Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2025-09-17

Value-Driven Growth: LinkedIn's Billion-Dollar Subscription Strategy — Ora Levit, LinkedIn

LinkedIn VP of Product Ora Levit on running LinkedIn Premium (several billion dollars in annual run rate) with 'value-driven growth': a value team as big as the growth team, 20+ new benefits in two years, freemium gating that never paywalls job applications, 1,000+ A/B tests a year, intent-based personalization of the Premium flow, annual and dual-plan discounts for retention, win-back offers and re-offered trials for 'boomerang' subscribers, and rotating partner perks (Notion, Spotify, Headspace, Duolingo).

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12 tactics

LinkedIn · professional social network

Keep adding paid features, with a team as big as the growth team

20+ new benefits in two years; guest credits it for acquisition and retention growth

“And so within the last two years I want to say, we added over 20 different benefits across everything between helping you get specific insights on how to get hired”

Workedfeature-developmentretention

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2025-09-17

LinkedIn · professional social network

Keep the core free; charge for extras like rotating cover photos and a website link

No numbers; guest says the free base feeds paid growth

“We prioritize our free experiences first. That means that anyone who comes to LinkedIn can build a profile, can create content that will be equally distributed in feed. They can apply to jobs.”

Unknownpaywallpositioning-niche

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2025-09-17

LinkedIn · professional social network

Let paying job seekers mark up to 3 jobs a month as their top choice

Top-choice applicants 46% more likely to hear back from the recruiter

“one of the premium functionalities we have is the ability to mark a job or up to three jobs a month as your top choice”

Workedfeature-developmentpaywall

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2025-09-17

LinkedIn · professional social network

Judge tests on 5-year modeled revenue, not just first-year bookings

No numbers; they turn down revenue that would hurt the funnel long term

“We measure all ramps that we do, all initiatives by analyze bookings, which is one year booking and then we model our one-year revenue”

Unknownexperimentationanalytics-attribution

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2025-09-17

LinkedIn · professional social network

Run 1,000+ A/B tests a year, each product manager owning one area

Guest says testing beats internal debate; no specific numbers

“We essentially test anything that we would launch into market, whether it's a new feature, any layout, a new way to talk about the value that we provide”

Workedexperimentationteam-process

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2025-09-17

LinkedIn · professional social network

Ask people why they want Premium, then show plans and content that fit

Guest says more tailoring always added value; no downside found

“when you come to our fold saying you're interested in Premium, we ask if you're looking for a job or if you're looking to grow your business or to hire or something else. Based on your answer, we then decide what type of content to show you.”

Workedpaywallonboarding

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2025-09-17

LinkedIn · professional social network

Tell subscribers what their benefits are and how to use them

Messaging changes alone improved retention; no numbers given

“if members are more likely to hear back from recruiters, they're more likely to retain”

Workedretentionfeature-development

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2025-09-17

LinkedIn · professional social network

Offer a two-person plan at 20% off, plus a big annual-plan discount

Both offers retain better; no retention figures given

“if you want to take an annual plan with Premium, you will get a significant discount towards that”

Workedpricingretention

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2025-09-17

LinkedIn · professional social network

Show past subscribers their own messages and, sometimes, win-back offers

Returning ex-subscribers grew into a large share of subscribers

“we do use, whether you've been a subscriber before to understand how likely you're to subscribe again, which would indicate what type of experiences you see and what type of messaging you would see”

Workedcancellation-flowpaywall

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2025-09-17

LinkedIn · professional social network

Offer a new free trial to past subscribers after 12 months

Still in testing; no results shared

“Even if you were a paid subscriber, I might offer a free trial again. Usually, we would do it not within the first 12 months.”

Unknownpaywallcancellation-flow

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2025-09-17

LinkedIn · professional social network

Give subscribers free months of partner apps like Notion, Spotify and Headspace

Perk users tend to stay longer; no numbers given

“If you're a Premium member, you can go to your Premium benefits dashboard and there's a perks offering there.”

Workedpartnershipsretention

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2025-09-17

LinkedIn · professional social network

Use AI to draft profile summaries, but sell the help, not the AI

“Here's three options of how we would describe you based on your profile data and where you work and you can edit it.”

Unknownfeature-developmentpositioning-niche

Sub Club by RevenueCat · 2025-09-17

Numbers mentioned

Subject	Metric	Value	Quote
LinkedIn	users Total LinkedIn members, 'over a billion'	1,000M users approximate	“LinkedIn has over a billion members.”
LinkedIn	arr Annual run rate of LinkedIn's subscription businesses	several billion dollars approximate	“Our subscription businesses are several billion dollars of annual run rate.”
LinkedIn	count New Premium benefits added over the last ~2 years ('over 20')	20 benefits approximate	“we added over 20 different benefits”
LinkedIn	team size Team dedicated to Premium value (features, adoption) vs the team driving growth via pricing, discovery, packaging, promotions	similar in size to the growth team approximate	“that team size is similar to the team that drives growth from better pricing, discovery, packaging, promotions, et cetera”
LinkedIn	count Premium members can mark up to three jobs a month as their top choice	3 jobs/month	“the ability to mark a job or up to three jobs a month as your top choice”
LinkedIn	conversion rate Likelihood of hearing back from the recruiter when a job is marked top choice vs not	+46%	“individuals who do choose a job as their top choice are 46% more likely to hear back from the recruiter”
LinkedIn	count A/B tests run by the Premium subscriptions team alone ('over a thousand')	1,000 A/B tests/year approximate	“within our Premium subscriptions, we run over a thousand A/B tests a year”
LinkedIn	price Discount for taking two Premium plans (dual plan for you and a friend/partner/colleague), in test	20%	“we also provide 20% discount for you taking two plans”
LinkedIn	time to milestone Minimum time since a previous free trial before a lapsed member may be offered a free trial again	12 months	“Usually, we would do it not within the first 12 months.”
LinkedIn	count Rotating monthly perk: free access to Notion with AI for six months	6 months	“such as you can now get access to Notion with AI for six months”
LinkedIn	count Perks: three months of Spotify free, four months of Headspace	3 months	“We now have three months with Spotify for free and four months of Headspace.”
LinkedIn	count Refresh cadence of the evergreen perks	6–12 months approximate	“We refresh them every six, 12 months.”
LinkedIn	time to milestone Revenue modeling horizon for experiments whose effect changes over time, such as pricing tests (alongside one-year bookings)	5 years	“we model revenue for experiments that we believe would change over time such as pricing experiments and others on a five-year horizon”