:35can't skip that either. All we did was
15:38flip the two. We showed the paywall
15:41before the sign up. And guess what
15:42happened? We saw the paywall views go up
15:45from 40 to 94% because 60% of the people
15:50were dropping off right here on the sign
15:53up screen. Right? So, the paywall views
15:55went up from 40 to 94%, which mean more
15:58paywall views equal, guess what? More
16:01money. 190% increase in trial
16:03activation, and the best part is
16:07a 52%
16:09increase in sales.
16:12That's where the money's at. And lastly,
16:14I know what you developers are thinking.
16:17They're like, "Steve, but how will I
16:19know this user if they pay me?" Look at
16:22what Calm does. So, after I start my
16:25free trial, I cannot do anything else
16:28but sign in.
16:30So, if Calm can do it, I know you smart
16:34developers can do it as well. Get the
16:36users to at least start a trial and then
16:39ask them to sign up.
16:42All right, if you made it this far and
16:43you want to work with us, you're in the
16:45right spot. Hit subscribe. Hit that like
16:47button. We are the number one app
16:49business podcast. I've been doing this
16:51since 2013,
16:52interviewing some of the greats
16:54in the app business.
16:56And we also helped a lot of apps during
17:00this
17:01I don't even want to say decade-long
17:03career in the app space. So, if you want
17:06to work with us like some of our past
17:08clients, Spot Hero, Red Bull,
17:11McAfee, just go check out
17:13appmasters.com,
17:14[music] appmasters.com.
17:16And if you're an indie developer and
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17:25That's two places [music] how you can
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17:29At masters.com, if you want us to do the
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17:42All right, until next time.
17:44I'll see you on the next video.
17:50>> [bell]

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