📲 Try a long paywall
Stop following best practices to start winning
Hey there, it’s Jacob at Retention.Blog 🌊
I got tired of reading high-level strategy articles, so I started writing actionable advice I would want to read.
Every Tuesday I share practical learnings you can apply to your business.
The best PMs and marketers know best practices are garbage
Best practices say to keep your paywall to one page, keep your paywall simple, keep it concise…
Stop following best practices: Try a long paywall
Imprint is Google’s Best App of 2023 and they have 8-9 pages of scrollable content
AllTrails is Apple’s App of the Year and has an ultra-long comparison chart you need to scroll through
Duolingo is…Duolingo and has four screens you need to tap through before a purchase
Imprint’s Paywall:
Want to see more paywalls? Check out the long AllTrails Paywall and Duolingo Paywall here.
How did we get here? Why can longer paywalls now make sense?
Let’s apply some critical thinking:
Mobile apps used to be priced much lower
Many apps used monthly pricing and now everyone pushes annual plans
If you’re buying a higher-priced product, you need more information to feel confident in your purchase
If you’re committing to an annual plan, there needs to be more trust
Because of all this, I think we’ll start seeing a trend of longer paywalls and purchase flows in 2024.
And for good reason.
We all look at so many pieces of information before making a decision. But we expect our users to get everything they need from a few sentences.
Why else do longer paywalls make sense?
Apps have 20-30 onboarding screens, but a paywall flow needs to be confined to one screen?
Web landing pages are almost endlessly scrollable providing more and more information and reassurances
What company sells more than pretty much anyone else? Amazon.
Is a company that sells more than anyone else a good place to learn? Um, yeah I think so.
The Amazon product page is not beautifully designed or short, but it provides the information you need to feel confident in your purchase.
What does it include?
Product reviews and ratings
A percent off or dollar discount
Social proof: “200 people bought this in the past month”
“Free returns”
Confidence building that you won’t get screwed:
Customer Support, 30 days of free returns, ships from Amazon.com
Details about this item
Long descriptions about all the specifics of the products
Multiple product images
If you keep scrolling down you usually get more information on the seller and their history
Then you get even more product specifics
Include the elements Amazon uses in your paywall to build more trust.
Imprint checks almost all of these boxes with their paywall.
You can provide all of this information in a digestible fashion by showing it below the fold. If people need more information, they can scroll to find it.
Leave a sticky subscribe CTA that stays visible to make purchasing or starting a trial easy once they feel comfortable.
In-app purchases handled by Apple/Google provide some safeguards, but we can always build more trust with our users.
When should you test a longer paywall?
Your app is $50+
You don’t have a strong brand name yet
Your current paywall isn’t converting well
You're out of ideas for new things to test
All we want is to feel comfortable buying a product.
Why do we expect our users to pay $70 to $100 a year after reading a few short sentences on a paywall?
Do we think people are going to be overwhelmed by too much information?
Stop treating your customers like impulsive children and help educate them on why they should trust you and feel safe buying your product.
And that’s all folks!
Want to see more paywalls?
Check out the long AllTrails Paywall and Duolingo Paywall here.
Here is the link to my research board that includes the entire Imprint onboarding flow.
📣 Want to help support and spread the word?
Go to my LinkedIn here and like, comment, or share my post.
OR
Share this newsletter by clicking here.
Fun read and love the breakdowns! Ironically, I've seen the Long Paywall as the suggested design for a couple years now (at least from the resources I follow).
However, I'd be curious if you're able to get any real data from your audience or similar. For example, we've tried it twice and have NOT seen it beat out the OG standard paywall on conversion.
Also, I'd be careful in assuming just because there is more paywall that the consumer is getting more confident about their purchase -- main point being, I'm not seeing many people scroll down and read all of that copy and content....the paywall checkout sheet is docked for a reason ha and I'd love to know how many just instantly hit that without scrolling.
Not saying I have any answers and of course, it's a simple test to try and could definitely be better for people depending on context...just would love to see some more real data -- curious how we could get that (maybe Jake at Superwall)