BoldVoice: When more trials mean worse revenue
BoldVoice co-founder Anada Lakra describes paywall experiments that increased trial starts but drove enough refunds to undermine the gains. Her lesson: evaluate what a cohort ultimately pays, rather than celebrating the first conversion. These outcomes are founder-reported; the interview does not provide the underlying experiment data.
What to take into your own app
Measure the paid outcome
Compare net revenue after refunds per exposed user, so an increase in trials cannot hide a worse business result.
Give refunds time to appear
Evaluate mature cohorts after the trial and refund window. Early conversion numbers can tell an incomplete story.
Let people experience the product
Lakra describes allowing a first-day assessment and lesson before requiring a trial to continue. Treat that as a testable approach for your audience.
A small experiment to try
Before changing your paywall, write down the revenue metric, observation window, and refund guardrail you will use to judge the experiment.
The original source
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