---
title: What to show when users close the paywall (exit offers)
slug: paywall-exit-offers
summary: Exit-offer ladder for dismissed paywalls — longer (14-day) trial, discount, discount + trial, free credits followed by a review prompt, and finally a forced email capture.
domain: mobile-apps
tags: [monetization, paywall, exit-offer, discount, reviews]
related: [free-trial-length-by-plan, pay-what-you-want-discount-slider, reverse-trial-freemium-conversion, better-sleep-onboarding-paywall-teardown, hard-vs-soft-paywalls, web2app-upsells-and-downsells, paywall-placements-and-transaction-abandonment, net-revenue-after-refunds-experiment-metric]
sources: [yt:2soA7LyyQ64, yt:8afSYJU-y8s, yt:bg0_DavI-DE, yt:lkwX_kc0NS8, yt:24QMRDXck70, yt:-5zgc14t2gc, yt:gqN6Z5WAeiI]
updated: 2026-10-24
---

# Exit offers after a dismissed paywall

## TL;DR
- Most users hit X — plan what they see next instead of dropping them into the app.
- Options seen working: **14-day bonus trial** (Rest of Me, Resemble), **discount**, **discount + 7-day trial** (Better Sleep), **free credits** (AI apps), **reverse trial** ([[reverse-trial-freemium-conversion]]).
- Free credits + "Claim now" + review prompt **doubled reviews** (300 → 600/month) and lifted rating 4.5 → 4.7.
- After all offers are declined, Better Sleep **forces an email** (no X) for lifecycle marketing.
- Let users choose their discount rather than showing one fixed % ([[pay-what-you-want-discount-slider]]).
- Superwall-style ladder: close a yearly-default paywall → drawer "Not ready to commit for a year?" (yearly re-framed per week + monthly option) → "Not now" → one-time offer at **25–33% off** ([[paywall-placements-and-transaction-abandonment]]).
- Caution: an **undismissable** discount after X lifted BoldVoice's trial starts but refunds rose more ([[net-revenue-after-refunds-experiment-metric]]).

## Details
**Longer trial vs discount.** Rest of Me and Resemble show a 14-day bonus trial when users close the standard paywall. Steve's instinct is "if they said no, give them a discount", but several clients report a longer trial beats a discount for them.[^1][^2] For a founder who wanted to soften a hard paywall, Steve suggested exactly this: on X, offer a longer trial or a few things free.[^3]

**Free credits → review.** An AI client silently gave 8 free generations after paywall dismissal; nobody knew. They added a screen after X: "You get 8 free credits on us, renews monthly — Claim now". Tapping claim does nothing extra, then the app asks for a rating. Result: reviews doubled (~600 vs ~300 a month) and average rating rose from 4.5 to 4.7 in one month.[^3][^4] Review-prompt design: five stars at the top, social proof under it (Cal AI's screen is the model). Timing ladder: aggressive (before paywall), semi-aggressive (right after trial start — "they already like you") or chill (later).[^5]

**Better Sleep's ladder** ($600–800k/month app): paywall (with BetterHelp cross-promo) → discount → same discount with a 7-day trial → mandatory email screen with no X → stress quiz → BetterHelp offer. Locked content later re-opens the paywall at the lower price.[^6][^7]

**Why bother:** the average app loses ~77% of DAUs within 3 days; Steve argues getting more people to pay improves retention.[^8]

**Reframe before discounting (Jonathan Parra).** On a yearly-default paywall, closing it opens a drawer that keeps yearly selected but shows it per week next to a monthly plan — a second chance at full price; only "Not now, thanks" leads to the discount (e.g. $40 → $30/yr). He keeps routine offers at 25–33% so big discounts stay special for Black Friday and the brand isn't cheapened.[^9][^10][^11] For discount reveals, Vahe Bagdasarian's spin wheel (Cal AI) beat a plain discount by double digits ([[paywall-placements-and-transaction-abandonment]]).[^12]

**Undismissable offers backfire.** BoldVoice tested an X that led to an X%-off offer users couldn't close: trial starts rose, refunds rose more. Nancy Anderson (Natal) avoids aggressive offers for brand-trust reasons; David Barnard notes 80%-off-on-dismiss offers work but "feel a little icky".[^13][^14]

## Disagreements / caveats
- Discount-on-exit trains users to close paywalls; watch full-price take rate.
- Email capture without an exit may draw App Review scrutiny — check guidelines.

## See also
- [[free-trial-length-by-plan]]
- [[better-sleep-onboarding-paywall-teardown]]

[^1]: yt:2soA7LyyQ64 @ 10:58 — Steve P. Young
[^2]: yt:2soA7LyyQ64 @ 11:44 — Steve P. Young
[^3]: yt:2soA7LyyQ64 @ 12:41 — Steve P. Young
[^4]: yt:2soA7LyyQ64 @ 14:42 — Steve P. Young
[^5]: yt:2soA7LyyQ64 @ 15:41 — Steve P. Young
[^6]: yt:8afSYJU-y8s @ 06:42 — Steve P. Young
[^7]: yt:8afSYJU-y8s @ 07:42 — Steve P. Young
[^8]: yt:bg0_DavI-DE @ 06:17 — Steve P. Young
[^9]: yt:lkwX_kc0NS8 @ 16:06 — Jonathan Parra
[^10]: yt:lkwX_kc0NS8 @ 17:40 — Jonathan Parra
[^11]: yt:lkwX_kc0NS8 @ 19:12 — Jonathan Parra
[^12]: yt:24QMRDXck70 @ 18:00 — Vahe Bagdasarian
[^13]: yt:-5zgc14t2gc @ 22:34 — Anada Lakra
[^14]: yt:gqN6Z5WAeiI @ 28:56 — David Barnard