Burner · B2C · second phone number app
Survey users on which features to charge for and what they'd pay
No numbers; a heavy A/B-testing team still relies on it for context
Unknownpricingpaywall
What they did
Uses user surveys to decide which features go behind the paywall and how much users will pay, with the Gabor-Granger and Van Westendorp pricing models, alongside heavy A/B testing and user interviews. Guest: treat survey answers with a grain of salt and A/B test prices once there is enough volume; pricing talks can start before building.
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · Top Growth and Monetization Insights for Subscription Apps — Sylvain Gauchet, Babbel and Growth Gems“Use surveying to understand what features you should put behind a paywall. You can also use surveys to know how much they're willing to pay. Two models you can use are from Gabor-Granger and Van Westendorp.”
“Giancarlo is at Burner, which actually has a ton of volume and they're one of the the companies that does a ton of A/B testing. Um, and yet they still do a lot of this kind of user surveying and talking to users because of how valuable it is for context”
Related topics
Get tactics like this every Monday
New tactics from the week's founder interviews, each linked to where it was said.
More from Burner
All 18 Burner tactics- Charge $1.99 upfront and price credit packs to cover phone costsAbout $50K revenue on launch day
- Demo the unreleased app to people at SXSW and collect a waitlistNew York Times interview and a panel slot; $50K revenue on launch day
- Skip the next VC round and run the app at breakeven insteadBreakeven or profitable for 6-8 years, grew past $10M a year
- Let people choose on the paywall whether to take a free trialVery positive A/B test result; no numbers given
- Use paywall tools so the product team can launch tests without engineersFrom 1-2 paywall tests a month to several times that; about 1 in 4-5 wins
- Add a monthly and annual plan with unlimited texts, calls and photosBiggest single jump in revenue in company history; subscriptions now 90%+ of revenue
More from this episode
- Pok Pok: Double the subscription price, then check whether those subscribers stick aroundRevenue more than doubled and conversions rose, but the higher-price cohorts' retention quickly tanked
- PhotoRoom: Launch with only a monthly plan so you see who cancels and can ask whyNo numbers; guest says monthly renewals show real retention early, at a cash-flow cost
- Reflectly: Ship one big change every week and compare the 7 days before and after
- Canva: Rewrite the paywall to say what users get out of it, not what engineers builtOne of the year's biggest growth wins, per a podcast the guest heard; no numbers
- Let fans buy your app as a gift, especially for December holidaysAbout a third of December sales; many gifts bought by existing customers
- Rise Science: Use onboarding to convince people the app will improve their sleep, not to teach buttonsNo numbers; experimented a lot to nurture intent toward the paywall
- Send a follow-up offer to people who played with the paywall but didn't buyNo numbers; guest says some convert at a 10% discount
- Ask engaged monthly subscribers to switch to yearly a few months in