When you're an indie developer, often times the last thing on your mind is experiments or price testing. Between coming up with marketing assets, developing features, or writing a new blog post — your time is quickly claimed.
Today, though, I want to encourage you to shift your mindset. This week, dedicate some time to run at least one experiment to improve your app.
If you're new to this, it can be intimidating to know where to start. In this post, I've teamed up with our growth expert, Nick, and he's helped me identify three time-tested experiments to try. These "starter" experiments can get you going in the right direction, and more importantly — you'll start to develop a growth mindset.
Let's jump in.
The preamble: set up products in App Store Connect or Google Play
As we'll see, many of these tests revolve around price points, subscription length, or trial duration. You want options here. As I've written on my own personal blog before, indies tend to underprice their work. So to begin, go and setup around three or four different products that you will use to test.
For example:
Annual/One Week Free/$39.99
Annual/3 Days Free/$39.99
Annual/No Trial/$29.99
Annual/One Week Free/$49.99
I do want to call out the whole subscription group topic. If you're unfamiliar with them, it basically comes down to this question: Are you okay with users seeing all of your subscriptions you have available for testing? If not, you can segment them by subscription groups. While the topic is more nuanced than that, for our purposes - this mental model should work just fine.
In this image, the app on the left only shows the products available in a given subscription group. On the right, only one subscription group is used — which is why you can see all of the different products available:
Over at Superwall, we've got folks who share different views on this. Some see having them all in one group as a competitive advantage, as the savvy user who knows to look for them can downgrade to a less expensive plan instead of churning. Superwall supports either way, so the choice is up to you.
One last thing before we get to the tests to try. In Superwall, experiments are built-in. There are no configurations to make, a setup, or a wizard to go through. Simply put different products, copy, designs — whatever change you want to test — on your paywalls and then allocate traffic to them. That's literally it, now you're running an experiment!
1. Test different free trial variations
The easiest, and often times most impactful, place to start? Your trial length. Offering a free trial lets users get to that first "Aha!" moment, driving home the value that your app provides or the problem that it solves. Our data clearly shows that the specifics of the trial impact conversion rates.
Here's what to test:
Vary Trial Length: Experiment with shorter or longer trials to find the sweet spot for user conversion.
Offer Trials on One or Both Plans: Offering a trial on just one plan will drive more users to select that option. So, try showing a trial only for your highest LTV (lifetime value) product. You can also also try other configurations to see which drives more overall conversions.
Adjust Trials Based on LTV: For products with a lower LTV, a shorter trial might be sufficient. For higher LTV products, extending the trial period could give users more time to experience the benefits and reach the habit moment, leading to better retention.
To do this in Superwall:
Add in all of the products you want to test.
Create two paywalls (or, duplicate one that you already are using).
Assign the products to test in each respective paywall.
Allocate traffic to them (either 50/50, 60/40, etc).
2. Add magic phrases for increased trust
The right copy on your paywall is a secret weapon that many indies overlook. Indies (myself included!) tend to list facts instead of telling stories or using powerful, converting phrases. Since the wording on your paywall can make all the difference, it's another good test to try.
We often see copy that ends up driving conversions fall into two categories:
1. It drives home a feature effectively: Think of the original iPod. One classic example of this kind of copy is how Apple marketed it as "1,000s of songs in your pocket" instead of saying something like "Over 10GB of storage."
2. Or, it breeds confidence: Indifference can plummet conversion rates. If someone isn't sure if they are about to be charged, or how long their trial is, whatever the reason - they'll leave. So, this copy reassures users of the action they are about to take.
While writing the copy of a feature of your app is a unique challenge you'll have, here are some reassuring phrases we've seen to help reduce hesitation and build trust with potential subscribers:
“No payment due now”: Emphasizes that users can start using the app without upfront payment when you offer a trial.
“No commitment, cancel anytime”: Reinforces that users have control and can easily cancel if needed.
These small tweaks can make users feel more comfortable about starting a trial or subscription.
In Superwall, you can do the same as we did before to test this. If you have a paywall you like, simply duplicate it and add one of these phrases to start a test. Wait a week or two (depending on your volume) and see how it stacks up:
3. Use a trial timeline design
Continuing on with instilling user confidence, alleviating the perceived risk of starting a free trial is crucial. Adding a trial timeline design clearly shows how long the trial will last, when users will be billed, and spells out exactly what they get.
In short, it helps set clear expectations. Blinkist was the first app to pioneer this, and since then — Apple has since sanctioned it as a recommended pattern:
In Superwall, we even have a built-in component specifically for this. Just choose "Timeline" under "Snippets" when adding a component to your paywall. This design is the next logical test to try. Put the "timeline trial" paywall up against your control, and see if conversions lift.
Wrap up
Remember, these are your "starter" experiments. Whether you try these out, or something else, the best thing you can do to grow revenue is to simply start testing things! Designs, copy, pricing, trials, there are an infinite number of levers to try and pull. Thankfully, Superwall is the easiest way to test all of them.
If you haven't signed up for a free account, you can do that here and get started with testing out paywalls in about ten minutes flat.
Happy testing!
