Paywall moved to the start of onboarding: revenue up 5x
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsRootd moved its paywall from later in the app to the very start of onboarding, and revenue grew 5x.
Rootd, a panic attack and anxiety relief app, made the change in 2020; founder Ania Wysocka told the story on Sub Club, and it was later published on the RevenueCat blog.
This was a before-and-after change, not a split test.
- Revenue: up 5x after the move. This is the only number shared.
- User reaction: the founder reported almost no negative feedback, since people are used to seeing paywalls early.
- Not shared: trial start rate, trial-to-paid, refunds, retention, sample size or how long the before and after periods ran.
The change
The paywall becomes the first onboarding screen instead of appearing later in the app.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The paywall was kept out of the early journey. The founder worried that a paywall up front would get in the way of users who wanted relief right away.
Variant
The paywall was moved to the beginning of onboarding, so every new user saw the offer before going further.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Many users never reached a paywall placed later in the app. Putting it first means every install sees the offer at least once.
- Right after install is when intent is highest. A user who just downloaded an anxiety app has a clear reason to want it to work.
- The fear of putting users off seems to have been overstated. Paywalls early in onboarding were already common, so the screen felt normal.
- Other things may have changed in the same period. A before-and-after comparison can't separate the paywall move from seasonality or traffic mix.
Caveats: This is a before-and-after change retold from a Sub Club podcast episode, not a controlled A/B test, and the test design, sample and duration were not shared.
Who ran it
Rootd 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 at the start of onboarding instead of later in the app, then revenue per install will rise because every new user sees the offer while intent is highest.
- Primary metric
- Revenue per install (or install-to-paid conversion)
- Guardrails
- Onboarding completion rate
- Trial-to-paid conversion
- Day-7 and day-30 retention
- Who should test it
- Apps whose current paywall is reached by only a share of new users, or is hidden behind feature use. It may fit less well if the app needs to deliver value before the user can judge it, or if a big share of revenue comes from users who convert weeks later.
Questions
Won't a paywall at the start of onboarding scare users away?
Rootd's founder reported almost no negative feedback. Still, track onboarding completion and make the close button easy to find, so users who aren't ready can continue.
Is a 5x revenue lift typical?
No. This was one app, measured before and after, so treat it as a strong signal to test rather than an expected outcome.
Should I remove the later paywalls once I add one up front?
Not necessarily. Many apps show the paywall in several places and then remove them one at a time while watching revenue.
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