Locking free content for three days cut OnSwitch purchases
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsOnSwitch locked some popular free scenes in its freemium lighting app for the first three days, then unlocked them with a push notification, and users bought less.
They came back slightly more often, but the purchase drop made it a loss.
OnSwitch ran the test using Apptimize, and it was published as a MarketingSherpa case study.
- Purchases: down. This is a negative result; no figure was shared.
- Return visits: slightly up, but not enough to make up for lost sales.
- OnSwitch repeated the test with different locked content and got similar results.
Control
New users of the freemium lighting app had all free scenes available from day one.
Variant
Some popular free scenes were locked for the first three days, then unlocked with a push notification to bring users back.
Why it likely lost
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Holding back free content may have made the first days feel less generous, which can weaken the urge to pay.
- The push brought people back, but a return visit is not the same as intent to buy.
- Users who got their favourite scenes late may have formed a weaker early habit with the app.
Caveats: No figures, sample sizes or durations were shared, and the source page is no longer online. Testing was done with the vendor Apptimize.
Who ran it
OnSwitch ran this test and published the results (MarketingSherpa case study). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on OnSwitch →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we delay some free content and unlock it with a push notification, then users will return and buy more because the unlock creates a reason to come back.
- Primary metric
- Purchases per new user
- Guardrails
- Day 7 retention
- Push opt-out rate
- Uninstall rate
- Who should test it
- Freemium apps looking for return triggers. Given this result, test it with care if your free tier is what drives early upgrades, and watch purchases, not just return visits.
Questions
Does locking free features increase engagement?
It may bring users back a little more, as OnSwitch saw.
But in that test, purchases fell, so return visits alone are the wrong metric to judge it by.
Are push notifications a good way to drive purchases?
They can bring users back, but this test shows a return visit does not always lead to a sale. Measure revenue as well as opens.