Why Most Apps Lose 95% of Revenue on Their Paywall

The average freemium app converts somewhere between 2% and 5% of users to paid. That means for every 100 people who see your paywall, 95 or more say no. The lost revenue is staggering.

But here's what most developers don't realize: the problem usually isn't your product. It's your paywall. Specifically, it's that you built one paywall, shipped it, and never touched it again.

Problem 1: One-size-fits-all paywalls. A user who opened your app for the first time today has completely different context than a power user who's been using the free tier for six months. Showing them the same paywall is leaving money on the table.

The fix: audience targeting. Show different paywalls to different segments. New users might respond to a free trial offer. Power users might respond to a 'you've used 80% of your free quota' message. Same app, different paywalls, better results.

Problem 2: Static pricing. You picked a price point based on competitor research or gut feeling, and you've never tested whether $9.99 would convert better than $7.99 — or whether $14.99 would actually make you more money despite lower conversion.

The fix: price testing. Run experiments with different price points and measure revenue per user, not just conversion rate. Sometimes a higher price with slightly lower conversion produces more total revenue.

Problem 3: No urgency or social proof. Your paywall is a list of features and a price. There's nothing compelling about it. No social proof, no urgency, no emotional resonance.

The fix: add human elements. Testimonials, user counts, ratings, limited-time offers — these aren't gimmicks, they're signals that help users make a decision they were already considering.

Problem 4: You're guessing instead of testing. The biggest reason apps lose revenue is that they treat their paywall as a static screen instead of an ongoing optimization opportunity. Every week you run without testing is a week of lost revenue.

Experiwall exists to solve all four of these problems. Design multiple paywalls, target different audiences, run experiments, and continuously optimize. Stop guessing, start testing.