Elevate · B2C · brain training app
Run sales and discount promotions once someone can own them
Cohost calls it a huge unlock; no numbers
Workedpricing
What they did
Layer in promotions and sales later, when a growth team has capacity, since running them is labor-intensive; with zero marginal cost, selling at more than one price point captures demand otherwise left on the table.
What happened
Jacob says running promotions was a huge unlock at Elevate about 10 years ago.
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · The Subscription Value Loop: A Formula for Growth – Phil Carter, Elemental Growth“It was a huge unlock, almost 10 years ago now, I guess, but like at Elevate, huge unlock for us to run stuff.”
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 Elevate
All 5 Elevate tactics- Soft launch a rough version on Android and watch replays of every user~500 downloads a day; learned a lot without needing scale
- Email your previous app's users when you launch a new oneA small but meaningful early boost, per the cohost
- Make the free version thin so almost everyone has to start a trialBig jump in trial starts, but lower user affinity, per co-host
- Send reminders as local notifications that users can't switch off
More from this episode
- Quizlet: Map the few user actions and loops that drive growth, then model themGuest says it made growth more systematic; no numbers
- Quizlet: Have core product own retention and growth product own onboarding and monetizationResonated with the team and executives; no numbers
- Quizlet: Let students' and teachers' flashcards rank in Google for long-tail searchesMost important of four growth loops; low-cost acquisition
- Quizlet: Stay free for years, then add a low-priced subscriptionBuilt a teacher-student network effect; guest says rivals that monetized faster failed
- Quizlet: Copy Blinkist's honest free-trial screen that explains exactly how the trial worksGuest says a big lift in subscriber conversion and revenue; no numbers
- Quizlet: Buy a homework-help product to cover a need users already hadMoved the app into homework help; no numbers
- Quizlet: Let new users use the app during onboarding instead of describing it
- Matter: Add a feature that turns podcasts into readable transcriptsSubscriber conversion almost doubled
- Matter: Show the paywall more often and earlier, and improve its copy and imagesPaywall views more than doubled; ~30% more users subscribed
- uDocz: Survey what students would pay, then drop the Pro tier and cut the yearly price+12% subscriber conversion, +10% net subscription revenue, better margins
- Show the paywall once in the first session, then again when free uses run outGuest's go-to pattern across clients; no numbers
- Offer a discount to users who haven't paid by the time 90% of subscribers usually haveGuest calls it very effective; no numbers
- Quizlet: Estimate word of mouth from direct, branded-search and social signups per active userRevealed back-to-school and exam spikes in edtech; no numbers
- Superhuman: Ask users how disappointed they'd be without the app, then build for the fansGot past the 40% product-market fit line quickly (founder's blog post)