Practitioner pattern · Jacob Eiting (CEO of RevenueCat, whose data and Experiments product are discussed)
Offer the free trial in the first session, not days later
70%+ of trial starts happen in the first 24 hours across categories
Workedpaywallonboarding
What they did
Focus onboarding on getting a trial started in the first session, when intent is highest. Don't wait until the user has taken actions over several days before showing the paywall; only a fraction of downloads (~1/5) will ever reach day 4. A buy button on the first screen beats a delayed 'ideal' flow by numbers alone; it can still be done tastefully.
What happened
RevenueCat data: most trial starts (70%+ on average) occur within 24 hours of download in nearly every category.
- Stage
- activation
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · The Future of Subscription Apps (Why We’re So Excited For 2024)“It's like 70-plus percent on average. And so, this is something worth knowing if you don't know this, but yes, most of your efforts should be focused on that very first user experience, getting a trial started”
“And it's like, yeah, that sounds like a really ideal experience that 1/5th of the downloads are going to see, right? So like, as much as you think that might be ideal, I will beat you just by putting a buy button on the first screen by pure law of numbers, right?”
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