💎 Growth Gems #65 - Subscription Monetization and Creatives
Hi there,
This week I’m sharing gems on creatives and paywall/pricing optimization. These insights come from Jake Mor, David Barnard, Ryan Anthony, Warren Woodward, Natalie Rozenblat and Isabella Zulli.
Enjoy!
🥇 TOP GEM OF THE WEEK
Creatives: neuroscience, UGC, reward tactics
User research is getting more and more sophisticated.
In the podcast episode Neuroscience and the Future of Marketing, Warren Woodward (Co-founder at Upptic) received Ryan Anthony (Co-founder & CEO at DIRT - consumer insights research platform, previously Director of NeuroX at Vungle).
While most of us can’t afford this kind of research it’s interesting to understand their approach and hear some of the insights/patterns Ryan shared.
💎 If you test more at the beginning of your game project, there are compounding benefits. For example, DIRT gets insights on concept statements, key art in video, FTUE, etc. They also do 30 second ad testing with 100-200 people into a lab, hooked with sensors. This allows them to find the key points that are emotionally resonant to users: themes, backgrounds, contrasts, etc. and leverage that moving forward.
by Ryan Anthony (Co-founder & CEO at DIRT)
at 22:36
💎 If you have too much on the screen, chances are users are not seeing what you want them to see. Scrape your creative/ad down to the barebones and try to understand what part of the message the audience really needs to hear.
by Ryan Anthony (Co-founder & CEO at DIRT)
at 25:39
💎 A lot of times, we use too much text when we could use fewer words. People’s gaze pattern starts dead center, then bounces all over the screen. Nobody ever reads the entirety of content in an ad, so don’t use words or text that is not related to something really impactful or that are competing for visual attention.
by Ryan Anthony (Co-founder & CEO at DIRT)
at 26:25
💎 Any time you have the ability to remove your UI from creatives, do it. Especially in gaming. Remove the visual clutter, present the images and the fun.
by Warren Woodward (Co-founder at Upptic)
at 27:10
💎 There are 2 kinds of ad experiences in mobile:
1. Captive experience (e.g. rewarded video on Vungle): the user is going to watch the entire ad then usually get a reward afterwards, so you have 30 sec to tell the whole story.
2. Disruptive ad experience(e.g. Facebook feed ad): the user is just scrolling by, so you have to focus on the first 2 or 3 seconds.
by Warren Woodward (Co-founder at Upptic)
at 38:12
📢 PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
Allow me to re-introduce my gems…Every day, I share an insight like the one below on Twitter. It’s called #1GemEveryDay and we’re past Day 100 already! Follow @growthgems if you don’t want to miss out on these insights.
In Growth Gems #56, I shared how Phiture uses the Persuasion-Emotion-Trust model for ad creatives: they think about the various angles they can explore to ‘sell’ something.
In that edition I just linked to the podcast episode The impact of creativity on Paid Social with Natalie Rozenblat (Senior Performance Marketing Consultant at Phiture) and Isabella Zulli (Senior Graphic Designer at Phiture).
Here are a few more gems from this discussion.
💎 Try to incorporate as much UGC content as you can, making ads more native. You can use influencers but also get your real users to create content for you: reach out and see if they could be interested.
by Natalie Rozenblat (Senior Performance Marketing Consultant at Phiture)
at 10:02
⛏️ Going Deeper: if you’re relatively new to UGC content, here are some good tips that were shared by Shamanth Rao in The Mobile User Acquisition Show.
💎 A lot of ads now use a reward tactic: users are offered an incentive to download the app. Example: free delivery, discount, free trials, etc.
by Isabella Zulli (Senior Graphic Designer at Phiture)
at 18:05
💎 Label your ad creatives with their corresponding tactic (reward, knowledge of results, etc.) then have an aggregated reporting that allows you to understand which tactics work best.
by Natalie Rozenblat (Senior Performance Marketing Consultant at Phiture)
at 19:10
⛏️ Going Deeper: if you haven’t yet, check out Phiture’s article A Guide to Systematic Creative Testing for Successful App Campaigns to learn more about their approach and understand the different “tactics” you can incorporate in your creatives.
Monetization: paywall strategy, pricing
In Growth Gems #55, I shared this Twitter thread by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ) because there were some bold paywall test ideas.
Some were actually so bold (read: aggressive) that they felt a little uncomfortable.
So I was excited to see that David Barnard (Developer Advocate at RevenueCat) and him were hosting this Paywall Optimization and Best Practices webinar 📹 to explain the reasoning behind the recommendations (that have a focus on iOS).
A 92 minute discussion that did not disappoint: I had to make this edition a bit longer to feature all the gems 🔥 💎
Make sure you read until the end so you don’t miss the “ideal” monetization flow Jake presented.
💎 Most apps go freemium to try and get conversions from users that don’t know them, but a fantastic paywall is a better solution. This is especially true if you’re losing out on signups because they don’t reach the aha moment: it’s better to at least have them see a paywall that will explain what the app does well.
by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
at 04:04
💎 The 5 key elements of a fantastic paywall:
Shown at the right time (paywall placement)
Locking the right features (deciding if you’re freemium, what’s included in free usage, etc.)
Pricing that maximizes LTV
Visuals that provide context (e.g. Blinkist free trial timeline)
Copywriting that explains why (e.g. Calm’s paywall’s copywriting explains the why and not the why)
by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
at 06:15
💎 If you’re going to be very aggressive with your paywall (i.e. show it early), make sure users know exactly what they’re getting. A video can do a great job at this.
by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
at 09:35
⛏️ Going Deeper: Jake shared that 2 years after having started paywall optimization for FitnessAI, adding video to the paywall and showing it before onboarding brought a 2x increase from install -> trial for FitnessAI (overall, a 2x increase in install -> paid).
Adding a video is the highest-leverage thing Superwall recommends, as they have seen much higher impact with people adding a video on the paywall than with the “Blinkist free trial timeline”.
💎 App developers underestimate how much intent is behind the install. A user downloaded your app because they are experiencing an issue, and they chose your app. You have to capture this demand early.
by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
at 11:50
💎 Almost all app companies do not focus on a very important metric: the percentage of users seeing the paywall.
by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
at 12:58
⛏️ Going Deeper: at least at first, Jake recommends to show your paywall in all the different places below, so that you can establish a baseline. Then, remove as needed and see if conversion holds.
If you’re getting too much drop off on the paywall pre-onboarding (i.e. you’re scaring users away), then allow an easy way out by making the exit button on that one more apparent (e.g. you can have a “not now” button right under your CTA).
💎 When you launch your app, it’s the worst it will ever be. So start by locking your entire app (with free trial) in order to get the users that have enough of a pain point to be willing to pay for that app. Those are the early users you want to be building for.
by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
at 11:50
⛏️ Going Deeper: Jake argues that you need to accept that you’re going to test some things that you’re uncomfortable with, but it’s all to figure out what the bounds are.
Doing the above is possibly the most aggressive test you can run. Beyond getting the early users you want to be building for, you will also figure out the conversion baseline to work from.
I love to get different perspectives on things, and this Building Ramps, not Walls article by Curtis Herbert (who is behind the Slopes app) that Thomas shared recently is exactly that. I also believe that ideas can be combined, and the “trial quickstart” screen that Curtis mentioned could make for a great pre-onboarding “paywall”.
💎 You can ask users to start a free trial to unlock the entire app, and if they don’t subscribe after a week send a push notification letting them know that they can use half of the features for free.
by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
at 17:20
💎 Since you’ve already paid for the install, it’s best to recoup any amount you can. Meet the user wherever their demand is.
by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
at 20:26
💎 Don’t forget to track your refunds when testing different offerings and prices.
by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
at 23:00
💎 Start with only one annual product because it’s a quick way to figure out what your LTV is: you know that the revenue you’re getting from your annual plan is your LTV “floor”. You can then add other plans behind a button (e.g. Planta).
by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
at 24:41
⛏️ Going Deeper: this is an interesting perspective, but I also like the other approach of offering only a monthly subscription so that you can learn from your users faster (beyond monetization) and improve the product. This was one of Matthieu Rouif’s gems featured in Growth Gems #53👇
The decision depends on the stage you’re at and if you have product-market fit.
Now if you do decide to go with only an annual product, here is a cool tip from Jake: also create a monthly plan in the same subscription group (but without showing it on the paywall).
Users that go to cancel their free trial because they are not willing to commit to one year will see this monthly plan. It might even make them feel like they found a good deal, almost like a winback campaign. Give it a special name like “Easter eggs pricing” to make it more attractive.
I agree with David when he says that it’s ok if customers see the other prices in their settings, as long as you’ve priced things correctly.
💎 Users of different apps might have different hesitations, and you need to figure out what these are for YOUR app. Blinkist came up with the free trial timeline by adding an exit survey after people closed the paywall, where they asked “Why didn’t you take the trial? It’s free”. The biggest response was “I didn’t know when I will be charged” and that’s why they created the timeline.
by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
at 31:24
💎 Most web paywalls have a Q&A section, yet very few apps have that. You can even add live support on your paywall (e.g. Intercom): it should pay for itself.
by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
at 32:15
💎 The purchase button should be the only colored button on your screen (and potentially the only colored element). Not doing this is a mistake often made.
by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
at 34:23
💎 For your paywall copy, test the same messaging as your top performing ads. If you don’t know where to start, you can also look at your best user reviews on the App Store. Humans are emotional decision makers, so sell outcomes and how the outcomes will make them feel (not features).
by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
at 35:30
💎 Fitness AI used to send an email every single time somebody was seeing the paywall in the app: “Hey, just realized you opened FitnessAI. Don’t subscribe there because we have a sale on our website”.
by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
at 45:27
💎 After users fully experienced your app (e.g. after 5 workout for FitnessAI, after exporting 3 photos for Photoroom), send them an email asking:
If they loved your product
How disappointed they’d be if they couldn’t use your product
If they say they love it: ask them what they love most about it. Then show them what they wrote and say “it would mean the world to us if you could copy/paste this into the App Store”.
If they say they don’t love it: ask them what they hate most about it.
by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
at 54:51
💎 Once you’ve reached a critical mass and have good reviews, it’s actually really hard to bring your average back down. So you can feel more confident with experiments that could lead to bad reviews, as long as you keep an eye out for them.
by David Barnard (Developer Advocate at RevenueCat)
at 57:11
💎 People don’t realize that LTV is an average, not a measure of central tendency: you don’t know where most of your users fall. Some people are generating 2x or 3x, but some people are canceling after a month. The users that subscribe to lifetime are most likely to be the ones that would have stayed longer to begin with, and so Lifetime is likely to bring your LTV down.
by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
at 1:03:38
⛏️ Going Deeper: if you’ve missed Growth Gems #56, Eric talks about LTV for “tourists” vs. “locals” 👇
During their discussion about lifetime, Jake also mentioned the book Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value. I haven’t read it yet but it looks worth it if you’re involved in revenue growth.
💎 iOS users are emotional decision makers. In terms of device features, Android wins against iOS. iOS users want the shiny, nice Apple product and don’t care as much about individual features.
by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
at 1:16:34
💎 When testing prices, it’s better to create a new product with a new price. It’s too hard to keep track of the revenue that a specific product generated over time when you’re adding the variable that the price of the product can actually change. Also make sure you “grandfather” users in.
by Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
at 1:18:35
⛏️ Going Deeper: this is a very good point, as it’s already hard to look back at the impact of pricing tests. Depending on your product and SKU structure, this can however become quite complicated.
If you’re aware of a reliable way to batch-create SKUs, let me know!
💎 You need to understand the difference between your usage retention metrics and your subscription retention metrics, and look for patterns. You don’t necessarily need to incentivize usage to increase subscription retention: you need to increase value.
by David Barnard (Developer Advocate at RevenueCat)
at 1:25:02
💎 Don’t set your individual goals in isolation (e.g. 10% trial start rate, 50% trial conversion rate) because you might not be reaching your overall global maxima compared to if you consider the full lifecycle.
by David Barnard (Developer Advocate at RevenueCat)
at 1:29:35
🎁 BONUS
Here is a little bonus that Jake shared: the different kind of tests you can run, and what he considers to be the ideal monetization flow to iterate towards to.
And before I leave, a quote that pretty much sums up Jake’s perspective:
“With paywalls, you miss 100% of the chances you don’t take” - Jake Mor (Co-founder at SuperwallHQ)
See you next time. Stay savvy!
⛏️ Sylvain