Yearly first, other plans in a 'More Pricing' drawer: lost
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsLeading with the yearly plan and hiding the weekly plan behind a "More Pricing" drawer lost on both paywall conversion and proceeds per user.
Stardust, a cycle and pregnancy tracking app, ran this test on its paywall.
The case study was published on the Superwall blog.
- Paywall conversion: lower than control (negative). Exact figures were not shared.
- Proceeds per user: lower than control (negative). Exact figures were not shared.
- In the same test, a third variant that showed only the yearly plan also lost on both metrics.
- The winner of this test added a discount percentage on the yearly plan and weekly equivalent pricing: +50% conversion and +62.5% proceeds per user.
The change
Weekly plan moved from the main view into a 'More Pricing' drawer.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The paywall showed both plans plainly: $24.99 per year and $2.99 per week, with price and duration only.
Variant
The paywall led with the yearly plan. Users had to tap a "More Pricing" button to open a drawer that showed both options. Prices stayed the same.
Why it likely lost
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Hiding the cheaper plan adds a tap. Some users who wanted a low-commitment option may have left instead of looking for it.
- With only one price in view, users had nothing to compare the yearly plan against, so it may have looked less like a deal.
- The winning variant did the opposite: it kept both plans visible and made the yearly saving explicit.
Caveats: No numbers were shared for this variant, only that it lost. Superwall published this and also sells the paywall tool used, so the write-up may lean positive.
Who ran it
Stardust ran this test. Source: Superwall 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 lead with the yearly plan and put other plans behind a 'More Pricing' tap, then more users will pick yearly because the default is clearer.
- Primary metric
- Proceeds per paywall viewer
- Guardrails
- Paywall conversion
- Yearly plan share
- Trial-to-paid
- Who should test it
- Apps with a strong yearly plan and many plan options that clutter the paywall. With only two plans, this test suggests keeping both visible and showing the yearly saving instead.
Questions
Should I hide my weekly or monthly plan to push yearly?
Not without testing. In Stardust's test, hiding the second plan behind a drawer lost on conversion and on proceeds per user.
What worked better for Stardust?
Keeping both plans visible, adding a discount percentage to the yearly plan and showing its weekly equivalent price.
That variant raised proceeds per user by 62.5%.
Does a single-plan paywall ever win?
It can for some apps, but Stardust's yearly-only variant also lost in this test.
Measure proceeds per user, not just yearly share.