“People install, poke around for thirty seconds, and vanish. What are we missing?”
That was the Monday morning Slack from a solo founder who built a niche running app. The idea is brilliant: track every route you run and paint a personal heat‑map of the city so you can “cover” new streets. Problem? Only a handful of runners were sticking around long enough to see the payoff, and subscriptions were almost zero.
We downloaded the app, hit the intro, and got why: four static slides, a sign‑up wall, then an empty map. No street colors, no achievement spark. It felt like starting a marathon at kilometer thirty.
Here is what we changed immediately:
20‑second guided preview before the gate. A demo run animates across the map, streets turn neon, uncovered areas stay grey. Instant “aha”.
One‑tap Apple or Phone sign‑in. No extra fields.
30 % “founder launch” discount shown right after sign‑up with a 24‑hour timer.
Social proof bar “13k streets painted by our runners last week”.
Result: signup‑to‑subscription jumped from 2 % to 8 %. Today, nine of every ten new purchases happen on that single offer screen, before runners log their first real route.
The math that makes onboarding priceless
Picture a simple funnel, starting with 100 fresh installs:
Step in the first minute | People left | Money opportunity |
|---|---|---|
Open the app | 100 | 0 |
Start onboarding | 95 | curiosity peak |
Finish onboarding | 85 | trust is earned |
See paywall | 80-85 | wallets open here |
Start trial or purchase | 5‑10 | all your revenue |
Tweaking any later stage only moves small numbers. Shift the completion rate from 60 to 75 percent, or the paywall conversion from 6 to 10 percent, and revenue can double without buying a single extra install. That is why the best‑in‑class apps treat onboarding like prime real estate, not a last‑minute slide deck.
4‑step playbook to turn curiosity into cash
Show, don’t tell (under 20 s). Drop users into a micro‑demo. Make them whisper “oh wow” before you ask for anything.
Ask for the review at the “aha” spike. The moment users see the benefit, after the demo, before they dive in, is peak emotion. A polite in‑flow prompt (“Was this helpful? Tap 5★ if yes”) converts far better here than days later, boosts ASO, and costs zero extra effort.
Keep the gate tiny. One‑tap sign‑in or socials only. Each extra field cuts completion by ten to twenty percent.
Monetize peak excitement. Discount, free trial, or credit bundle right after sign‑up. Pre‑usage paywalls convert two to four times better than post‑usage ones.
Instrument every screen. Track start rate, drop‑off, and paywall hits. If you cannot see the leaks, you cannot patch them.
Benchmarks worth chasing
Metric | Good | Great |
|---|---|---|
Onboarding start rate | above 90 % | above 95 % |
Onboarding completion | above 80 % | above 90 % |
Paywall view to trial | 5‑7 % | 8‑12 % |
Time to first win (TTFW) | under 5 min | under 3 min |
Three deadly leaks that sink any app
Value after effort. If the first win comes only after a long profile setup, users bounce. Show a taste of the outcome first.
Feature overload. Ten icons and buzzwords equal zero clarity. Lead with the one or two benefits that matter most.
Blind spots in analytics. No screen‑by‑screen data means you guess where people drop. Guessing keeps leaks alive.
Fix even one of these and you can boost revenue without a single added download.
What to do next
Open your own app like a first‑timer. If you cannot explain the win in three seconds, neither can your users.
Need a second pair of eyes? I am offering free onboarding teardowns this week, a 10-minute Loom video, actionable fixes, and no pitch.
👉 Book here: https://cal.com/appgco/design
Let’s turn that leaky welcome mat into your biggest profit lever. Your users and your RevenueCat dashboard will thank you. 🚀