LinkedIn · professional social network
Open free trials to everyone and let users pick their own plan
Called a big win for revenue and for users picking the right plan; no numbers
Workedpaywallpricing
What they did
LinkedIn had emailed free-trial offers for Job Seeker Premium, Premium, Sales Navigator and Recruiter Lite, targeted by per-product propensity models built from member actions (connections, job views, company research, groups). Because trials were so compelling, people took whatever trial they were offered regardless of fit. Instead, put free trials online for everyone with a subscription chooser: one SKU per each of the four use cases, with features and price points researched so members self-select.
What happened
A big win for the business and for members choosing the right product; simplicity and transparency beat trying to predict each member's use case.
- Stage
- scale
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · How Headspace Optimized Revenue by Gating Content — Shreya Oswal and Keya Patel, Headspace“And because free trials were so compelling, folks would often take the free trial that they were offered whether or not they actually were a job seeker, or were a salesperson, or were, you know, a recruiter.”
“But ultimately bringing that free trial online and letting users choose for themselves was a big win for the business and a big win for members in terms of picking the right product for them.”
“So picking just one SKU for each of those four flavors of subscription and the transparency of allowing free trial for everyone”
Related topics
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- Ask people why they want Premium, then show plans and content that fitGuest says more tailoring always added value; no downside found
- Give subscribers free months of partner apps like Notion, Spotify and HeadspacePerk users tend to stay longer; no numbers given
- Keep adding paid features, with a team as big as the growth team20+ new benefits in two years; guest credits it for acquisition and retention growth
- Run 1,000+ A/B tests a year, each product manager owning one areaGuest says testing beats internal debate; no specific numbers
- Offer a two-person plan at 20% off, plus a big annual-plan discountBoth offers retain better; no retention figures given
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
- 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