# How Pepper achieved a 50% lifetime value increase with a wild card timeline paywall

> How Pepper achieved a 50% lifetime value increase with a wild card timeline paywall

Source: https://superwall.com/case-studies/pepper

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February 12, 2026 

#  How Pepper achieved a 50% lifetime value increase with a wild card timeline paywall 

How Pepper achieved a 50% lifetime value increase with a wild card timeline paywall

![Pepper app icon](https://superwall.com/_astro/icon.BNb6_Kvp_Z2dPlAJ.webp) 

Pepper [ View on the App Store ](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pepper-recipe-organizer/id1583947369?uo=4) 

TL;DR

 Pepper, a cooking app for home cooks, had stalled on lifetime value despite testing multiple traditional paywalls. Using Superwall, the team deployed a "wild card" two-step timeline paywall to just 5% of users. Because it outperformed every other design, they scaled it to over 50% of the user base — boosting LTV by half, and sustaining that growth at scale. 

 Pepper is a cooking app designed for home cooks to save, organize, and share recipes. The team needed to find a paywall design that would increase conversion and, consequently, the lifetime value of their users, which had stalled. They tested a "wild card" paywall design using Superwall's platform that changed how the subscription was presented to the user — for the better. 

## The challenge

 Pepper had stalled with their current paywall designs. The team had run into design fatigue: they had tested multiple traditional paywalls, making simple changes to subheader text and highlights, but couldn't seem to budge LTV. 

 That led to a new hypothesis. They suspected the entire presentation format was off, and wanted to try something different that better explained their value. But testing a new, multi-step "timeline" design was a high-risk change, so they wanted to try it on a small cohort before deploying widely. 

## The solution

 Pepper deployed a two-step paywall flow that gave more clarity into the free trial commitment. The timeline paywall presented the trial commitment as a clear timeline, outlining what happens each day. 

 To mitigate the risk of a large drop in performance, this "wild card" paywall was initially tested on only 5% of users. Because the new paywall outperformed all other designs, they scaled to over 50% of the user base. 

 The new design focused on commitment clarity, proving that showing users the entire lifecycle of the trial built trust and led to higher-quality sign-ups. 

## The results

 The "wild card" timeline paywall led to a massive, sustainable increase in performance: 

* LTV increased: the timeline paywall boosted LTV by half, showing that initial clarity led to later commitment.
* Higher baseline: the timeline design outperformed every other paywall tested, providing a baseline for new iterations.
* Sustained growth: LTV was sustained after moving the paywall to a larger user base, confirming long-term profitability.

 Is your traditional paywall stuck at a performance ceiling? Pepper's results show that the answer isn't always another minor copy tweak — sometimes it's testing a radically new, high-impact design format that delivers a massive LTV increase. 

##  More case studies 

| February 8, 2026 | [ How Preu AI increased proceeds per user by 80% with strategic annual plan anchoring ](https://superwall.com/case-studies/preu-ai)  | ![](https://superwall.com/_astro/icon.BwuI8dKU_tOjdq.webp) Preu AI   |
| ---------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- |
| January 30, 2026 | [ How Planner 5D boosted revenue per user by 83% through optimal pricing ](https://superwall.com/case-studies/planner-5d)            | ![](https://superwall.com/_astro/icon.D8veHGB2_6Wdn.webp) Planner 5D |
| January 26, 2026 | [ How Rizz App boosted onboarding conversion by 10% with an intentional two-step flow ](https://superwall.com/case-studies/rizz-god) | ![](https://superwall.com/_astro/icon.CAdsxurF_2daDVD.webp) Rizz God |

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