# Trial timeline paywall: +13.6% conversion, trial-to-paid held

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Paywall (App)
- Elements: Free trials
- Date shared: 2024-09
- Test run by: [Stardust](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/stardust/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://superwall.com/blog/how-stardust-increased-ios-app-revenue-by-4x-in-six-weeks
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/stardust-trial-timeline-design/

A paywall with a trial timeline design raised conversion by 13.6% over Stardust's video background paywall, with no drop in trial-to-paid. Stardust, a cycle and pregnancy tracking app, ran this A/B test. The case study was published on the Superwall blog.

## Result

**+13.6% conversion; trial-to-paid unchanged**

- Paywall conversion: +13.6% versus the video background paywall. More users started a trial.
- Trial-to-paid conversion: unchanged (flat). The extra trial starts did not convert worse.
- Across all four of Stardust's tests, Superwall reports paywall conversion up 465%, install-to-paid up 252% and proceeds per user up 408% over the original paywall.

## Control

The control was the previous winner: a video background paywall with a 7-day free trial on the $24.99 yearly plan, a yearly discount badge and weekly equivalent pricing.

## Variant

A trial timeline design that lays out what happens during the free trial. The source does not describe the timeline steps.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- A timeline makes the trial terms clear: when it starts, when you get a reminder, when you pay. That can ease the fear of a surprise charge.
- Because the timeline is honest about billing, it likely brought in users who meant to stay, which fits the flat trial-to-paid rate.
- It built on a paywall with tuned pricing, so the design change only had to remove the last doubts.

## Caveats

Sample size, duration and the exact timeline design were not shared. The 465% overall gain stacks four tests and is not from this test alone. Superwall published this and also sells the paywall tool used, so the write-up may lean positive.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we show a timeline of the free trial on the paywall, then more users will start a trial because they know exactly when and how they'll be billed.
- Primary metric: Trial start rate
- Guardrail: Trial-to-paid
- Guardrail: Refund rate
- Guardrail: Proceeds per user
- Who should test it: Apps that offer a free trial and auto-renew into a paid plan. It's less useful if you don't offer a trial or your trial is very short.

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Credit: Stardust ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/stardust-trial-timeline-design/).
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.