Hard vs soft paywall: Peptalk's A/B test

The bottom line

Letting users watch 10 seconds of a premium video before showing the paywall converted much better than an intermediate detail screen. A soft preview gets users to taste the content first, which cut the drop-off at Peptalk's paywall.

Key takeaways

Variant B, a 10-second preview before the paywall, beat Variant A significantly. The text reports that B's conversion rates overtook A's.
- B played the video for 10 seconds, then asked "Enjoying our exclusive video content?"
- The paywall appeared only after the "Continue to Watch" CTA was tapped.
The test targeted a paywall with a big conversion drop-off. It showed when free users tried to play a premium video.
Variant A added an info screen but still sent users straight to the paywall. It gave more detail about the video without letting users watch any of it.
- The screen was modeled on Netflix's autoplay snippets shown on hover.

The problem and the two variants

Variant B lets users watch before hitting the paywall

Both paths end at the same paywall, but only B lets the user experience the content before it appears.

Peptalk tested two ways to soften the paywall that blocks premium video for free members.

The paywall that appeared on premium video play had a significant conversion drop-off.
- It triggered when a free member tried to play a premium video.
Variant A put an intermediate screen with video details before the paywall.
- It worked like Netflix's autoplay snippets when hovering over content.
- Tapping "Watch Now" led to the paywall.
Variant B let the video play for 10 seconds before the paywall.
- A message then asked "Enjoying our exclusive video content?"
- Clicking "Continue to Watch" opened the paywall.

Version A and version B as Peptalk tested them. Screens from abtest.design.

Result

A 10-second taste beat an info screen

	Variant A: info screen	Variant B: 10s preview
Before paywall	Video details screen	10 seconds of the video
Content experienced	None	A real taste
CTA	Watch Now	Continue to Watch
Conversion	Lower	Significantly higher

Peptalk reported that B's conversion overtook A's significantly but did not publish exact figures.

Variant B clearly outperformed Variant A on conversion.

Conversion rates with B overtook A significantly.
- The text gives no exact figures.

In the growth library

Peptalk, Paywall & free trial test. A paywall test on Peptalk compared an intermediate video details screen before the paywall against letting the premium video play for 10 seconds before the paywall appeared. The preview-first variant significantly beat the details-screen variant on conversion, though no exact numbers were shared.

Lessons that draw on this: