Michael Berliner was a former growth lead at Masterclass and Calm, and an absolute rockstar on onboarding, paywalls, and activation for subscription apps.
Michael built one of the first quiz-style onboarding flows at Masterclass, which lifted conversion 20%, then revamped Calm's self-serve flow for a 50% conversion lift and a 30% lift in return retention!
How does more friction increase conversion?! We get into why it works, when it doesn't, and the paywall tactics Michael tests with clients today, from trial timelines to reverse trials to hiding the monthly plan.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:00 Michael's background at MasterClass and Calm
01:50 MasterClass's quiz flow and the 20% conversion lift
04:20 Personalizing onboarding question by question
05:30 Can smaller apps personalize with less data?
06:00 Branching flows vs. simple personalization
10:30 Calm: a 50% lift from rebuilding the self-serve flow
11:40 Calm's activation flow and the 30% retention lift
14:00 Why ad click to trial start is the most important part of your app
16:00 Trial start rate vs. trial quality
17:25 Where to put account creation
20:55 Why long quiz flows only work for some categories
22:40 Matching onboarding to the acquisition source
23:55 Putting part of the core product inside onboarding
26:05 Setup, aha and habit moments
28:20 Building several small aha moments
32:25 How onboarding has changed over the last 5 to 10 years
36:25 Blinkist's trial timeline screen
40:20 Hiding the monthly plan behind "See all plans"
42:50 Matching plans to user intent
46:00 Reverse trials after someone closes the paywall
48:40 Upsells right after purchase
50:00 A discount right after the trial starts
52:15 The paywall best practice Michael disagrees with
53:55 Why your A/B tests are lying to you
56:40 Why copy and design tests rarely move paywalls
57:20 Where to find Michael
What you'll learn:
• Why a longer quiz onboarding beat a "Get Started, go to checkout" flow at Masterclass
• How to decide between one cohesive flow and separate branches per segment
• Why splitting traffic into segments can quietly kill your experiment velocity
• Why install to trial start shapes activation and retention downstream
• How to place account creation so users see a reason to give you their email
• Which product categories need intent-building onboarding and which need speed
• How Duolingo and Tolan use a slice of the core product before the paywall
• Why the Blinkist trial timeline raised trial starts and cut complaints
• How hiding the monthly plan pushed Mojo's annual share from 60% to 80%
• What to show users who close the paywall, and what to sell users who just paid
Key Takeaways:
• Friction that builds intent raises conversion. Masterclass added a quiz flow inspired by Noom and conversion rose 20%, while product leadership insisted it couldn't work.
• Start with one flow and earn your segments. If a segment gets 30% of traffic, a 10% win there is a 3% win overall, so only split when use cases truly differ, like sleep vs general meditation.
• Install to trial start sets up everything after it. The average install to trial rate is about 6%, and well-optimized onboarding can convert 2 to 3 times better than average.
• The paywall is the most anxious moment in your app. Blinkist's trial timeline screen lifted trial starts 23% and cut complaints 55%, because telling people how the trial works builds trust.
• Defaults decide plan mix. Mojo moved the monthly plan behind "See all plans" and annual share went from 60% to 80%. Keep that button visible so price-sensitive users can still find monthly.
• A "no" at the paywall still signals intent. In one case study, users who closed the paywall converted at 0.5% on freemium, and a 7-day reverse trial lifted that 10x.
Links & Resources
Otter Growth: https://ottergrowth.com
Michael's "Ideal Flow" presentation: https://ottergrowth.com/boa
Michael Berliner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/berlinermichael/
Botsi: https://botsi.com
Michael built one of the first quiz-style onboarding flows at Masterclass, which lifted conversion 20%, then revamped Calm's self-serve flow for a 50% conversion lift and a 30% lift in return retention!
How does more friction increase conversion?! We get into why it works, when it doesn't, and the paywall tactics Michael tests with clients today, from trial timelines to reverse trials to hiding the monthly plan.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:00 Michael's background at MasterClass and Calm
01:50 MasterClass's quiz flow and the 20% conversion lift
04:20 Personalizing onboarding question by question
05:30 Can smaller apps personalize with less data?
06:00 Branching flows vs. simple personalization
10:30 Calm: a 50% lift from rebuilding the self-serve flow
11:40 Calm's activation flow and the 30% retention lift
14:00 Why ad click to trial start is the most important part of your app
16:00 Trial start rate vs. trial quality
17:25 Where to put account creation
20:55 Why long quiz flows only work for some categories
22:40 Matching onboarding to the acquisition source
23:55 Putting part of the core product inside onboarding
26:05 Setup, aha and habit moments
28:20 Building several small aha moments
32:25 How onboarding has changed over the last 5 to 10 years
36:25 Blinkist's trial timeline screen
40:20 Hiding the monthly plan behind "See all plans"
42:50 Matching plans to user intent
46:00 Reverse trials after someone closes the paywall
48:40 Upsells right after purchase
50:00 A discount right after the trial starts
52:15 The paywall best practice Michael disagrees with
53:55 Why your A/B tests are lying to you
56:40 Why copy and design tests rarely move paywalls
57:20 Where to find Michael
What you'll learn:
• Why a longer quiz onboarding beat a "Get Started, go to checkout" flow at Masterclass
• How to decide between one cohesive flow and separate branches per segment
• Why splitting traffic into segments can quietly kill your experiment velocity
• Why install to trial start shapes activation and retention downstream
• How to place account creation so users see a reason to give you their email
• Which product categories need intent-building onboarding and which need speed
• How Duolingo and Tolan use a slice of the core product before the paywall
• Why the Blinkist trial timeline raised trial starts and cut complaints
• How hiding the monthly plan pushed Mojo's annual share from 60% to 80%
• What to show users who close the paywall, and what to sell users who just paid
Key Takeaways:
• Friction that builds intent raises conversion. Masterclass added a quiz flow inspired by Noom and conversion rose 20%, while product leadership insisted it couldn't work.
• Start with one flow and earn your segments. If a segment gets 30% of traffic, a 10% win there is a 3% win overall, so only split when use cases truly differ, like sleep vs general meditation.
• Install to trial start sets up everything after it. The average install to trial rate is about 6%, and well-optimized onboarding can convert 2 to 3 times better than average.
• The paywall is the most anxious moment in your app. Blinkist's trial timeline screen lifted trial starts 23% and cut complaints 55%, because telling people how the trial works builds trust.
• Defaults decide plan mix. Mojo moved the monthly plan behind "See all plans" and annual share went from 60% to 80%. Keep that button visible so price-sensitive users can still find monthly.
• A "no" at the paywall still signals intent. In one case study, users who closed the paywall converted at 0.5% on freemium, and a 7-day reverse trial lifted that 10x.
Links & Resources
Otter Growth: https://ottergrowth.com
Michael's "Ideal Flow" presentation: https://ottergrowth.com/boa
Michael Berliner on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/berlinermichael/
Botsi: https://botsi.com