How a switch from hard paywall to freemium led to a 75% LTV lift and a 50% conversion drop
- Growth
Moving from a hard paywall to freemium is like switching from checkers to chess
RevenueCat author David Barnard
Author’s posts
![How a switch from hard paywall to freemium led to a 75% LTV lift and a 50% conversion drop]()
![The counterintuitive freemium strategy that scaled Opal to 1M daily active users]()
The counterintuitive freemium strategy that scaled Opal to 1M daily active users
- Growth
Kenneth Schlenker dropped Opal’s paid conversion rate from 20% to 9% — and it resulted in an explosion of daily active users and compounding revenue.
![Why a hard paywall is the right answer for your app (until it isn’t)]()
Why a hard paywall is the right answer for your app (until it isn’t)
- Growth
On the podcast: how AI can turn your onboarding from a chore into magic, hyper-personalized experiences that drive both retention and revenue, and why your value-to-noise ratio matters more than how many features you ship.
![Russia’s App Store payment block: how it impacts your MRR and what to do next]()
Russia’s App Store payment block: how it impacts your MRR and what to do next
- Growth
Why your Russian subscriptions are about to churn
![“Money will come” – How Super Unlimited built the #1 VPN by not optimizing for revenue]()
“Money will come” – How Super Unlimited built the #1 VPN by not optimizing for revenue
- Growth
On the podcast: the product-driven growth loop behind the #1 VPN app in the world, why they intentionally leave money on the table, and how the prettiest design often loses in their A/B tests.
![How Coconote hit $1M ARR in 4 months with no paid ads]()
How Coconote hit $1M ARR in 4 months with no paid ads
- Growth
On the podcast: about hitting $1M ARR in four months with no paid ads, why trial extensions beat discounts for saving cancellations, and why you should be hiring content creators, not influencers.
![Building a hardware-enabled subscription business]()
Building a hardware-enabled subscription business
- Growth
On the podcast, I talk with Michael and Mark about the boom in hardware-enabled subscriptions, why nothing worked until they stopped optimizing and started building a better product, and how they doubled their price to $79 even though the data said they could charge more.
![How ElevenLabs builds and grows consumer AI apps without losing speed or clarity]()
How ElevenLabs builds and grows consumer AI apps without losing speed or clarity
- Growth
On the podcast: how earned media can drive paid performance, building features that make for good tweets, and why stripping out your onboarding quiz might beat optimizing it.
![How Cem Kansu helped Duolingo scale monetization without breaking freemium]()
How Cem Kansu helped Duolingo scale monetization without breaking freemium
- Growth
On the podcast, I talk with Cem about the premium trap many apps fall into, why free trials work even for freemium products, and how ‘try for $0.00’ actually outperforms ‘try for free’.
![How Jeff Morris drives growth and monetization in mobile]()
How Jeff Morris drives growth and monetization in mobile
- Growth
On the podcast, I talk with Jeff about Tinder's $50 million paywall win. Why now is such a great time to build apps, and how hard paywalls can mislead you about product-market fit.
![How Alper Taner Navigates the Evolving World of Mobile Growth]()
How Alper Taner Navigates the Evolving World of Mobile Growth
- Growth
On the podcast I talk with Alper about the competitive advantage of ignoring (some) best practices, the risk of drawing false conclusions when researching competitor ads, and why poor metrics are just facts until proven problematic.
![How Greg Cohn turned a failed app into a privacy powerhouse]()
How Greg Cohn turned a failed app into a privacy powerhouse
- Growth
On this episode of Sub Club, Greg shares the journey of how a failed product pivoted into Burner, a mobile privacy tool that has changed the way people manage multiple phone numbers.
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