# Win-back trial offer for churned users: +240% trial starts

- Outcome: Won
- Page type: Retention (App)
- Elements: Win back, Free trials
- Date shared: 2025-12
- Test run by: [Unscripted](https://liftarchive.com/practitioners/unscripted/)
- Commentary by: LiftArchive (our analysis, not theirs)
- Original source: https://superwall.com/case-studies/unscripted
- Page: https://liftarchive.com/test/unscripted-reactivation-trial-offer/

Showing churned users a personal paywall with an extra 7-day free trial lifted trial starts by over 240% and nearly doubled proceeds per user. Unscripted, a photography poses and business app, ran this win-back experiment. It was published as a Superwall case study.

## Result

**Over +240% trial starts**

- Trial start rate: up over 240% for the churned-user cohort.
- Trial conversion rate: up over 30%, so the extra trials were not just low-quality sign-ups.
- Proceeds per user: nearly doubled for the reactivated cohort.
- New users kept the standard paywall, so these numbers apply only to churned users who were still active in the app.

## Control

Returning users who had cancelled saw the standard paywall. The source does not describe it in detail.

## Variant

Active users who had unsubscribed saw a paywall that used their name, offered an extra 7-day free trial, laid out the renewal timeline and showed several plans.

## Why it likely won (our reading)

- Users who keep opening the app after cancelling still see value. A fresh trial removes the cost of trying again.
- Using their name makes the offer feel aimed at them rather than generic.
- A clear renewal timeline may lower the fear of being charged by surprise, which matters for people who cancelled before.
- Several changes shipped together (targeting, personal copy, trial, timeline), so the lift can't be tied to any one of them.

## Caveats

The variant bundled targeting, personal copy, an extra trial and a renewal timeline, and the control is not described precisely. Sample size and duration were not shared, and the case study was published by Superwall, which sells the paywall testing tool used.

## How to run this test

- Hypothesis: If we show churned but still-active users a personal paywall with a fresh free trial and a clear renewal timeline, then more of them will resubscribe because the offer lowers the risk of coming back.
- Primary metric: Trial start rate among churned active users
- Guardrail: Trial-to-paid conversion
- Guardrail: Proceeds per user
- Guardrail: Repeat churn after the trial
- Who should test it: Apps with a free tier or lapsed users who still open the app. It won't help much if churned users stop opening the app, since they never see the paywall.

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Credit: Unscripted ran this test and owns the result. Summary and commentary by LiftArchive (https://liftarchive.com/test/unscripted-reactivation-trial-offer/).
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.