Speaker: It's where they decide
whether your app is worth paying for.
Treat every single
screen like it has a job.
Your onboarding has one job:
build enough intent the paywall
feels like the obvious next step.
I went through two years of my work
and pulled out the 13 things the best
subscription apps put in their onboarding.
Opal, Finch, Headway, Timo,
Tolen, Zing, and more.
Real learnings from real
apps and what really works
We're gonna walk through 13 items today
on how to build a great onboarding flow.
If you get these right, you'll more likely
than not have a high converting flow.
Number one, hook them on the first screen.
Let's start with the
screen everybody ignores.
When most teams look at onboarding
drop off, they look at three places:
sign up, permissions, and the paywall.
And this is right.
These are the big drop-off points,
but everyone forgets about the very
first screen when your app opens.
This screen can lose ten to thirty
percent of new users before they tap
anything and make it into your app.
Yeah, some of those people were
never gonna use the app, of
course, but a lot of them were.
It-- you didn't engage them.
Most apps you're shipping, uh,
welcome, get started, log in.
Boring.
Most founders, you look at the
big apps, see what they have.
Big apps can get away with
this 'cause they have a brand.
But if you're not a huge
app, you can do better.
Let's look at Opal.
Opal does something different.
You open the app, and
there's a glowing rock.
Tap it a few times, and it crack
o- cracks open to reveal your opal.
It's interesting.
It's easy.
And this is the balance you want.
Grab attention quickly without
making people do too much work.
Rise Sleep Science does it with copy.
The first line reads, "Imagine I told
you there was a drug that gave youâ¦"
And then what?
It builds suspense.
There's a drug.
It's sleep, but there's zero
chance you're not tapping next
to figure out what happens.
Headway opens with a curiosity hook
about what successful people do.
If you're downloading Headway,
you're trying to learn.
You want to improve yourself.
This is what's gonna motivate you.
They tie this back to reading, and,
and this gets you further into the app.
Flow, they play a short animation
before it asks anything.
For Flow, this is super critical
'cause Flow has sensitive health
data, and they're asking you for all
these health data and permissions and
opt-ins before making it into the app.
But it's a nice fun animation, uh,
and they, they, uh, bring you in
deeper before they ask for anything.
There's no welcome screen at all.
Look, if you really need a login button,
if you really feel we have to have a
login button, we have to have some way
for people to engage, let's look at Finch.
The login is still there, but the
main button for new users, which is
gonna be most of your people seeing
this app, says, "Hatch a new pet."
The next screen has you pick an
egg color and meet your bird.
So keep the login screen if you
want, but just make the very
next screen a very strong hook.
Number two is a quick one, but borrow
UI and UX patterns people already know.
You don't need to invent new UIs and new
engagement patterns for intro screens.
Headway switched its first screens
to look like Instagram stories.
You tap to advance or let them autoplay.
Zing made the same changes
for the same reasons.
Those first screens have the
worst drop-off in the flow.
They also did some things to make
it more conversational and friendly.
They rewrote the opener from Zing
Coach to Meet Zing, your AI coach, but
small edits to make it much cleaner.
But think about the-- these, uh,
UI patterns from social media.
People already knew how the Instagram
stories engagement patterns work.
Why do you think this
design pattern blew up?
'Cause it's super simple
and super engaging.
Social media apps are the kings of super
addicting sticky engagement patterns.
Every pattern a user learned in
another app is one less thing
they have to figure out in yours.
Number three, ask for account
creation when intent is the highest.
When you ask for the account matters.
Timo won Apple's App of the Year in
twenty-twenty five, and one of its
changes was moving account creation.
Before in twenty-twenty four
sat right before the paywall.
This is a bad place.
Now it comes right after
the welcome screen.
I've heard from their team that it, uh,
lifted account creation and trial starts.
It also splits up and separates
these two biggest asks, so you're
not asking for an email or account
creation and payment back to back.
So I think that if someone won't create an
account when their intent is highest, you
know, why are they gonna pay you later?
Headway also does this.
They put account creation first.
You know, they, they have a stronger
brand, so maybe a little different.
But this also helps get you an email, so
you can bring people back and engage them.
You can make this account
creation optional.
And, and what really you want
to do is test this both ways.
Sometimes the account creation can
build stronger investment intent.
Sometimes it won't be the
extra drop-off, so test it.
Either ask for account creation earlier
in the flow when peoples have-- people
have high intent further away from the
paywall, or don't ask it at all and
only show account creation after the
paywall, so you don't lose any users.
If you're gonna do account creation
test, sign in with Apple, sign in
with Google, give an email option too.
Generally, more options is
better, and generally SSO will
win, but not true in every case.
Number four is a simple but powerful one.
Ask a user's goal, then
say it back to them.
Lots of apps say, "What is
your goal for using this app?
What are you trying to achieve?"
But then they never mention it again.
Do this instead.
Ask the goal, and then ask a
follow-up question of why that
specific goal matters to that person.
It drills in and gets a little
deeper and tells that person
your app can solve their goal.
So then after you ask those
questions, show a screen that
explains exactly how the app
delivers on that exact, exact answer.
The user told you exactly
what they're trying to solve.
Just repeat this back to them.
It's simple personalization, and it works.
Zing done this-- does this well.
They say, "Pick muscle gain," and you'll
see those words over and over in the
flow to reinforce that value prop.
Tiimo asks, uh, "Are you neurodivergent?"
Their, their app is a productivity
tool for neurodivergent people,
but if you say yes, the paywall
headline changes with this value.
I've rarely seen this kind of
simple personalization fail
to lift conversion rates.
Impulse carries your goal
into the paywall copy as well.
They follow it up with it after you ask--
after they ask you on the goal screens.
If you said you wanna get fit,
the paywall sells fitness.
If you said you wanna save
money, it sells savings.
And if you can, use their name.
Everyone likes reading their own name.
Uh, my advice is that really
fancy, complex personalization
is really hard to get right.
Taking the user's own words and
then putting those back in front
of them almost always works A
lot of people forget about this.
Number five is make the onboarding
questions feel like a conversation.
Your quiz flow doesn't have to
feel like a stale and stuffy form.
Opal is a great example.
They rebuilt the whole
quiz as a chat experience.
It's not a real chat bot and--
but the questions are the usual
ones, your name, what matters
to you, your daily screen time.
But because they arrive as messages
in a conversation, you actually read
them and interact with them instead of
going tap, tap, tap, ignore everything.
Let me just get through this.
Uh, and so you don't wanna go overboard
and have tons and tons of screens.
Make it easy a-and friendly for the user.
Toln goes even further.
They actually have a, uh, a voice
experience where you're talking out
loud, uh, but they, they convert
very strong because they, they take
this conversation view to the max.
Zing lets you pick a coach, and
that coach then walks you through
the rest of the onboarding like a
little mascot helping you through.
So be friendly, be conversational,
and craft your experience like it's
two people talking to each other.
All right, number six is a good one.
Let people build something
during your onboarding flow.
People value what they put work
into, so give them something
to build and invest in.
Finch is a self-care pet app where you
can pick your bird's color, gender,
name, personality, other characteristics.
The cool thing is none of this
is about you, so it's super easy,
uh, and low effort to enter all
these- all this information in.
There's no privacy concerns, no awkward
questions, but you're still attached and
invested to this bird you've created.
And one note, if you're asking people
to put in effort and, uh, enter in
information, make it easy on them.
See that shuffle button
next to the name field?
Uh, if it's a blank text field,
that's where people can stall and
not know what to enter, so they have
presets where you can easily advance.
Uh, Rosebud is an AI journaling app.
They let you finish a full journey
entry before the paywall, so you're
writing and creating, getting value.
And where onboarding should
really feel like the product and
be an extension of the product,
not a survey about the product.
If you can bring that product
experience into the onboarding
flow, this is gonna create a, a much
stronger conversion rate and a much
stronger experience for your users.
Everyone hates math, so number
fi- seven is show them the math.
Opal is a great example here.
They take your screen time and
your age and turn it into a
number that shows the value.
"Jacob, Opal will get you f-
back five years of your life."
Whoa.
So that's that aha moment, and
I think this is the core value.
They're calculating and doing the
math for you about how much they're
adding and going to improve your life.
Rise Sleep Science pulls data from your
phone and Apple Health and calculates your
sleep debt for you, so it's real data.
Headway does something similar.
They say, "How many, uh,
books do you wanna read?
How, how much-- how mu- how often
do you wanna use the app per day?
Fifteen minutes per day becomes
thirty-eight book summaries a month."
Wow, I'm gonna learn so much.
Uh, figure out how you can calculate
and convey the value through numbers
that someone's actually gonna receive,
so when they actually get to the
paywall, they understand the value
and the amount of value that your app
is going to be delivering for them.
This is possibly the most important thing
you need to do in your onboarding flow.
Build trust before you ask
for a money purchase, a trial.
Most apps try to cram all this,
uh, trust-building into a paywall,
but the good ones build this trust
through the entire onboarding flow.
Headway starts an intro screen
with the number one most
downloaded next to its benefits.
Right after you create an account, it
shows social proof with your name on it.
Find your users' biggest fears
and try to address these.
For example, for Flow, this is gonna
be its health data and privacy data.
Its loading screen cycle through
the app's values and keep coming
back to the importance of privacy.
If privacy is important,
mention it multiple times.
And really, what you're trying to do
here is lead with feeling and emotion
and then back this up with a number.
People decide with emotion and
then justify with logic later.
Endel is a sleep app.
They put a s-- one stat
right before the paywall.
Seventy-one percent of
users report better sleep.
Use tons of social proof wherever you can.
JustFit flashes a million plus
users, four point eight top-rated
app while the plans are loading.
Imprint takes a bit of a quieter
route, but they've got testimonials,
they've got app store ratings, uh,
on the bottom pages of many screens
and the paywall that are repeated.
And you can mix up the kind
of social proof you use.
Have a, a large number of users
saying everyone's doing it.
S-- Have a, a personal testimonial of one
person who loves the app saying something
specific about how they got results.
Add press logos from
mentions in, in articles.
We want things because
other people want them.
Social proof rarely hurts, and, uh,
if it's an important element, if it's
an important press story, if you got
App of the Day, if you have a lot
of features, if you have really high
rating, mention this multiple times.
There's a chance someone won't see it, so
repetition really drives the point home.
Number nine is an important concept.
You really wanna earn your
permission opt-in from people.
Permission prompts are a large point
where people drop off during the flow.
If you will-- If we look at Opal, Opal
built its own screen before the system
prompt, and it has these arrows showing
exactly where to tap to, to prime you.
Not enough apps are doing this.
If you need several permissions,
uh, I, I think what's one of
the best patterns to copy.
If all you need is push, maybe you
should skip this secondary, uh, priming.
A lot of times, just fire the
native prompt, and most people
are gonna tap yes anyway.
Zing shows you what the notification
will look like before it asks you, so
you really know what you're agreeing to.
Headway, I think I've seen iterate
on this more than any other app.
2024, they started with a preference
center where you chose notification types.
And then in 2025, that became one
question, what time of day you wanna read?
Then you opt in to getting notifications
that are right for you, and they
trigger that prompt right after this.
Timing of where you ask this is
worth testing if notifications
are important for you.
Imprint asks right after sign-up.
Flow explains the value first.
Just Fit builds excitement for
a few screens and then asks.
Impulse, there's a soft in-app
prompt before the real one.
So there's a, a few different options,
but you wanna be conscious about what
you're doing here as this is a critical
moment in your onboarding flow Number 10
is a fun one 'cause it didn't use to be
this easy, but I think you should try to
incorporate video since it's so cheap now.
It used to be expensive to
record different things.
You needed a studio.
You spend 10,000, $20,000 on editing
and reshoots, but AI has made
animation and video creation so cheap.
Uh, I think that you can really create
c- content that feels authentic and real.
Lingokids is a good example.
It puts this very nice animated
video right in its paywall to s- to
cycle through different value props.
BoldVoice, you know, video is, is an
important part of this app, but they have,
uh, a real instructor guiding you through
the onboarding questions via video.
It, it helps you understand
the product better.
Ladder is-- has some of the
most polished video content
of probably any app I've seen.
They're really able to position themselves
as a premium product through this,
and also attach to their value, uh, by
letting you understand their coaches.
Dr.
Kegel is an interesting one.
Almost 90% of its onboarding flow is
just this one testimonial video, it feels
like this old, um, in- TV infomercial.
And I think Tolyn has a unreal animated
intro that they've s- done really well.
Worth downloading the app to watch that.
And so I think there's really no excuse
anymore not to use video or animations or
mo- movement and motion to really create
a high-quality perception of value for
your app This is not a super new one, but
I think a lot of people forget the value
that you can really drive through this.
Number 11 is turn your loading
screens into selling screens.
A lot of apps have these loading
screens and, you know, some of
it's kind of fake, uh, where apps
can load quite fast nowadays.
Sometimes it's necessary to load
things, but here's my advice, my recipe.
Give it a title about personalizing
your plan, creating your personal
plan, generating your content.
Split this into multiple loading
bars so you can break out each
piece of content or part of the
app that it's building for them.
This reinforces the specific elements
of value so you can say something
like, you know, building your content
plan, personalizing the product for
you, and then try to rotate through a
number of things that you've repeated--
you've talked about previously during
the onboarding flow, so you can
repeat them on that load- loading
screen to reinforce that value.
And then sprinkle in some social
proof, some testimonials, some app
screen reviews, some ratings, press
mentions, whatever you can really
do to continue that trust building.
Flow cycles through.
It's a few values reinforcing
this data privacy.
Just Fit goes back to its
user counts and ratings.
Just Fit and Zing are both fitness apps.
They show a plan preview right after
the loading screen to build up even
more excitement and investment intent
before they're showing you the paywalls,
know exactly what you're getting.
Headway uses a commitment prop screen.
I'm sure you've seen this.
You hold down, hold to commit.
This generates even more
investment, uh, right before the
paywall after the loading screen.
So you really wanna think about how you
can, uh, uh, build this deeper level
of investment and commitment, uh, using
these loading screens right before the
paywall one of the highest value things
you can do during the onboarding is just
reinforcing and repeating the trial.
So number twelve is make the
trial impossible to miss.
So many paywall tactics are really about
just getting people to see the trial.
People don't read.
They tap, tap, tap, ignore everything.
They don't read the paywall.
They go, "Oh no, I'm being
charged," and then leave, even when
the free trial is very visible.
So just reinforcing that this trial is
there, forcing people to acknowledge this,
will likely improve your conversion rate.
This is why people are using
this design your trial flow.
If we look at Picture This.
It re- makes people choose the different
trial options and make sure they don't
miss the trial exists, and we're also
steering people towards this annual plan.
Opal lets you choose which day
you get this trial reminder.
This is the same idea that you're
picking a day, uh, uh, for this
reminder, so it forces you to acknowledge
this, and this helps people, uhâ¦
helps fewer people cancel this
trial right after they start,
improving trial conversion rates.
Um, Tolen and Headway both use Duolingo's
multi-page paywall approach, where
they break out this, uh, the previously
Blinkist trial timeline to multiple
pages, reinforcing the value, having
this trial reminder language in big
text, and then showing the plans.
Zing only shows this annual plan at
first, with a View All Plans underneath.
Uh, a-and so the other piece to
remember is just don't give up.
Uh, most people will close the
paywall, and so try to reinforce
this with a second offer.
It can be a longer trial.
It can be a discount.
Uh, a-and so after you've really done your
best to make sure people know that there's
a trial, try again with a second offer.
Headway does something where they ask
you if maybe you want a monthly offer.
Tolen offers a cheaper Lite
plan, uh, instead of a discount,
uh, a lower value plan.
And, and so there's so many
more things you can do.
Keep asking after onboarding
too to try to convert users if
they didn't convert initially.
An advice I give over and over again
to app founders and growth leaders.
Number 13, onboarding
doesn't end at the paywall.
Someone just paid you.
You spent all this effort
getting them to the paywall.
Don't lose them.
Don't just drop them onto an
empty or complex home screen.
Imprint does a great job of this.
Im- Imprint skips the home screen
and puts you straight into your first
lesson, teaching the app as you go.
The goal here is to stop people
canceling the moment their trial starts.
It's a lot more work to kind of
build this experience, but this
can be a big win to keep people in
the app and keep people engaged.
Timo replaced, uh, their old setup
with five focus steps to get you
going right after the paywall.
Finch pre-fills a few easy goals so
everyone has something to do and can
reach this aha moment immediately,
and they don't land on this empty
screen, and then have this-- So they
have this reason to come back the
next day because you're completing
something and, uh, you're, you're
setting your, your Finch up for success.
Zing tries to get people who close
the paywall with a, uh, bright
and happy discover your first
workout screen to get you going.
If you don't start a workout, it
asks for calendar access to schedule
them for you and build in reminders.
Uh, Balance, the meditation
app, uh, asks people ifâ¦
that pick sleep as their goal if they're
ready to sleep right now, and then
auto-starts that sleep meditation.
Uh, Toln, uh, pays you tokens for
scheduling a check-in, which incentivizes
you and gamifies you, uh, to come back
into the app and rewards you for that.
And this is really how you move
beyond just a good trial start rate
to a high trial conversion rate
and a high activation rate, and is
the, the precursor to creating an
app that has very strong retention.
Speaker: All right, let's run
through everything again fast.
Your first screen loses more
people than you think, so
make it interesting and easy.
Use UI people already know.
Story-style intro screens beat
anything you're gonna invent.
Ask for the account early if
you do, when intent is highest.
Ask users' goal and say it back
to them on the next screen,
in the recap, on the paywall.
Simple string personalization
almost always wins.
Make the quiz feel like a conversation.
Keep it short.
Don't make it crazy.
Make it easy and interactive.
Let people build something if
you can, a bird, a name, a habit.
And try to give them a preset if you're
asking them for something, so no people
don't get stuck with a blank text box.
And show them the math of
the value you're creating.
Opal will get you back
five years of your life.
This is big.
Build trust across the whole
flow, not just on the paywall.
Answer the biggest fear someone
has from using your app.
Repeat this back to them.
Build emotions.
Back the feeling up with numbers, and
don't be shy with your social proof.
If you're asking for permissions,
earn the right to ask.
Show people where to tap.
Show them what a notification looks like.
Test when you're asking.
Think about incorporating video.
It's cheap now.
Adds a real premium feel to your app.
Turn your loading screen into a selling
screen, and ask for a commitment.
And then make the intri-- make
the trial impossible to miss.
People don't read.
If s-some people just don't realize
there's a free trial they can do.
Most people just look at a paywall and go,
"Ugh, I have to pay," and then close it.
Reinforce and re-- repeat this.
And your onboarding
doesn't end at the paywall.
Make sure you're holding them h-
holding their hand through the entire
product, so they don't just leave.
This will boost your
trial conversion rate.
And that's a lot of stuff, I know.
Don't try to ship all
these updates next week.
Pick the one that you think is gonna
make the biggest difference, test it,
and do this over and over and over
again, and this is how you improve.
Measure your onboarding completion.
Figure out how-- what percentage of
people are making it to the paywall.
Look at trial conversion, day seven
retention, day thirty retention.
It's okay if your flow gets longer, as
long as it's improving the experience.
One idea I'd keep from all of
this, your on- your onboarding
isn't this hallway people walk
through on the way to your app.
It's where they decide whether
your app is worth paying for.
Treat every single
screen like it has a job.
And if you do all this, you
will succeed, and you'll create
a great, high-converting flow.
Thanks for listening.
Hope you enjoyed.
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All.