Practitioner pattern · Trent Hommeyer (Works at Helium, the paywall builder/experimentation platform and paywall agency demoed in the episode)
Keep small animations moving in the onboarding background to hold focus
With animations beat without in a Helium test; no numbers
Workedonboarding
What they did
Floating bubbles in the onboarding background, splash effects on taps, and haptic feedback so each step feels satisfying and people don't put the phone down.
What happened
Helium tested the onboarding with and without the background bubbles; the version with them won.
“those little bubbles in the background, you're just keeping their focus. Like that makes a difference. We tried without them, and we tried with them. The The with won.”
“Haptic feedback is a famous one on onboardings.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- Put a Flappy Bird game in the paywall; higher scores unlock up to 50% offBeat the existing paywall in an A/B test on 10% of users; no numbers given
- Show the paywall half-empty, then slide the trial details in from the sideWins 'really aggressively' in Helium tests, per the guest; no numbers
- Add a 'creating your experience' screen near the end of onboardingConversions up 11%, a founder told the host
- In a sleep-sounds app, play the sounds during onboardingConverts better, confirmed by two competing apps; no numbers
- For older users, ask 'Who referred you?' with options like 'My personal trainer' or 'TV ad'Works well with older audiences, per the guest; no numbers
- Test separate paywalls for users over and under about 35
- Run 8 or 9 paywall tests at once and keep the one that winsUsually 8 are a wash and 1 makes a difference
- Charge through Stripe with an in-app Apple Pay prompt, not a trip to SafariBetter trial-to-paid, retention and ARPU; first conversion slightly lower
- App Masters: Send buyers from the paywall to a web checkout page in SafariBig drop-off every time; did worse than Apple in-app purchase
- Build for iPad, where few competing apps bother to go$1.4M of a client's $2M ARR came from iPad
- Default to a 7-day trial; offer 14 or 30 days to people who close the paywallConverts better as a fallback, clients say; anecdotal
- Helium: Ask sign-ups for their revenue; call the big apps, let small ones straight in