💎 Hard paywalls: 9 tactics to mitigate the downsides
Several tactics to mitigate the downsides if you have a hard paywall or decide to test hard paywalls.
Last week, I shared my (schizophrenic) analysis of hard paywalls along with a decision matrix to help you know if you should prioritize this initiative. Click below if you haven’t read it yet👇
This week, I’m detailing the tips & tactics you can test in order to mitigate the cons of hard paywalls and maximize the impact.
1. Create a qualified trial
To counter the fact that you might be attracting cohorts that are more likely to cancel the trial, you can create a “qualified trial”.
Based on engagement - your paywall being before a core engagement action in your app doesn’t mean you can’t send a more sophisticated signal than a free trial! Figure out what core action is correlated with/leading to higher trial -> subscription conversion, and create a “qualified trial” event (trial + core action done)
Filtering out cancellers - trigger the event only for people that don’t cancel in the first 10-15h.
2. Capture email addresses to nurture users
A major downside of the hard paywall is losing users forever. However, if you capture their email address, you can stay in touch with them and pitch/nurture them with solid onboarding emails. This is Reframe’s approach, for example.
3. Bring back users with push
You can also send a follow-up push notification to users, like what Vahe Baghdasaryan implemented at CoinStats.
Or what Fretello does (they have a hard paywall):
If you’re early-stage, be very mindful of the high effort CRM and Lifecycle might bring.
4. Display an in-product backup offer
To convert more price-sensitive users, show a “back-up offer” to users who close the “native checkout”/”payment sheet”.
5. Limit the hard paywall to the onboarding
There also can be something in-between hard and soft paywall.
For example, Kinedu has a hard paywall after onboarding where they indicate it is the “only chance” to get a free trial (and it actually is - at least until an email offer later on). However, upon re-opening the app, they show an offer. If that offer is closed, then there is some level of free access.
This does reduce the huge benefit of “focus” that a hard paywall brings, since you’re still getting some “free” users, but it’s an interesting middle ground.
6. Leverage Shortcut items to prevent uninstall
If people close your hard paywall and are about to uninstall, you have one more moment you can get them back: when they’re about to uninstall.
You can leverage Shortcut items to promote a discount or a longer trial period (or some “secret access”).
7. Have a strong money-back guarantee
You don’t control refunds for in-app purchases (yet), so it’s harder to pull off on mobile app paywalls than web funnel paywalls…but you can try getting people to convert by displaying an attractive money-back guarantee.
Reframe has the most compelling one I’ve seen: 200% money-back guarantee!
8. Give a preview/taste of the product during onboarding
Onboarding becomes crucial when you have a hard paywall.
If you manage to get people excited through a quick demo/preview, you might get them ready to pay right away.
I don’t have a good example of an app with a hard paywall doing this, but one app that came to mind is ReciMe. See this specific part of their onboarding below.
Another app that has something that could be leveraged for this kind of “preview” is Headspace: their current post-paywall experience (cf. below at 1:01).
Be careful that if you don’t execute this well, and the experience is nothing short of amazing, this will most likely backfire (i.e., you’ll get lower conversion rates). Often, it’s better to pitch and educate rather than show too much of the product…
9. Prompt for ratings during onboarding
To combat the fact that you might get less ratings with a hard paywall and penalize your store rankings, apps have been requesting ratings earlier and earlier, sometimes even during onboarding. It feels crazy to ask people for a rating before they experience the product, but it seems to work (until it maybe gets banned). Ask Steve Young.
If you have a hard paywall, it’s worth a shot. Having nailed the “preview”/taste mentioned above might go a long way.
I hope this helps you decide what to prioritize for maximum impact.
Stay curious!
— Sylvain
Chief Insights Miner at Growth Gems ⛏️
(Fractional) Head of Growth at Reading.com
Growth Consultant/Advisor for high-potential subscription apps (hit reply if you want to chat - bonus if you’re in Education, Meditation & Cooking categories)