Skylight · B2C · digital family calendars and frames
Keep what people bought the device for free; charge for new add-ons like meal planning
Photos-on-calendar paywall 'just worked' for years; now some customers want it free
Mixedpaywallfeature-development
What they did
Rule: what the customer bought the $300 device for stays free (sending photos to Grandma on Frame; events, tasks and chores on Calendar). New, easy-to-grasp modules go behind the paywall from launch (videos on Frame; meal planning, recipes, AI features on Calendar), often without testing, since moving a feature out of the paywall is easier than in. Photo screensaver on Calendar was paywalled at $39/year from launch. They watch reviews and interviews for anger or 'disgust' and will pull features out when sentiment turns, even if the paywall lifts numbers.
What happened
Paywalling photos on Calendar 'just worked out of the box', but eight years later more customers say it should be free; considering making it fully or partly free. Some other paywalled items raised numbers but drew angry reviews.
“It's obviously easier to start behind the paywall when you're adding something new that passes that, yeah, I grok it, I want it test and then move it out, then the other way around.”
“So, we have had times where we put something behind the paywall and it makes the numbers go up, but we learned through reviews and just interviews that it's very begrudging or even anger eliciting.”
“It just worked out of the box, but it's now been eight years and the market has evolved.”
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More from this episode
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- 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: Don't mark which features are premium once someone has subscribedRenewal rates high even for light users of paid features; no numbers
- 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