From “out of ideas” to 250% growth

How SmartTales boosted paywall conversion by 86% without changing their paywall.

This story features SmartTales, a children's app, but I see this opportunity all the time in eCommerce and B2B.

“A make or break moment”

Most CMOs won’t admit when they’ve run out of ideas. But Roberto Attolico isn’t most CMOs.

“We were at a make-or-break moment,” Rob explained.

“We ran 100 experiments in 2023, but they didn’t have much impact. We were growing, but not fast enough.”

Roberto, a longtime subscriber to this newsletter, convinced his founders to join our program.

“We lacked alignment between founders, product, and marketing. We each had our own theories, and that was slowing us down.”

Step 1 - Jobs to be Done interviews

“Lea started us with Jobs to be Done interviews, and the answer became clear.” (Lea Samrani, a mobile app & PLG expert, was their coach in our program).

“We’d been talking about our product, not our customers’ outcomes. Our old ads were just guessing what people might want, like ‘2500+ activities’ and ‘100+ printable worksheets.’”

“Our customers, the parents, didn’t want worksheets and activities, they wanted to hand their kid an iPad without feelingguilty.”

Step 2 - Experiment

“We ran 28 experiments, 25 failed, but three worked wonders. Isn’t that typical?” Rob explained.

The winning experiments focused on customer outcomes in ads and app store listings. “We shifted from offering ‘free worksheets’ to promoting emotionally healthy kids who can think for themselves.”

Results

“By showing the customer benefit early, our prospects were more motivated, so our paywall conversion jumped by 86%, and retention improved too. Same paywall, same price, but now customers understood what they were paying for.”

• App store conversion increased by 65%

• Install-to-pay, +86%

• Refund rate, down by 63%

• LTV per active account, +50%

• Weekly active paid learners, +250% in 5 months

“These metrics are promising, but the real value is… they give us the confidence to focus, experiment faster, and try bolder ideas. We understand how to grow this business, and that’s exciting.”

Simple next step

If your paywall is a problem, the problem probably isn't your paywall. Poor conversion happens when prospects don't understand what they're paying for. So figure out how your product is valuable to customers, and demonstrate that value before you ask them to pull out their wallets.

That sounds easy, but it can be tricky. When prospects don’t understand the value, it’s often because the company doesn’t either.

If you’re still looking for your high-converting value prop, I’d recommend starting with Jobs to be Done interviews. Here’s a quick primer on the interview technique.

If you’d like help, our next cohort starts soon.

I hope this helps!

Matt