Paywall in onboarding for all, plus gated reminders: ~+400% trials
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsGreg, a plant care app, began showing its paywall to every user in onboarding and put watering reminders behind the subscription, and trial sign-ups rose about 400%.
Greg ran the change, and CEO and founder Alex Ross described it on the RevenueCat blog.
Two changes shipped together, so the lift belongs to both.
- Trial sign-ups: about +400%.
- Sign-up-to-trial conversion: from 3% to 15%, a 5x rise.
- Trial-to-paid, revenue and retention were not shared, so we can't tell how many extra trials paid.
- Sample size and duration were not shared.
The change
No paywall until the sixth plant vs a paywall in onboarding with gated reminders
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The paywall appeared only when a user added a sixth plant. Free users could track up to five plants.
Variant
Every user saw the paywall during onboarding. Monetization moved from usage-based to feature-based: watering reminders, even for one plant, required a subscription.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Under the old rule most users never added six plants, so they never saw the paywall at all.
- Gating reminders tied the price to the feature people most need from a plant app.
- Showing price early sets expectations; users who will never pay may leave sooner, but they weren't paying anyway.
Caveats: Two changes were made at once, and the source does not say whether it was a split test. Only trial metrics were shared, not paid conversion.
Who ran it
Greg ran this test. Source: RevenueCat blog. The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
How to run this test on your app
- Hypothesis
- If we show the paywall to everyone in onboarding and gate the feature users rely on most, then trial starts will rise because every user sees the offer and has a clear reason to start.
- Primary metric
- Install-to-trial rate
- Guardrails
- Trial-to-paid conversion
- Day-7 retention of non-subscribers
- App store rating
- Who should test it
- Apps with a usage-based paywall that few users ever reach, and one clear must-have feature to gate. Apps whose free tier drives word of mouth may lose more than they gain.
Questions
Should the paywall come before or after users see value?
Greg's result suggests showing it early to everyone, then letting them continue.
If almost no one hits a usage limit, almost no one sees your offer.
Usage-based or feature-based gating?
Greg moved to feature-based gating on its most useful feature, reminders.
Usage limits can work, but only if users reach them.
Does a 400% rise in trials mean 400% more revenue?
No. Greg did not share trial-to-paid figures, so track paid conversion and refunds before calling it.
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