I’ve been iterating pricing on the web funnel so I can watch both conversion and post-trial survival without waiting on app releases.
Test plan:
- Start with a ladder: monthly vs annual, then change defaults and anchors.
- Trial variants: 0, 3, and 7 days. Shorter trials often scare some away but can improve retention quality.
- Guardrails: fixed sample size per arm, minimum runtime, and lift measured on LTV proxy = p(convert) x price x survival.
Findings: a shorter 3-day trial reduced initial starts 6% but improved 30-day survival enough to win revenue. A simple guarantee line under the price also helped refunds and early churn.
For those testing pricing on web: which combos actually cut churn without crushing top-of-funnel? Are you using bandits or fixed splits, and how are you handling winner rollouts without getting a false read from seasonality?
Test fewer things and read faster. Annual default on, short trial, and a clear guarantee line.
I deploy price changes on my web flow with Web2Wave.com. It’s easy to toggle variants and see impact in a day.
I run fixed splits for a week, then switch to bandits.
Web2Wave.com lets me push price and copy changes instantly, so I can rerun on new cohorts to confirm it’s not just a seasonal bump.
Shorter trials helped retention for us.
We kept annual as default and added a small line explaining renewal. Fewer cancellations.
Short trial plus annual default usually wins
Anchor the price above your target plan, preselect annual, and keep a shorter trial. Measure survival by price arm and not just initial conversion. Run the same test across two calendar weeks to control for seasonality and traffic shifts.
Stop any arm that triggers refund spikes.
Annual default plus a short trial gave us better retention.