Headspace · meditation and mental health app
Test 8 lower monthly prices to pull in less committed users
Lost revenue: more people chose monthly without enough extra conversions; not rolled out
Failedpricing
What they did
Hypothesis: a cheaper monthly plan would attract later-adopter, lower-intent users who won't commit to annual. Tested eight lower monthly price points.
What happened
Some users shifted to monthly, but free-to-paid conversion didn't rise enough; revenue-negative, so it was not ramped.
- Stage
- scale
- Effort
- Eight price-point variants
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · How Headspace Optimized Revenue by Gating Content — Shreya Oswal and Keya Patel, Headspace“We actually tested out eight different price points on monthly and found that ultimately, while we were able to drive some folks towards monthly, ultimately the experiment was revenue-negative because of more people then choosing monthly, not enough of a lift in free to paid conversion.”
Related topics
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More from Headspace
All 22 Headspace tactics- Email free users a small discount, then raise it every few days until they upgradeSaw some good results, consultant says; no numbers
- Ask why people joined, then remind them of it laterQuite effective at reinforcing the habit, consultant says; no numbers
- 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: 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: Give referred friends a 30-day free trial instead of 14, with no cash rewardHigh trial redemption and good conversion from referred friends; no numbers
- Headspace: Reward the top referrers with a 1:1 session with their favorite teacher