Clear 30 · B2C · app to quit or cut down weed
Give users a free personal report on their habits before asking them to pay
Founders call it a big point of value; no 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 Hirschman… it. It's a great, super salient way to reach your customers through that channel. I would definitely prioritize if you're going to do it, don't be spammy. One thing we spend a lot of time in on is like really hilarious, human, personal copy. Well, at least there will be some effort and it's not some GPT thing that's like, you know, "Hey, come to the app now." Like we actually try to, you know, think about it and and send them great stuff.
Thatcher CloughAnd then this is sort of where our onboarding shifts more from questions to giving them value. So we actually do put together a personalized feedback that's completely free. They come in and they get this off the jump. It's not just, hey, questions, paywall, it's questions and we're going to give them as much as we can, and we also see you, look, your current use is at this percent, but your ability to have a strong habit is at 100%. Like you could build a habit of running outside every day. Here's like the opportunity for how much money you can save, and then also what your strengths are and areas for exploration. We don't really want to say weaknesses, we don't want to make the user feel like, oh, you're horrible for doing this, it's like no, but not framing them as, this is wrong of you, because we don't want to ever make them feel ostracized or like they're they are doing something wrong. And so this is a big point of value that we're …
Asher HirschmanYeah. You seen the review glitch that people are doing?
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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
- 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
- Tell users 'no payment due now' and remind them 2 days before the trial endsMost users choose the yearly plan with the 3-day trial; no conversion numbers
- 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: personalized-report, value-before-paywall