The subscription paywall teardown.
52 subscription paywalls, every element counted.
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What you get
All 52 paywalls screen by screen, the category comparisons, and the dominant flow sequence.
Every element counted, by category, with the observed pricing and trial norms.
What the flows do
The structure of a paywall is close to solved. The argument on it is not.
- 1.Do I understand what I am getting?
- 2.Do I believe it is worth it, for me specifically?
- 3.Do I know what happens next, and what it costs?
The spine is shared across the whole sample: benefits before price, annual pre-selected, a per-month figure. You can take that wholesale. What does not travel is the reason to believe, which is set by category rather than by best practice, and copying another category's argument is where most paywalls go wrong.
The structural spine is shared, and you can take it wholesale
Plan selection carrying a per-month figure with the annual term pre-selected appears in 44 of 52 products. A ticked benefit list placed ahead of any price appears in 32 of 52. This part is settled across the sample.
The trust signal is a category decision, not a universal one
Health leads on social proof in 71% of products. Wellness leads on itemised entitlement at 55%. Kids leads on safety certification at 33%, a signal that appears in no other category. The argument that carries the purchase travels poorly between categories.
The dated trial schedule is rarer than people assume
It occurs in 16 of 52 products and is absent from Health entirely, despite being close to universal advice.
Strike-through pricing is mostly defensible
In most cases the struck figure is the monthly rate annualised, or the shortest available term annualised, which makes the stated saving arithmetic the buyer can verify from the same screen.
Sports sells duration where everyone else sells discount
Trials exceeding fourteen days occur here more than anywhere else, and the category offers extended time in place of a lower price.
Kids is the only category where the buyer is not the user
Parental gates appear in 25% of products and nowhere else in the study. It is also the only category where every product carries a free trial.
I've already done some of this work. I do it for my consulting business, I have all the teardowns, and I've done the work that other people don't have to do.
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