[Teardown #5] How to secretly apply 8 psychological triggers in your onboarding & paywalls
Your ultimate guide to using cognitive biases to turn downloads into revenue in 5 minutes or less.
Did you know?
You & I make almost 85% of purchasing decisions based on emotion — and the rest 15% on logic.
The same goes for everyone who just downloaded your app.
Here are 8 psychological triggers [with UI examples] you can use to turn downloads into revenue in <5 minutes:
[After reading this, you should be able to...
Secretly apply cognitive biases in your onboarding & paywalls to impress, retain & make a sale within the initial few minutes of your user's journey]
1 → 💬 Social proof
"Many people subscribed to this app — maybe I should too!”
When we see others doing something, we’re likely to do it too.
How to apply this?
Show the number of 5-star ratings, downloads, subscribers, avg. rating, app store reviews, press mentions & celebrity endorsements
2 → ⚙️ Labor-illusion effect
“This app’s putting in the effort to build something for my problems”
We trust & value results more when they are shown to us after a delay.
How to apply this?
Show “personalizing experience” loaders during & at the end of onboarding
3 → ⏱️ Scarcity effect
“I’ll miss out on this deal forever if I don’t act now”
We value something more when there's less of it.
How to apply this?
Show time-sensitive offer paywalls with countdown clock, or with ‘close this screen & offer’s gone forever’
4 → 🧱The IKEA effect
"This content is valuable since I made it"
We place higher value on things we have partially created or customized ourselves.
How to apply this?
Allow users to build plans, generate content, & customize profiles, icons, backgrounds, etc...
5 → 🚪 Foot-in-the-door
“I said yes to this, might as well say yes to starting my trial”
When we say ‘yes’ to a small request, we’re likely to agree to a greater one later.
How to apply this?
Show ‘tap & hold to commit’, ‘Make a contract with signature’ & Yes ladders just before triggering your 1st paywall
6 → ☕️ Framing effect
“This app’s cheaper than my $5 Starbucks coffee”
We make very different decisions based on how a fact is presented.
How to apply this?
Show cost comparison between your subscription & things you regularly spend money on anyway.
7 → 📌 Default bias
"I don’t need to explore other options. This will do”
We tend to accept the option that’s pre-chosen for us.
How to apply this?
Pre-select pricing plan [you want to sell the most] with a strong visual cue.
8 → ✔️Completion bias
“I’ve come along this far, might as well continue”
We strongly prefer completing tasks over leaving them unfinished
How to apply this? Show ‘get started checklists’ & progress indicators, to nudge users to take action.
Disclaimer: Always use these cognitive biases ethically.
The last thing you want to do is lose the trust of your hard-earned users.
And always “test, test & test” to find out your best-performing onboarding funnel & paywall variants.
Because it's shocking how often we see conventional wisdom based on "best practices" as just wrong.
Hi, I’m Muhammad Rahat.
I help mobile app founders fix leaky onboarding, unconvincing paywalls & comically frustrating UX.
When you’re ready, there are 2 ways I can help you…
The In-app Funnel Fix OS: My monthly in-app CRO/experimentation program where I come in & help you stop your hard-earned downloads from slipping away to a leaky post-install funnel.
Wallet-opening Onboarding: Playbook: My swipe file of 30+ top-performing mobile subscription app’s onboarding & paywall examples [with visual explanation of what’s working & what’s not]. I spent 300+ hours on this. But it’s yours. For FREE!
Enjoying reading my content? Say hello to me on LinkedIn!
Or tap on the button below to visit my website.