Skylight · B2C · digital family calendars and frames
Don't mark which features are premium once someone has subscribed
Renewal rates high even for light users of paid features; no numbers
Workedretentionpaywall
What they did
Inside the product, premium (Plus) features are not called out as premium for subscribers, so at renewal they don't tally which bundle features they used. Related finding: changing how the bundle's contents are merchandised to buyers rarely moved the attach rate.
What happened
Speaker believes it makes 'a pretty big difference'; renewal rates are 'pretty high' across heavy and light bundle users.
“We don't actually in our product call out what is a premium plus feature if you are subscribed, which I think makes a pretty big difference as the person is thinking about when it's renewal time.”
“And we see renewal rates are pretty high, even across folks that heavily use the bundle and those that don't.”
Related topics
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More from this episode
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- Skylight: Keep old customers on the old price, and honor it for anyone who asksGave up an estimated couple million dollars for goodwill; no measured effect
- Skylight: Send the device's QR code to an Apple in-app purchase instead of a web checkoutOver 100% more conversions, on a small slice of users
- Skylight: Knock money off the device when people buy it with the subscriptionMuch higher subscription attach on the own website than on Amazon or in stores; no numbers
- Skylight: Test a free trial, with and without asking for a credit cardNo extra subscribers; trial takers were people who'd have subscribed anyway
- Skylight: Make every first purchase cover what you paid to get the customerEvery order in company history paid back on day zero; grew without VC money
- Skylight: Borrow from risk-tolerant lenders at 15-20% to buy holiday inventory, not raise VCStayed bootstrapped and profitable; paid 15-20% a year at times
- Skylight: Keep what people bought the device for free; charge for new add-ons like meal planningPhotos-on-calendar paywall 'just worked' for years; now some customers want it free
- Skylight: Survey customers on whether the product is life-changing, and build to raise that shareAbout 20% say life-changing today; goal is 50%
- Skylight: Push marketing spend on a new calendar product before the product was goodDidn't work; nearly killed the product; took off only after product fixes in fall 2022
- Skylight: Sell the device everywhere: your own site, Amazon, Costco and Best BuyCalled very successful; retail acts as a quality stamp, but lowers subscription attach
- Skylight: Change how you show what's in the subscription bundleRarely moved the share of buyers who subscribe