A niche AI chat app · B2C · guest's contact
Charge about $20 a month for an AI chat app tuned to one niche
Users pay for it, per the guest; no revenue shared
What they did
What happened
In their words
Jonathan Parra - I made 4,000 app paywalls and learned this
Joseph ChoiI mean, obviously, like you know, ChatGPT and Claude are like huge brands, and there's just a lot more you know, trust, and they have the base model, and and all that. But like is there anything else that's contributing? Like have you ever seen apps charge, you know, ChatGPT or Claude levels?
Jonathan ParraYeah, actually. I had a discussion with uh someone uh just before the holidays about this, because they're billing their product at I think $20 to $22 per month. Uh and it's a chat product, you know, on their phone. But what they've done is they've really nailed down the prompt, uh and it's very personalized for that specific niche.
Jonathan ParraAnd so it's And it seems like uh users are willing to pay for prompts essentially, uh to have that custom prompt and have something that uh is is really tailored to that specific problem. There was another app that I had a sales call with yesterday, and they're in the health space, and uh they launched 2 to 3 years ago, but they're still getting, you know, consistent revenue even though ChatGPT, Claude, you know, essentially all these all these state-of-the-art models have come out.
Jonathan ParraAnd yes, they're very general and they can do a lot, but the big bottleneck is still in the prompt. And so I think if you have an app that solves a very specific issue, you can get away with charging a fraction of what you charge for with ChatGPT. Um and if you have a good prompt and you have a good flow, like you're you're essentially paying for that as a user. You're paying for a custom n8n flow with good prompts so that you don't really have …
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More from this episode
- Shorten plan names, add 'No commitment, cancel anytime', and label the button 'Continue'+10% conversion over the wordier paywall
- Cut the monthly plan; offer annual plus a weekly plan with 3 free daysBig conversion jump per the slide; exact number not read out
- Put 'No commitment, cancel anytime' on almost every paywallSmall but steady conversion bump, per the guest
- Show two plans, hide the rest behind 'View all plans', preselect annualGuest's standard setup; no numbers given
- When users close the paywall, show cheaper plans, then a 33%-off yearly dealNo result given; guest's go-to for apps that already test a lot
- For week- or month-long programs, show step by step how users will changeWorks across categories for journey-style apps, per the guest; no numbers
- Keep one-time offers at 25-33% off; save big sales for Black Friday
- Swap the feature table for 'Try it for 50% off' and a big screenshot+111% conversion; revenue per user also rose
- Make the paywall button about 65 points tall, with big text and an arrowGuest says bigger buttons and the arrow bump conversions; no numbers
- Start with a one-page paywall: headline, bullet list, reviews, buttonOne of the few layouts that performs well across categories, per the guest
- Test paywall design and plan mix first; leave price tests for laterGuest says design tests give the most mileage; no numbers
- Put a short video of the app in use on the paywallWon its A/B test; no numbers given
- Make the paywall look like a plain Apple settings screenBeat more custom designs 'by quite a long shot'; worked again for a second app
- Give the top plan a dark, premium look that switches when users pick itMore users chose the top plan; no numbers
- Show the free trial as a timeline: today, day-5 reminder, day-7 billingStill a very high performer after years of copying, per the guest
Tags: ios, ai-wrapper, custom-prompt, premium-pricing