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Mobile apps›Monetization

Reverse trials — converting users who closed the paywall

Give users who dismiss the paywall a free week of Pro, push them to enable Pro features, then warn that Pro is ending and offer a discount — Momingo's free-user conversion went 0.4% → 4.5%.

Updated 2026-10-23·3 sources·monetizationreverse-trialfreemiumonboardingretention

Reverse trials

TL;DR

  • For freemium apps that won’t use a hard paywall.
  • Paywall → user starts trial (“Welcome to Pro”) or hits X (“No problem — enjoy a week of Pro on us”).
  • Both paths get a secondary onboarding that makes users switch on Pro features (give, then take away).
  • Before expiry: “Your Pro membership ends in 5 days” → tap → discount offer.
  • Momingo: free-user → paid 0.4% → 4.5% (~10x); typical install-to-paid is ~2%.

Details

Source: John, founder of Momingo (bus/train times app), on Steve’s podcast/livestream; John coined the approach.12

Flow.

  1. Value-based onboarding — benefits not features (“get there on time stress-free”, “never miss your stop”), social proof on every screen, permissions, a pre-paywall proof screen, the “we’ll remind you 2 days before” screen.13
  2. Paywall — yearly with 7-day trial, “pay as you go” weekly, lifetime.4
  3. Fork: trial/purchase → “Welcome to Pro”; X → “Enjoy a Pro week on us”.5
  4. Secondary onboarding (same for both): screens that get users to turn on Pro features, e.g. custom notifications marked Pro — the features they’ll lose.46
  5. Expiry nudge: push/in-app “your Pro membership ends in 5 days” → tap → small discount.2

Result: users who dismissed the paywall (“freeloaders”) converted at 0.4% before and 4.5% after. Steve compares with ~2–3% average install-to-paid (Apple’s numbers per Steve) or ~2% of free users.267

Fit: works if your app has no high per-use costs (AI apps with compute costs should be careful); can be stacked with a Pay-what-you-want discount slider at the end of the reverse trial.68

Disagreements / caveats

  • One app; the 10x figure is free-cohort conversion, not total revenue.
  • Requires entitlement logic for a granted (non-store) Pro week.

See also

Footnotes

  1. The Paywall Strategy That Increased Conversions by 56% @ 07:17 — Steve P. Young ↩ ↩2

  2. The Paywall Strategy That Increased Conversions by 56% @ 08:08 — Steve P. Young ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. App Monetization Tactics No One Is Talking About @ 08:31 — Steve P. Young ↩

  4. App Monetization Tactics No One Is Talking About @ 09:44 — Steve P. Young ↩ ↩2

  5. 56% More Trials With This One Change @ 03:48 — Steve P. Young ↩

  6. App Monetization Tactics No One Is Talking About @ 10:55 — Steve P. Young ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. 56% More Trials With This One Change @ 04:36 — Steve P. Young ↩

  8. App Monetization Tactics No One Is Talking About @ 12:27 — Steve P. Young ↩