The Superwall Podcast · 2025-12-16
Vahe Baghdasaryan - Our No-Code Apps Made $50M Using THIS Paywall
Vahe Baghdasaryan runs Tangent, a paywall agency, and walks through Superwall paywalls he built for clients. He gives benchmarks (trial start rate 15%+, trial-to-paid 30%+, install-to-paid 4-10%+) and an entertainment app that went from 1.1% to ~4% install-to-paid in five months with no paid UA. Tactics: multi-step paywalls that repeat 'free' many times (Claim, 34% trial start), dropping the trial at Claim, a spin-wheel discount at Cal AI, trial toggles at Rizz and Cal AI, prices hidden behind a button at Quitter, annual-only transaction-abandonment discounts, and adding missing placements.
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Numbers mentioned
| Subject | Metric | Value | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|
| benchmarkGood trial start rate for free-trial apps | conversion rate install/paywall -> trial start; above 15% is good, below means a lot of work to do | 15% approximate | “if we talk about trial start rate, I think everything above 15% is good.” |
| benchmarkGood trial-to-paid rate | conversion rate trial -> paid; above 30% is good | 30% approximate | “Trial-to-paid conversion rate, everything above like a 30% is good.” |
| aggregateHealthy apps with 8-11% trial start rate seen by Tangent | conversion rate trial start rate; in ~90% of such cases it can easily reach 15% | 8–11% estimate | “That 8-11% easy, in like 90% cases, if you have 8-11%, it can easily become like a 15%.” |
| benchmarkGood install-to-paid rate for non-trial apps with mostly US users | conversion rate install -> paid; 10%+ is really good, 4-10% is middling | 10% approximate | “if you have like a 10% and above install to paid rate, that's really good.” |
| benchmarkMinimum acceptable install-to-paid rate | conversion rate install -> paid; below 4% means a problem | 4% approximate | “If you have anything less than 4%, that's not good.” |
| aggregateApps helped by Tangent, per host | revenue Revenue increase in ~3 months from paywall work alone, no new users | +USD 100K approximate | “You've seen a lot of apps increase revenue 100k in three months without getting any new users” |
| Tangent client entertainment app with ~40-50K organic installs/month | downloads Stable organic installs; no paid UA | 40K–50K installs/month approximate | “They're adding like couple probably like a 40-50,000 installs per month. That's like organically.” |
| Tangent client entertainment app with ~40-50K organic installs/month | conversion rate install -> paid, before Tangent | 1.1% | “They had like a 1.1% install to paid rate. We got it up to 4% in September.” |
| Tangent client entertainment app with ~40-50K organic installs/month | conversion rate install -> paid after 5 months of placements + experiments, no paid UA | 4% approximate | “So basically, from April to September, we got it from 1.1% to close to 4%.” |
| Claim | price Annual plan labeled 'Try it free', 3-day trial, shown as ~$1/week | USD 59.99/year | “we show you actually how you're billed, like, "$59.99 per year," and, "Oh, it's only $1 per week,"” |
| aggregateMulti-step trial paywall vs single-screen 'start free trial' paywall, across Tangent clients | conversion rate Uplift in conversion; 40% in many cases | +20–40% approximate | “Easy from 20 to even 40% uplift. Like I see many cases happen like 40%, but the average is going to go between 20 to 40% uplift.” |
| Claim | conversion rate trial start rate with the multi-step trial paywall | 34% | “We had like a 34% trial start rate.” |
| Claim | conversion rate trial -> paid, before removing the trial | 50–55% approximate | “Yeah, 50-55%.” |
| Cal AI | conversion rate Spin-wheel discount presentation vs showing the discount directly (A/B test); exact figure withheld | double-digit increase approximate | “Yeah, I can't mention the exact percentage, but we got like a double-digit increase.” |
| Rizz | price Default: with 7-day free trial | USD 9.99/week | “"7-day free trial, $9.99 per week."” |
| Rizz | price 'Skip free trial' toggled: pay now, no trial | USD 6.99/week | “turn off the free trial, says, "Skip free trial," and that price become "$6.99 per week."” |
| Quitter | price Annual plan shown as monthly equivalent (~$40/year) | USD 3.33/month | “annual is only three uh $3.33 per month, monthly is only like $12.99 per month.” |
| Quitter | price Monthly plan | USD 12.99/month | “annual is only three uh $3.33 per month, monthly is only like $12.99 per month.” |
| Quitter | price Annual price ($3.33 x 12 = $39.96), host's calculation | USD 40/year approximate | “When you multiply that by 12, it's like $39.96 a year.” |
| aggregateUsers choosing the no-trial (deeper discount) option on transaction-abandonment paywalls with a trial toggle | share share of abandonment-paywall buyers who skip the trial for 90% off instead of 80% off with trial | 10% approximate | “From my experience, like around 10% of users, they will choose to buy without a trial, and they would get some direct purchases there.” |
| aggregateApps that name the trial plan 'free' instead of annual/monthly | drop off Possible increase in transaction abandonment | +10% estimate | “You might get some like a 10% more transaction abandonment” |