Pushcroll · B2C · push-ups to unlock social media
Let people close the paywall, then charge when they want more scroll time
What they did
- Stage
- planned test
In their words
Mario Manero & Alejandro Sanchez - Our App Makes $30K/Month Profit Using This Simple Strategy (copy us)
Mario Ortiz ManeroGreat guy, yeah.
Alejandro SanchezYeah, he told us, and and that that's actually super interesting test we can do, to actually have a soft paywall, so you can X out of it, and you go into the app, and you can actually try some of the features. But as soon as you press on like the exercise detection, which is the main feature, you get paywalled. Because the idea behind that is you get like a like a 15-minute budget, you you want to scroll on Instagram, you unlock it, and then you scroll for 15 minutes, and when the 15 minutes is over, you want to exercise, you want to get more minutes. But then, you get paywalled, right when like you have the the highest dopamine. You want to continue scrolling, but you have to pay first. And that's something we we can definitely try, and I think it's gonna improve a lot as well.
Joseph ChoiYeah, is there anything else you wanted to show on the on the paywall and the conversions and the the retention?
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More from this episode
- Post a 'Should I build this?' video about the app before building itBlew up on TikTok; MVP shipped 2 weeks later to a waiting audience
- Launch with a video giving free lifetime premium to anyone who installs this week~20K downloads from ~175K views (~10%); only ~$1-2K revenue afterward
- Move your launch followers into a Discord for feedback, bug reports and videos3-4K members; best feature ideas and user videos came from it
- Let your community vote on designs, and build what they ask for 20+ timesPicked a better logo and shaped features; 'minute debt' was asked for 50+ times
- DM 2,000 influencers and pay $800 flat for 4 videosDidn't work: ~138K views drove only 200-500 downloads; lost ~$2K
- Rebuild push-up tracking to work from the front so faces show on video
- Film a stranger-style 'what is this guy doing?' clip, then demo the appKept going viral; the main driver of $30K/month profit
- End videos with 'comment app' and auto-DM the download linkUp to 62K comments on one video; ~90K DMs sent, 33% clicked
- Sell the app openly in videos instead of hiding the adFull-ad videos converted far better than a cinematic version
- Put 80% of effort into the hook; aim for under ~18% skippingTheir breakout video had a ~19% skip rate; 30% means switch format
- Build onboarding as a conversation: goals, pain, past attempts, then your fixConversion rose from ~7% to ~16%; paywall reach ~70%
- Let people try push-up counting and pick workout times before the paywallFounders say it builds trust and lifts paywall conversion; no numbers
- Pay founders you admire to review your onboardingFounders call it their highest-ROI spend; 'completely changed our trajectory'
- Test a 7-day free trial against a 3-day one7-day trial won clearly
- Test a weekly plan against a monthly oneWeekly won, but only slightly more ARPU
- Put a short video of someone using the app on the paywallWon its test, but by a small margin
- Offer about 80% off when someone closes the paywallCalled one of their two biggest tests; no result given
- Build an Android version if most of your viewers are in EuropeAndroid earns as much as iOS or more; 120K vs 40K users
- Post from a remote-controlled US phone to reach American viewersDidn't work; shadowbanned even with the remote US phone
- Pay US students about $1,000 a month to post your winning formatJust started; no results shared
Tags: soft-paywall, feature-gate