Ladder · B2C · strength training app
Pitch annual only to trial users who worked out; offer others a cheap first month
Helped make annual the majority plan; no split numbers
Workedpricingpaywall
What they did
Users who completed zero workouts in trial are not shown annual (they lack context for a premium price) and are pointed to monthly. Users who passed the first/second workout see annual right before and right after trial expiry. If they don't convert, they move to monthly intro offers: a first-month discount that steps up to full price in month two. The happy path (converting within two weeks of trial end) is not segmented.
What happened
Contributed to annual becoming the majority plan; intro offers lower the hurdle for non-activated users.
- Stage
- growth
This shipped together with other changes, so the result can't be credited to this alone.
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · How to Use Segmentation to Maximize LTV — Greg Stewart, Ladder“For folks that complete zero workouts in trial, we don't push annual. The context isn't there.”
“For those that have gotten through kind of key activation moments, first workout, second workout, we'll introduce and socialize and lean into annual right before trial expires and right after trial expires.”
Related topics
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from Ladder
All 21 Ladder tactics- Run a big yearly user survey and use AI to read the answers7,500+ responses in a year; led directly to the nutrition feature
- Let users log reps and weights, then suggest next weights and show their progress70-75% of users now log every workout; guest sees it correlate with retention
- Have coaches tell users to log their weights mid-workout, not in a help pageJournal use climbed to 70-75% of workouts; guest calls it 10x more effective than FAQs
- Send ad clicks to a web survey and flag likely payers to TikTok and InstagramWorking really well, host says, even with fuzzy web-to-install tracking
- Target serious runners with training plans that adapt after every runWon the race-training niche; later bought by Strava
- Read your five-star reviews to find the result users want, then target 3 workouts a weekBecame the goal the whole product is built around; no retention numbers given
More from this episode
- Ladder: Make a separate ad and coach-led program for each type of lifterFounder says it brings in users more likely to stick; no numbers
- Ladder: Offer a 7-day free trial without asking for a credit cardUsers who finish one or two workouts convert at a very high rate
- Ladder: Aim every feature at getting new members to 3 workouts in week oneHitting it in week one makes month-one retention very likely
- Ladder: Nudge members to cheer on others so new trial users get lots of cheersCheers received correlated with workout completions and long-term retention
- Ladder: Test annual prices, lead the paywall with annual, and add annual-only featuresAnnual members now outnumber monthly; payback periods very tight
- Ladder: Offer non-converted trial users their first month for $5, then $29.99About half stay into month two at full price; consistent across cohorts
- Ladder: Run 6-week workout series and pitch discounts to past leads before each startsFounder says deals work best at these moments; no numbers