Product Timing in SaaS: Key Moments That Determine Startup Success
Insights from RevenueCat's 10k+ app survey reveal when users really cancel (late!) and subscribe (early!)
There is always something new to optimize with a subscription business. Inspiration for this week’s tuning comes from RevenueCat. A few weeks ago (thank you), they released their annual survey, which examined the performance of more than 10,000 subscription apps available on the Google Play and Apple stores. The survey is incredibly comprehensive and well-executed, with 262 pages jam-packed with data. Even though the survey is mostly about consumer apps, there are a few nuggets to learn also for B2B SaaS subscriptions.
Last-minute departures
It is likely that we are all guilty of putting things off until the last minute. We now have evidence of that as well. The chart below draws the amount of trial cancellations received per day for different trial periods. Observe the distinct increase prior to the conclusion of the 14- and 30-day trials.
Action: This is the moment when you should hit the users with your retention efforts. Getting them back will be much more difficult after the trial is over.
Peep and subscribe
The high number of first-day subscribers is the other noteworthy finding.
A similar phenomenon can be seen also with B2B services. There is undoubtedly a group of people who upgrade right away after seeing the experience and determining that it works for them; this group may account for 20–30% of all upgrades, and for less complicated services, even more.
Action: Improve the first impression for this cohort. Make sure they can take shortcuts to value and that their first impression is polished.