Headspace · meditation and mental health app
Give referred friends a 30-day free trial instead of 14, with no cash reward
High trial redemption and good conversion from referred friends; no numbers
Workedreferral-programemail
What they did
Revamped the referral program: more visibility, embedded in several places in the product, and triggered lifecycle campaigns announcing it. Research found people refer to help a friend and fear looking self-serving with sensitive topics, so it avoids DoorDash-style give $10/get $10. The recipient gets a 30-day free trial vs the standard 14-day annual trial.
What happened
Lots of engagement with the feature and pretty high trial redemption, with good conversion and engagement from recipients.
- Stage
- scale
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · How Headspace Optimized Revenue by Gating Content — Shreya Oswal and Keya Patel, Headspace“So our main focus was to kind of revamp that, give it a little bit more visibility in the product, so trying to make sure that people were really aware of it, embedding it in a few different places, and with lifecycle, launching a series of triggered campaigns to let people know that we had this incentive.”
“So our standard free trial for an annual subscription is 14 days. With the referral program, you get 30 days.”
“But it is working well. We are seeing a lot of good engagement with that feature and really good conversion and engagement on the recipient side as well.”
Related topics
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- Bundle the news subscription with Headspace for readers overwhelmed by newsGuest cites business results but warns partnerships are very hard
- Email lapsed subscribers 40% off if they come back within 7 days
- Ask the user's main goal and show different content for each
- Add new uses, like sleep and exercise, so users don't outgrow the appConsultant calls it smart; no numbers
More from this episode
- Headspace: Lock 90-99% of the free library, keeping 1-2 favorites free per categoryMuch higher free-to-paid conversion; far fewer complaints than feared
- Headspace: Lock the whole content library behind a free trial, for new and old usersHigh double-digit lift in paid subscribers; trial users engaged more than free users
- Headspace: Let anyone share a 30-60 second clip of any meditation with a friend
- Headspace: Raise monthly from $9.99 to $12.99 and cut annual from $99 to $69.99More total revenue and higher conversion on both plans; more users chose annual
- Headspace: Show the yearly plan's per-month cost, with a cartoon character pointing at itHelped shift sign-ups toward annual alongside the price change; no separate numbers
- Headspace: Test 8 lower monthly prices to pull in less committed usersLost revenue: more people chose monthly without enough extra conversions; not rolled out
- Headspace: Label the yearly plan 'best value' instead of showing the dollars savedThe simple 'best value' label beat showing the dollar savings
- Headspace: Push the yearly plan hardest on the paywall, keeping monthly as an optionMore picked annual, but fewer paid after the trial; went back to equal plans
- Headspace: Add a free trial: 7 days on monthly, 14 days on yearlyDouble-digit conversion lift; rolled out end of 2019
- LinkedIn: Open free trials to everyone and let users pick their own planCalled a big win for revenue and for users picking the right plan; no numbers
- Headspace: Offer a student discount plan, then open it in the 7-10 countries asking mostSmall but positive revenue at first; international launch 'done really well'
- Headspace: Add a family plan so members keep each other using the appBest retention of any plan, monthly and annual; brought in new users and raised ARPU
- Headspace: Let new users pick several reasons they came, not just oneSignificant lift: fewer drop-offs at that question and more trial starts
- Headspace: Test a 10-15 screen onboarding against a 3-4 screen one straight to the upsellLong raised week-1 use but cut conversions; short converted but felt off-mission; settled in middle
- Headspace: Promise a prize for sticking with it the first month, with on-track reminders
- Headspace: Reward the top referrers with a 1:1 session with their favorite teacher