# Two-step paywall with a day-by-day trial timeline: +50% LTV

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Paywall (App)
- Elements: Free trials, Paywall design
- Date shared: 2026-02
- Test run by: [Pepper](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/pepper/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://superwall.com/case-studies/pepper
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/pepper-two-step-timeline-paywall/

Pepper raised LTV by 50% with a two-step paywall that showed the free trial as a day-by-day timeline. The recipe and cooking app first tested it on 5% of users, then scaled it to over half of its user base, where the gain held. The result was published as a Superwall case study.

## Result

**+50% LTV**

- LTV: +50% for the timeline paywall.
- It beat every other paywall design Pepper had tested.
- The LTV gain held after rollout grew from 5% to over 50% of users.
- Sample size, duration and conversion rates were not shared.

## Control

Traditional single-screen paywalls that the team had already tweaked with subheader and highlight changes.

## Variant

A two-step paywall flow, with a timeline laying out what happens on each day of the free trial.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Showing when the trial ends and when billing starts may build trust and reduce surprise cancellations.
- A two-step flow gives more room to explain value than a single crowded screen.
- After small copy tweaks had stalled, a new format gave users a different reason to commit.

## Caveats

No sample size, duration or significance was shared, and how LTV was measured is not described. Superwall sells the paywall and testing tool used here, and its published case studies can lean positive.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we add a second paywall step that shows the trial as a day-by-day timeline, then LTV will rise because users understand the commitment and start trials with more intent.
- Primary metric: LTV (or proceeds per user) per paywall view
- Guardrail: Trial start rate
- Guardrail: Trial-to-paid conversion
- Guardrail: Refund rate
- Who should test it: Apps with a free trial whose paywall tests have stalled on small copy changes. It matters less for apps without a trial or with very short sessions where an extra step may lose people.

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Credit: Pepper ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/pepper-two-step-timeline-paywall/).
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.