Flow
A subscription app with a long onboarding, a chat-style Q&A step and a post-trial discount offer.
Where Flow comes up2 episodes and tests
App MastersThe Paywall Strategy That Increased Conversions by 56%
App MastersApp Monetization Tactics No One Is Talking AboutFlow pairs a long chat-style onboarding with sign-up after the paywall and a discounted second offer: 30% off drops yearly from about $60 to $39.99. No conversion data was shown for any of it. One tested point: its web checkout underperformed Apple's default flow. Lesson: try post-paywall sign-up and discount offers, but keep native checkout and measure your own results.
- 1Chat-style onboardingQ&A with selectable answers, no Continue slides
- 2Free trial promptShown after onboarding
- 3Starters get 30% offAbout $60 yearly becomes $39.99
- 4Decliners get discounted offerEven 10% converting is a net gain
From Steve P. Young, via LinkedIn example
What was said about Flow
1Flow's discount offers around the free trial
Flow offers 30% off right after the trial starts. Flow starts the trial, then shows a 'free gift' of 30% off that moves the user from a yearly plan of about $60 to one at $39.99. The idea is to try it when trial-to-paid is low, after checking whether the lower price nets more revenue at your own rate.
Apple handles the switch if both plans sit in the same subscription group. Steve P. Young has no data on it and shared it as an interesting example he saw on LinkedIn.
ReciMe's paywall exit flow: hitting X triggers a one-time offer with a bonus 14-day free trial. A second offer for decliners pays off even if only 10% convert. After onboarding and the free trial prompt, Flow shows a discounted offer to people who said no. Steve's math is that if trial-to-paid is below the industry average of 30 to 40%, even 10% converting on the discount is a net gain.
He has no data on whether it works and flags it as a test to run. Quote: "if I can get, let's say, 10% to convert on this discounted offer, I'm actually winning."
2Flow's chat-style onboarding and sign-up order
Flow runs a chat-style Q&A inside a long onboarding. A small chat feature explains what the app does and asks what the user is interested in, with selectable answers, instead of repeated slides with a Continue button. Steve heard from other clients and founders that this lifts conversions.
No figures were shown. He says it is hard to build, though AI may make it easier, and that longer onboardings tend to work in health and fitness. Quote: "this chat feature that you have right here actually increases conversions."
Reverse trial flow: trial users see 'Welcome to PRO', others get 'Enjoy a week of PRO on us'. Flow asks for sign-up after the paywall, not before. Account registration comes after the paywall in Flow's onboarding. Steve says asking for sign-up after the paywall has tested better than asking before it.
He gives no numbers. Quote: "asking for registration or sign-up after the paywall actually performs better."
3Flow's web checkout
Flow's web checkout probably loses to Apple's default subscription flow. Tapping start free trial in Flow opens a web checkout. Steve's team has seen web checkout perform worse than the default Apple subscription checkout.
No numbers were given. Quote: "We've seen this actually perform worse than just using the default Apple subscription checkout flow."
The Paywall Strategy That Increased Conversions by 56%
Starts the trial, then shows a 'free gift' of 30% off that moves the yearly plan from about $60 to $39.99 within one subscription group. Its long chat-style onboarding is said to help conversions, though no data was shown.
Flow offers 30% off right after the trial starts. Flow starts the trial, then shows a 'free gift' of 30% off that moves the user from a yearly plan of about $60 to one at $39.99. The idea is to try it when trial-to-paid is low, after checking whether the lower price nets more revenue at your own rate.
Apple handles the switch if both plans sit in the same subscription group. Steve P. Young has no data on it and shared it as an interesting example he saw on LinkedIn.
ReciMe's paywall exit flow: hitting X triggers a one-time offer with a bonus 14-day free trial. Flow runs a chat-style Q&A inside a long onboarding. A small chat feature explains what the app does and asks what the user is interested in, with selectable answers, instead of repeated slides with a Continue button. Steve heard from other clients and founders that this lifts conversions.
No figures were shown. He says it is hard to build, though AI may make it easier, and that longer onboardings tend to work in health and fitness. Quote: "this chat feature that you have right here actually increases conversions."
Reverse trial flow: trial users see 'Welcome to PRO', others get 'Enjoy a week of PRO on us'.
App Monetization Tactics No One Is Talking About
Its trial button opens a web checkout, which tests showed performing worse than Apple's default subscription flow. It puts sign-up after the paywall in a chat-style onboarding and shows a second offer after the chat questions.
A second offer for decliners pays off even if only 10% convert. After onboarding and the free trial prompt, Flow shows a discounted offer to people who said no. Steve's math is that if trial-to-paid is below the industry average of 30 to 40%, even 10% converting on the discount is a net gain.
He has no data on whether it works and flags it as a test to run. Quote: "if I can get, let's say, 10% to convert on this discounted offer, I'm actually winning."
Flow runs a chat-style Q&A inside a long onboarding. A small chat feature explains what the app does and asks what the user is interested in, with selectable answers, instead of repeated slides with a Continue button. Steve heard from other clients and founders that this lifts conversions.
No figures were shown. He says it is hard to build, though AI may make it easier, and that longer onboardings tend to work in health and fitness. Quote: "this chat feature that you have right here actually increases conversions."
Reverse trial flow: trial users see 'Welcome to PRO', others get 'Enjoy a week of PRO on us'. Flow asks for sign-up after the paywall, not before. Account registration comes after the paywall in Flow's onboarding. Steve says asking for sign-up after the paywall has tested better than asking before it.
He gives no numbers. Quote: "asking for registration or sign-up after the paywall actually performs better."
Flow's web checkout probably loses to Apple's default subscription flow. Tapping start free trial in Flow opens a web checkout. Steve's team has seen web checkout perform worse than the default Apple subscription checkout.
No numbers were given. Quote: "We've seen this actually perform worse than just using the default Apple subscription checkout flow."
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