# In-app tips, upgrade offers and a setup wizard: +150% trial sign-ups

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Onboarding (SaaS)
- Elements: Personalization, Onboarding
- Test run by: [Brainshark](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/brainshark/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/personalized-marketing
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/brainshark-in-app-personalized-messaging/

Brainshark added targeted in-app and on-site messages plus a three-step setup wizard, and free-trial sign-ups for its enterprise product rose 150%. Registrations for its freemium product, myBrainshark, rose 15%. Brainshark ran this itself with the personalization vendor Evergage, and it was published as a MarketingSherpa case study; many changes went live together, so no single message gets the credit.

## Result

**+150% trial sign-ups**

- +150% free-trial sign-ups for the enterprise product.
- +15% myBrainshark registrations, driven by content download and webinar offers.
- More than $1.1 million in sales pipeline influenced, as reported by Brainshark.
- These are campaign results, not a single controlled split test. No sample sizes or durations were shared.

## Control

Freemium and free-trial users got no targeted guidance inside the product, and site visitors saw the same offers no matter what they had looked at.

## Variant

Freemium users saw tips and prompts to upload content or add audio, plus upgrade offers. SlideShark trial users got a three-step setup wizard with checkmarks, and site visitors saw offers tailored to the solution area they browsed.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Brainshark used its usage data to find where new users got stuck, such as never uploading a presentation, and aimed messages at those points.
- A short wizard with visible progress helps trial users reach value before a time-limited trial runs out.
- Offers matched to what a visitor was already reading are more relevant than generic banners.
- Upgrade prompts shown to engaged free users reach people who already see the product's value.

## Caveats

Bundled: in-app tips, upgrade prompts, a setup wizard and personalized site offers all launched as one program, so the result can't be pinned on one element. Figures are vendor-assisted and self-reported, and no test design or sample sizes were shared.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we show new users a short setup checklist and targeted in-app prompts at the steps where they usually stall, then more will reach the key action and start a paid trial because they get value sooner.
- Primary metric: Trial sign-ups or free-to-paid upgrade rate
- Guardrail: Activation rate (first key action completed)
- Guardrail: Prompt dismissal rate
- Guardrail: Support tickets or complaints about pop-ups
- Who should test it: SaaS companies with a freemium plan or free trial where analytics show clear drop-off steps. It is less useful if you have little traffic or no data on where users stall.

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Credit: Brainshark ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/brainshark-in-app-personalized-messaging/).
Usage: Free to use, quote and build on, with credit and a link: name the practitioner or organization that ran the test and link to its LiftArchive page. The results belong to the practitioners who ran and shared them; the summaries and commentary are LiftArchive's.