Genius Scan · B2C · document scanning app
Let people who paid once keep their features when you switch to subscriptions
Unknownpricingretention
What they did
In 2020 renamed Genius Cloud to Genius Scan Ultra and added premium features to it; turned the legacy one-time Genius Scan+ ($9.99) into a subscription tier (priced $9.99/year, or $0.99/month). Two tiers: Plus ~$0.99/month and Ultra ~$3/month, with equivalent yearly prices. Every existing one-time buyer, even those who paid $0.99 in 2010, kept most premium features and can upgrade to Ultra.
- Stage
- growth
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · Bootstrapping a Subscription App to 5M MAU and 2X+ Revenue Growth — Bruno Virlet, Genius Scan“We, we also add the Genius Scan+ tier, so that was the, the former like legacy one-time purchase became a subscription. And what we did, we grandfathered all our existing users.”
“So the one who have purchased it in 2010, they, for $0.99, they still have it, like the premium, most of the premium features today.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
- Genius Scan: Launch free for a few days, then switch to a $0.99 paid appDownloads fell from thousands a day to 1-2; switched back to free
- Genius Scan: Keep the app free with ads; sell a one-time upgrade that removes themStarted making real money from ads; founder gives no figures
- Genius Scan: Start charging monthly for cloud backup while keeping the one-time upgradeNo customer backlash; users understood storage costs recur
- Genius Scan: Drop the $0.99-a-month plan and sell only the $3 oneStill ~100 purchases a day, now all on the pricier plan
- Genius Scan: Show only the yearly plan on the paywall; tuck monthly one step deeperNearly everyone switched to yearly; no numbers
- Genius Scan: Keep the button for your top paid feature on screen, not in a menuHiding it cut paywall views ~10-20% for months; putting it back restored them
- Genius Scan: Test the words and icon on the in-app banner that opens your paywallOne wording converted 2x the old one; a deliberate A/B test confirmed it
- Genius Scan: Remove outside ads from the free app, even though they paid wellFounder believes happy free users drive recommendations; no numbers
- Genius Scan: Skip the paywall at signup; show it only when someone taps a paid featureFree users convert over time and recommend the app; no numbers
- Genius Scan: Answer every support email yourselves and build what people ask for repeatedlyFounders say it gives the best pulse on problems; no numbers
- Genius Scan: Beat the phone's built-in scanner with better scans and auto-export to DropboxGrowth never stalled when Apple added native scanning
- Genius Scan: Tune App Store name and ratings but skip paying for search adsTop five for 'scanning'; can't pass rivals who buy Apple ads
- The Grizzly Labs: Hire only when founders are overloaded, and pick people who work independently10 people, little management needed and low turnover
- RevenueCat: Ask users how they heard about you, with a free-text boxRevealed ChatGPT and Claude were sending people; read daily
- RevenueCat: Check 5-10 key numbers every morning, with 30- and 90-day averages30-day above 90-day means healthy; no outcome reported