3-day trial, then a higher weekly price: 8.3% to 15.0% conversion
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsLookLab AI moved from a hard weekly paywall to a 3-day free trial followed by a higher weekly price, and campaign conversion rose from 8.3% to 15.0%.
The AI headshot app tested two trial variants with different weekly prices against its hard paywall.
The result was published as a Superwall case study.
- Campaign conversion rate: 8.3% at launch versus 15.0% in the third campaign with the trial and higher price.
- The team judged the trial worth the risk and kept the higher weekly price.
- The actual prices, trial-to-paid rate and revenue per user were not shared.
The change
Hard paywall replaced by a 3-day trial and a higher weekly price
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
A hard paywall: a weekly subscription with 20 credits at a fixed price, with no free trial.
Variant
A 3-day free trial, then a weekly subscription at a higher price than the control.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Many users expect to try an AI photo app before paying, so a trial removes a key objection.
- A higher weekly price after the trial may balance out users who cancel before paying.
- Seeing their own results during the trial may make users more willing to pay the higher price.
Caveats: The 8.3% and 15.0% figures compare the launch campaign with the third campaign, not two arms running side by side, so timing and traffic may differ. No prices, sample sizes or significance were shared. Superwall sells the paywall and testing tool used here, and its published case studies can lean positive.
Who ran it
LookLab AI ran this test. Source: Superwall case study. The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
How to run this test on your app
- Hypothesis
- If we add a 3-day free trial and raise the weekly price, then paying users per install will rise because the trial lowers the barrier while the higher price protects revenue.
- Primary metric
- Proceeds per install over the first few weeks
- Guardrails
- Trial-to-paid conversion
- Refund rate
- Week-2 renewal rate
- Who should test it
- AI and photo apps on a hard weekly paywall where users want to see output before paying. It is riskier if trials are cheap to abuse, for example when each trial uses costly AI credits.
Questions
Does a free trial attract low-intent users?
It can, which is why LookLab paired the trial with a higher price and tracked ROI by cohort.
Judge trial tests on revenue, not on conversion alone.
Should we raise the price when we add a trial?
LookLab did, and kept it. Test the price on its own too, so you know which change drove the result.
Is comparing campaigns the same as an A/B test?
No. Campaigns run at different times can differ in traffic and season.
Run both versions at the same time to get a clean read.