Designing subscription paywalls for mobile apps that improve conversion rates
Achieving paywall designs that engage and convert
Paywall screen plays a major role in converting your target users to subscribers. It offers you the chance to sell your product’s value and address any fear, doubt or uncertainty that your target users might have while making the decision to subscribe to the Premium version of your application.
As part of a design assessment, I designed a paywall for a mobile movie and box set application and a mobile car rental app. Both paywalls should have functions to invite users to subscribe to the “Premium” version and also give users access to additional features.
Paywall for a Mobile Movie and Box Set App & a Mobile Car Rental App
I considered a few things before designing the paywall elements:
What value are you offering behind the paywall?
It’s important to make it clear to potential subscribers the value they stand to gain by listing the key features of the Premium version of the app. Give them reasons to pay by briefly explaining the benefits they’d enjoy as subscribers.
What’s the price to pay to access the value?
In addition to outlining the value, it’s important to make the pricing easy to understand and transparent. Ensure that the actual price, billing cycle and renewal conditions are clearly explained in the subscription information.
How can they take the desired action?
Subscription buttons: Your subscription button is the most important feature on the paywall screen. It should be labelled appropriately to make it clear to the users what is meant to happen when they click the button. Make the call to action buttons stand out in comparison to other elements on the paywall screen.
Restore purchase buttons: The Restore Purchase button is very essential. A user with a running subscription may have deleted and reinstalled the app, or want to log in to the app using another device. By tapping this button, the user can notify the app that they are already subscribed to the Premium version. This will help users restore their previous purchase and prevent them from making duplicate purchase.
Dismiss icons/buttons: Don’t make your users feel trapped. With a dismiss icon or button, users can easily exit the paywall.
Key Takeaways that can Help in Designing Better Paywalls
In summary, here are some key things I learnt on how to design a successful paywall and subscription screen:
- Discounted offers lead to higher conversions. It helps to use a distinctive style to highlight why people should choose a specific offer over another when presenting discounted options.
- Visually remind the user of the goals they’ll be able to achieve by subscribing. Make good use of colors and related images to guide the user to take an action.
- Make your call-to-action more prominent than anything else on the paywall. If you want people to take that action, it needs to be clearly visible.
- Avoid giving too much prominence to actions that you don’t want users to take. Don’t hide it or else people will feel tricked or that they can’t choose freely. However, don’t go out of your way to draw the eye to it, either.
