Value Study · B2C · value study app for painters
Announce 3 months ahead that the free tier ends; lifetime buyers keep access
Clear spike in lifetime purchases before the switch; no review backlash mentioned
Workedpaywallpricing
What they did
Afraid that removing the free tier would bring bad reviews, the founder told users 3 months in advance that it would go, and that anyone buying the lifetime purchase before then would be grandfathered in (he expected to go subscription-only at the time).
What happened
Visible spike in purchases from people who knew the change was coming
- Stage
- monetization
This shipped together with other changes, so the result can't be credited to this alone.
“so what I did is 3 months before, I let them know, "I'm going to remove this.”
“"Any lifetime purchases you have now will be grandfa- fathered in, and you'll be able to stay in." So, that kind of gave a spike.”
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- Value Study: Ask which mediums users work in so the app feels made for them
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- Value Study: Offer a lifetime plan next to the yearly plan50% lifetime, 50% yearly until the Android launch
- Value Study: On Android, replace the hard paywall with a soft paywall trialAndroid reviews recovered from very bad
- Value Study: Reply personally to every support email and fix bugs right awayMany reviews name the founder; turned angry users into five-star reviewers
- Value Study: Hire a cheap influencer with a big following in another language$4,000 in one week and a lasting lift; broken Android translations brought bad reviews
- Value Study: Run an ad in the main print magazine for your hobby nicheRoughly broke even; reached people who wouldn't have found it
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- Value Study: Test higher prices in the US firstSettled on a price about halfway up; no numbers
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- Add Meta ads once organic growth in your niche levels offRevenue doubled or tripled; took time
- Raise your yearly price from $29.99 to $49.99Good so far, per a viewer; no numbers
- Show 2-3 screens of benefits and testimonials right before the paywallWon the client's test against the other onboarding version