How do you reduce churn rate? (Your best practices)
I assume I'm not the only one dealing with this problem, đ so I'll seek advice from those more experienced and perhaps those who have a proven track record.
Whenever a user reaches the payment gateway, they often suddenly leave, either by uninstalling the app or closing the page. đ
How can users be guided through the payment method, and when should the paywall be applied? What are the best practices?
Personally, I do not like to put my card details in 3-, 7-day trials because I have had bad experiences, e.g.:
â wasn't announced by email that the trial ends,
â couldn't unplug manually my payment option,
â couldn't reach out to the developer to unplug my card (so I had to call my bank â now, I am more cautious).
Replies
Nika, your payment abandonment is super common and honestly, most apps handle trials terribly which is why you (and everyone else) have trust issues.
I have gone through the same and now have a separate card for free trials. When people hit that gateway, they panic because they've been burned before by sketchy trial practices.
I like to think from a user's perspective and see the flow through their minds.
And this is what I see: users reach payment and immediately think "am I going to get charged randomly?" or "will I be able to cancel?"
Your own bad experiences prove this, those apps trained you (and everyone) to be suspicious.
So, fix the trust issue first. Make cancellation super easy and visible throughout the trial. Send reminder emails counting down with one-click cancel links.
Show them exactly when they'll be charged and make the cancellation process obvious from day one.
For paywall timing, forget arbitrary limits. Wait until they demonstrate real intent with your folder app, maybe when they try to create their fourth folder or customize something meaningful. That's when they're committed to the outcome, not just exploring.
At payment, remind them of their specific goal: "You're 30 seconds from your perfect minimalist setup" plus some social proof like "2,847 people upgraded this week" or something like that.
Most importantly though, make sure your pricing actually matches what your users can reasonably pay for the solution you're offering.
If you're attracting users who see your price and think "that's way too much for folder organization," no amount of UX polish will convert them. For this, the real issue isn't your payment flow, it's whether you're asking the right people for the right amount of money. Fix that alignment first.
That said, what I've shared is general advice based on common patterns I see. To really know what's specifically causing your drop-off, I'd need to look at your actual app flow and see exactly where people are bailing and why.
If you'd like me to take a look at your user journey and identify what's specifically breaking the conversion, I can hop on a quick call and walk through it with you. Sometimes it's something small that's easy to fix once you spot it.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@janefrances_christopher This is one of the best explanations on UX/UI and churn rate I have ever read. How can I bookmark it on Product Hunt? đ I was curious because of my future projects, and this is very helpful. As soon as I am closer to realisation, now, I know to whom to write :)
âïž
I have a 2 step order flow. When someone clicks "buy", they are redirected to step 1, which is a short form. But when this form loads, the payment form pre-loads off screen, so that when they click "continue", the payment form displays instantly.
This reduced churn related to annoyingly long load times. If they are still scared by the price and bounce, there's nothing you can do other than test other prices and discounts.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@emikes919 Which company does have this model?
@busmark_w_nika you mean a 2 step order flow? many. I use it for a service I'm currently running. The pros/cons are as follows:
pros
captures name/email before purchase bounce, can drip sequence emails to capture backend sales
adds friction - people who make it through are more likely to buy
cons
adds friction - more people drop off the longer it takes to get to the payment page
Nika, does this link work for you? This presentation at MAU from AppBoys walks through a bunch of paywall testing results that drove significant results for their clients. Lots of 'this worked well, this didn't, this is why.' Let me know if you can't access and I will provide a summary. Hang in there!
minimalist phone: creating folders
@cholden_lewis Hey Holden, thank you, I can see presentation and video :)
âïžRegarding when to put up a paywall:
My experience has been that the best time is when users have a clear sense that âmy experience/efficiency will be greatly diminished without this paid featureâ.đ€
Or, when they're already deep into using and relying on the free feature and are naturally curious about âwhat else can I expect from the paid version?ââšïž
minimalist phone: creating folders
@partick_support I experienced with CapCut something similar, but after 2 years of using it they switched to PRO with basic features I essentially used for my content creation. I was kind of "forced" :D
I would say freemium approach is the best, where clients needs to upgrade to pro version to get unlimited usage of app.
The most horrible way is to force clients to put their card details to go on trial period.
Exit survey is a way to understand why clients are leaving, categorize them and try to get them back by sending emails.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@eljo_prifti Thank you, I was seeking such a perspective where the credit card is needed after the trial or when a person has already tried the product and solution, you said, makes better sense to me.
Bugster
Great question, this is a pain point for a lot of SaaS products.
What weâve seen work best is delaying the paywall until the user has experienced a clear "aha" moment. That way, the payment feels like a natural next step rather than a blocker.
Also helps to be super transparent upfront:
Show whatâs free vs paid
Remind about the trial before it ends
Make cancellation easy and frictionless
Trust builds retention. The smoother the experience, the lower the churn.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@juan_bautista_beck How do you usually find that "Aha moment"? Because I was willing to pay CapCut subscription after I got used to it (after almost 2 years).
Bugster
@busmark_w_nika Great example with CapCut. That happens a lot, some tools quietly become essential over time.
In SaaS, the "aha moment" usually shows up as a pattern: what are users doing right before they stick around or convert?
It could be exporting a project, inviting a teammate, connecting data, publishing something, whatever maps to core value.
Sometimes it takes data to find it. Other times it's just watching users and noticing where they smile or stop asking questions.
Totally relate to the trust barrier around payment, Nika.
Iâve seen similar friction, especially when card-first trials are involved. A few things that helped us reduce that drop-off:
Pre-paywall value delivery: We shifted more features into the free tier temporarily enough to build habit and trust before asking for payment. Once users felt real value, conversion jumped.
Transparent countdown timer + email alerts: Added a visible âX days leftâ banner inside the app and automated trial-end emails on day 2, 5, and 6. That small UX touch actually cut surprise churn.
Easy unsubscribe option: Made cancellation just 2 clicks from the dashboard. Sounds risky, but it built trust and ironically, more users stayed because they knew they could leave easily.
Tested paywall timing: Instead of showing the paywall upfront, we moved it to a âvalue trigger momentâ
(e.g. when a user tries to export or integrate). Felt more like a natural upgrade than a block.
Also totally agree trial abuse concerns are valid, but trust-first design usually wins in the long run."
minimalist phone: creating folders
@priyanka_gosai1 A good example is finishing the product/output, but after rendering, placing a watermark means the user is half-committed because they have done something, but payment is required to complete it. đ
Card-first trials are difficult to imagine as working well unless they are from large/well-established names. Free plans are the norm ...more so because they show your confidence in delivering real customer value that will make your customers subscribe.
That's the route I would go for.