App Masters · 2026-09-15

Paywall Strategy: How 2 Paywalls Tripled Trial Starts

Steve P. Young walks through a paywall test on an App Masters teammate's (Aman's) app: a no-trial soft paywall right after language selection, three trial-explainer screens, then a second paywall with a 3-day trial on the weekly plan plus social proof. Start rate went from ~3% (May) to 4.4% (June) and 7.7% (July), monthly sales from ~$1K to ~$3K, with fewer downloads. Closes with Superwall's '8 paywall views before diminishing returns' rule.

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2 tactics

A subscription app · B2C · App Masters team app

Show two paywalls in onboarding: no trial first, a 3-day trial later

Start rate 3% -> 7.7%, sales ~$1K -> ~$3K/month; not a clean test

Onboarding order: choose language -> paywall 1 -> onboarding screens -> three trial-explainer screens ('try for free', 'we'll send you a reminder', 'here's how your free trial works') -> paywall 2. Paywall 1: soft paywall, close X delayed 3 seconds, weekly (slightly cheaper) + yearly plans, no trial. Paywall 2: 3-day free trial on the weekly plan, yearly at the same price as paywall 1, social proof at the bottom. Previously there was only one paywall, which carried the trial.

Workedpaywallonboarding

App Masters · 2026-09-15

Practitioner pattern · Steve P. Young (App Masters)

Before the trial paywall, add three screens explaining the trial and reminder

Host says they perform pretty well; no numbers

Three screens before the trial paywall: 'we want you to try for free', 'we'll send you a reminder', 'here's how your free trial works'.

Workedonboardingpaywall

App Masters · 2026-09-15

Numbers mentioned

Who	Metric	Value	Context	When
App Masters teammate Aman's subscription app	conversion rate	3%/month approximate	Start rate (trial + non-trial purchase starts / traffic), May 2026, single trial paywall	4:29
App Masters teammate Aman's subscription app	conversion rate	4.4%/month	Start rate (trial + non-trial), June 2026, first full month of two paywalls	4:34
App Masters teammate Aman's subscription app	conversion rate	7.7%/month	Start rate (trial + non-trial), July 2026	4:34
App Masters teammate Aman's subscription app	conversion rate	held steady / hasn't changed much approximate	Trial -> paid rate after adding the second paywall	5:09
App Masters teammate Aman's subscription app	revenue	USD 1,000/month approximate	Sales in May 2026 (before/at start of two-paywall test)	6:47
App Masters teammate Aman's subscription app	revenue	USD 3,000/month approximate	Sales in July 2026 ('almost 3,000'), with fewer downloads than April/May	6:47
App Masters teammate Aman's subscription app	downloads	July lower than April and May approximate	Downloads did not rise; revenue growth came from conversion	7:06
benchmarkPaywall views per user before diminishing returns (Jake from Superwall)	count	8 paywall viewsper user approximate	Number of paywall views to hit before returns diminish	8:02
App Masters teammate Aman's subscription app	count	3 seconds	Delay before the close X appears on the first (soft) paywall	2:46