Price doubled to $9.99 with a new feature: better revenue overall
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsTalkingParents doubled its tier price from $4.99 to $9.99 and launched transcribed calls with it, and the change paid off overall even though about a quarter of customers churned.
CEO Vince Mayfield shared it on the Sub Club podcast, and it was written up on the RevenueCat blog.
It was a price rise for everyone, not a split test.
- Price rose 100%, from $4.99 to $9.99.
- Around a quarter of the customer base churned at first. This is a negative signal worth planning for.
- Despite the churn, the company says it came out better financially. No revenue figure was shared.
- Later, TalkingParents added a higher tier at $24.99.
The change
Price doubles to $9.99 and the tier adds transcribed calls.
Simplified mockup drawn by LiftArchive from the shared screenshots.
Control
The co-parenting app's paid tier cost $4.99.
Variant
The same tier cost $9.99 and came with a new feature: transcribed, accountable calls between parents.
Why it likely won
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- Call transcripts matter to parents who may need proof of communication in legal cases, so the new feature justified the price.
- The feature had a real cost to run, and users could see why the price went up.
- When price doubles, revenue can grow even if a large share of customers leaves.
Caveats: Before-after: the price rose for all users at once, so there is no control group, and the new feature launched at the same time. Exact revenue change and timing were not shared.
Who ran it
TalkingParents 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 raise the price alongside a feature users value, then revenue will rise because the extra value offsets the price and limits churn.
- Primary metric
- Revenue per paywall view (new users) and total MRR (existing users)
- Guardrails
- Churn of existing subscribers
- Paywall conversion for new users
- Refund requests and support tickets
- Who should test it
- Apps that are clearly underpriced, with strong retention and a meaningful new feature to launch. It is risky for apps with weak retention or price-sensitive users who respond well to discounts.
Questions
How much churn is acceptable after a price increase?
It depends on the size of the increase.
With a 100% rise, revenue can still grow even if a large share leaves, as TalkingParents found with about a quarter churning.
Should I raise prices for existing users or only new ones?
Raising for new users first is safer and can be split-tested.
TalkingParents raised prices across the customer base, which is why churn showed up.
Does pairing a price rise with a feature help?
Many teams find it makes the increase easier to accept, because users can see what they get for the higher price.