# Onboarding rebuilt on Jobs-to-be-Done research: +20% ARPU

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Onboarding (App)
- Elements: Onboarding quizzes
- Date shared: 2024-10
- Test run by: [Applica](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/applica/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://www.revenuecat.com/blog/growth/five-minute-journal-onboarding-redesign-arpu/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/five-minute-journal-jtbd-onboarding/

A redesigned onboarding flow built on Jobs-to-be-Done research lifted ARPU by 20% for Five Minute Journal (p = 0.04). Applica, a growth agency, ran the A/B test and wrote it up on the RevenueCat blog. Several changes shipped together, so no single change gets the credit.

## Result

**+20% ARPU; about +10% trial starts and +14% trial conversions**

- ARPU: +20%, with p = 0.04.
- Trial starts: about +10%.
- Trial conversions: about +14%.
- All three metrics moved up together, so the gain was not just more low-quality trials.

## Control

Five Minute Journal's older onboarding flow, which had not been updated in a while and lost users along the way.

## Variant

A new flow shaped by research into why people use the app. It tailored content to the user's goals, showed testimonials early and framed benefits from the user's side instead of listing features.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Framing the app around the user's own goal, such as building a daily habit, makes the trial feel relevant.
- Testimonials early in the flow may build trust before the paywall.
- Showing outcomes instead of features helps users picture the benefit. These effects are bundled, so we can't rank them.

## Caveats

Bundled: personalisation, social proof and new copy shipped together. Sample size and duration were not shared, and it is an agency case study on a vendor blog.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we rebuild onboarding around the jobs users hire our app to do, with testimonials and benefit-led copy, then ARPU will rise, because users see how the app solves their problem before the paywall.
- Primary metric: ARPU per new user
- Guardrail: Onboarding completion rate
- Guardrail: Trial-to-paid conversion
- Guardrail: Day-1 retention
- Who should test it: Habit and wellness apps with an outdated onboarding and room for user research. Expect two to three months of work, so it fits less well if you need a quick win.

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Credit: Applica ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/five-minute-journal-jtbd-onboarding/).
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.