# All content locked behind the subscription: more paid subscribers

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Paywall (App)
- Elements: Freemium limits
- Date shared: 2023-06
- Test run by: [Headspace](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/headspace/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://www.revenuecat.com/blog/growth/podcast-shreya-oswal-keya-patel-headspace/
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/headspace-fully-locked-content/

Locking all content behind the subscription led to a significant rise in paid subscribers for Headspace, a meditation app. Shreya Oswal of Headspace described the A/B test on the Sub Club podcast, written up on the RevenueCat blog. No figures were shared.

## Result

**Significant rise in paid subscribers**

- Paid subscribers rose significantly. No percentage was shared.
- Trial users in the locked variant showed higher content engagement than before.
- Headspace did not report a wave of complaints when it locked more content in earlier tests.

## Control

Some meditation content was free, so free users could keep coming back to it without hitting a paywall.

## Variant

All content was locked. Users needed to start a free trial to access any of it.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Some free users kept replaying the same free sessions and never saw the full value of a subscription.
- Locked icons are familiar from apps like Spotify, so users accepted them.
- Starting a trial is a commitment, and users who commit tend to explore the library more.

## Caveats

No numbers, sample size or duration were shared. Earlier rounds of locking focused on newer users who had no habit with the free content.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we lock all content behind a free trial, then more users will become paid subscribers because every session shows the subscription's value and asks for a commitment.
- Primary metric: Paid subscribers per new user
- Guardrail: Trial start rate
- Guardrail: Content sessions per trial user
- Guardrail: Day-7 retention and complaints
- Who should test it: Content apps with a deep library, especially for new users who have no free habit yet. It is riskier for apps that rely on free users for word of mouth or ad revenue.

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Credit: Headspace ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/headspace-fully-locked-content/).
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.