Clear 30 · B2C · app to quit or cut down weed
Tell users 'no payment due now' and remind them 2 days before the trial ends
Most users choose the yearly plan with the 3-day trial; no conversion numbers
What they did
What happened
In their words
Asher Herbstman & Thatcher Clough - I Built a $30k/mo App That Helps You Quit Smoking
Asher HirschmanYeah.
Thatcher Clough… a year, 40, you know, 50, and then using that as an anchor price. So I'll show you the paywall first cuz it makes more sense with the two. This was our first iteration of a paywall. This was created somewhat from inspiration from Cal AI in terms of what they do. On the first slide, we had showing the features, something that, you know, we've talked about isn't necessarily super good at converting, and we'll show you that in a second, but we kind of highlighted in a carousel the different features of our app with different images, and, you know, putting some social proof in it saying, "Oh, this has 1,000-plus members," really showing them, oh, accountability texts, all that, peer support. In terms of the rest of the paywall underneath there, we have like, no payment due now. We don't want to come off as scummy as like saying, "Hey, yeah, actually it's free," like, you know, that's not really what it is. We show the price clearly at the bottom so that they know what they're getting into. When they click on this button, we kind of set them up to say, "Hey, we're going to remind you before your trial ends. This is a free trial, you're not getting the whole thing for free, there's no payment due now." We also change the text on the bottom just for switching things up a little bit.
Asher HirschmanThat is like a um trial like a the Blinkist thing. It was so successful with their app, so many apps have like switched to this Blinkist, you know, you'll start, you'll be reminded, and then billing starts, just very clearly, and this is just another aspect of building up trust with your users.
Asher HirschmanYeah.
Thatcher CloughAnd that is what we see large majority of our users gravitating towards is the yearly option. So this is the old paywall. One thing that I will also shout Superwall for is that actual two-day notification, like I didn't have to set up, oh, do we have to do this for a notification, it's like I didn't have to do any of that, I just like turned on, oh, notification, and it does it here and it says, "Oh, 2 days your trial's ending, you know, see what you know what's next for your break," and stuff like that. Also a separate thing that we're focused on now is like, okay, what do we happen what happens when the user clicks on that notification, like what do we show them, how do we keep them engaged?
Asher HirschmanWhat if we're at like 18%?
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New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from this episode
- Grow with paid Meta and TikTok ads once the app converts wellBecame the growth engine; founders say they 'cracked paid ads' and are scaling
- Try organic posts, influencers, Reddit and SEO to get first usersUseful for early feedback, but hard to convert; the first $1K was the hardest
- Film your own funny ads that call out a very specific momentSpecific callouts grab attention; calm ads with an older speaker convert best
- Check which ages and quit reasons pay most, then aim ads at them26-30 year olds convert at almost double the 18-20 rate
- Ask users where they found the app, and also run proper ad trackingShows cost per trial by platform to rebalance spend daily; founders call it very helpful
- Track users from the first screen, not only after they sign inRevealed drop-offs; intro screen passes 85-90%
- Make onboarding a conversation: use their name, echo goals, show proof and quick winsPart of the 2-month push that took revenue from $10K to $30K a month
- Keep the slow 'what do you want to achieve?' questions in onboardingUsers spend 20-30 seconds on them with almost no drop-off
- Give users a free personal report on their habits before asking them to payFounders call it a big point of value; no numbers
- Ask new users which features they'd use, to show them off and learn
- Say up front the app costs money, next to what the habit costs themOnboarding conversion up about 3%; fewer 'it's paid' complaints
- Ask for a star rating during onboarding, right before showing reviewsReviews went from ~50 to almost 1,000 and keep climbing
- Sign users up by phone number and text them funny, personal messagesNo results given; founders cite ~95% of texts read within 5 minutes
- Open the paywall with a day-by-day plan for the first 7 days, not featuresPaywall conversion rose from ~20% to 30% with only this change
- Test $30, $40 and $50 yearly pricesSettled on $30/year; no test numbers shared
- Run ads inviting people to take a quiz about their weed habitDidn't work; tried half-heartedly while onboarding was weaker
- Study which ads Meta and TikTok spend most on, and reuse their hooksAd with a woman beat one with a man; camera-shot look beat polished
- Offer the app to universities and addiction services, and add paid extras
Tags: trial-reminder, transparent-trial, yearly-plan, free-trial