Momentum Labs · firm that buys and runs apps
Skip the free trial; give a useful free version with a clear limit instead
Guest says trials never beat plain freemium in his or mentored apps; no numbers
Workedpaywallpricing
What they did
None of the guest's apps has ever offered a free trial; Healthi has a free tier and a paid Pro plan. His reasons: a card-upfront trial creates two moments of pause (entering the card, then deciding at day 7/14) and takes something away, while freemium lets users hit the upgrade screen from a positive experience with a clear free limit. He advises A/B testing which features sit behind the paywall ('put this feature on the side of the paywall, now move it free').
What happened
He has never seen a free trial outperform a simple free-to-freemium upgrade, including at companies he mentored.
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · How Freemium Can Outperform Free Trials – Shaun Steingold, Momentum Labs“I have never done free trial in any one of my apps. There are many apps and companies I've mentored, helped, or consulted with that have tried it. I've never seen it work.”
“that I think cause friction, and I've never found the model to actually outperform a very simple free-to-freemium upgrade.”
“test it, A/B test it. Put this feature on the side of the paywall, now move it free. See what happens.”
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More from this episode
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- Healthi: Let free users read the community, but only paying members can postTrolls and bullies left overnight; users now name the community as what they love
- Momentum Labs: Fix a bought app's store listing once, then mostly leave it alone
- Healthi: Charge $30 a year and offer a free version where rivals charge $230-400Guest calls it the 'sweet spot' of Healthi's success; no numbers
- Healthi: Add paid coaching and an online store of branded diet products
- Fitbod: Give three free workouts with every feature unlocked, no trial signupHost loved it and now pays $50-60 a year; one user's experience
- Elevate: Make the free version thin so almost everyone has to start a trialBig jump in trial starts, but lower user affinity, per co-host