ElevenReader · B2C · app that reads text aloud
Sell hours of listening instead of AI credits, and drop a plan
Called the app's biggest win of the year; no numbers shared
Workedpricing
What they did
ElevenReader removed an entire pricing tier and rewrote plans to be expressed in hours of listening/playback rather than tokens, credits or characters, abstracting away AI cost details for consumers even though real compute costs exist. Separate apps let each app price to its own users (flagship creator app keeps credits).
What happened
Described as the biggest win of the year for ElevenReader; clearer plans for consumers
- Stage
- growth
“The biggest win that we had on our side was just we stripped out an entire pricing tier, we switched over to be able to communicate with the amount of hours that you spend to be able to play great content”
“So when we think about ElevenReader, they don't think in terms of credits and tokens when it comes to a listening or a consumption focused app.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- ElevenLabs app: Offer one price in the mobile app and test offers around itKeeps pricing simple and the team accountable; no numbers shared
- ElevenReader: Keep tuning the onboarding quiz without testing a no-onboarding versionBiggest fail of the year; too many cycles spent on onboarding experiments
- ElevenReader: Cut onboarding down so people upload a book and pick a voice fastWorked better than quizzes and goal setting; no numbers shared
- ElevenLabs: Launch about once a month to earn press, then buy the brand searches it createsBelieved to lower CPA/CPI and compound across launches; never measured
- ElevenLabs: Write the launch Twitter thread first, then turn it into a video
- ElevenLabs app: Test new ads without needing week-one payback, reviewing each channel weekly
- ElevenLabs: Hire a creator on staff to film short videos for launches
- ElevenLabs app: Share UGC creators, tools and tracking setup across sibling apps
- ElevenLabs: Build separate apps for separate uses, each with its own brandWorked twice so far, per the speaker
- ElevenLabs app: Test paywall ideas in two sibling apps at once and swap notes
- ElevenLabs: Run the company as 10-12 small teams that each own design, build and growthSpeakers credit it for shipping speed; no numbers
- ElevenLabs: Hire engineers who build side projects, judged by their public GitHub
- ElevenLabs: Tell users how many hours their voice agents have run, so they share it
- ElevenReader: Watch Reddit, Discord and X for what people share, then push itUsers post screenshots of surprising voices; still iterating
- RevenueCat: Launch a mobile app with a home screen people want to screenshotAbout 100x more sightings on X overnight; mobile usage near dashboard usage
- Canva: Spin out a separate app for one use case of the main productWon Apple awards but failed on acquisition and retention; folded back in
- Canva: Plan a launch 12 months out, with 3 months on messaging
- Lower the price to keep customers who are churningFailed; maybe one extra month retained if they don't care about the product