Indie Dev Skills

Overview

Use this skill to build onboarding and paywall flows that drive Day-0 trial starts, annual plan adoption, and long-term retention. It combines onboarding guidance with paywall and pricing strategy.

Scope And Assumptions

• Primary scope: mobile utility apps with subscription-led growth
• If region is missing, assume US and label that assumption explicitly
• If platform is missing, provide platform-agnostic guidance
• Treat all numeric benchmarks as rough planning targets, not guarantees

Workflow Decision Tree

1) Clarify context

• App category, user problem, target regions
• Current pricing, trial setup, and metrics (if available)
• If data is missing, state assumptions before making recommendations

2) Build onboarding flow

• Identify user problem
• Personalize quickly (scan, quiz, or setup)
• Demonstrate value before pricing

3) Design paywall

• Multi-screen value -> proof -> trial -> pricing
• Annual plan highlighted and preselected
• Equivalent monthly cost shown for annual

4) Validate against defaults

• Trial attached to annual plan, 7–14 days
• “Cancel anytime” visible
• Paywall appears inside onboarding

5) Define experiments

• 2–4 A/B tests with hypotheses and success metrics

Decision Policy (Conflict Arbitration)

• Start with Annual Default when:
• No strong evidence of high price sensitivity
• Category supports longer commitment (productivity, health, education, pro utility)
• Use Weekly Entry then Upsell when:
• Early data shows annual trial-start friction
• Audience is high-churn, low-commitment, or highly price-sensitive
• Resolution rule:
• If guidance conflicts, prioritize current product metrics over static defaults
• If metrics are unavailable, provide both variants and mark one as primary with rationale

Starter Defaults (US Utility Apps, unless user overrides)

• Currency scope: USD only; localize prices before applying outside US
• Weekly: $4.99
• Monthly: $5.99
• Annual: $29.99 (Best Value highlight, default selected)
• Trial: 7-14 days, attached to annual, “Cancel anytime” visible
• Alternative variant to test: weekly-first entry with annual upsell

Conflict Matrix

• Annual default: best for maximizing annual adoption and stronger upfront value framing
• Weekly-first: best for reducing Day-0 commitment friction in price-sensitive segments
• Tie-breaker: pick the option that improves download -> trial without harming trial -> paid

Deliverables

Provide all or subset as requested:

• Onboarding screen sequence with goals
• Paywall flow outline (screen-by-screen)
• Pricing table and selection hierarchy
• Copy blocks (headline, subhead, benefits, CTA, disclaimers)
• Loss-aversion messaging variants
• Experiment plan with success metrics

Required Response Template

Return outputs using these sections in order:

1. Assumptions
2. Recommended Onboarding Flow
3. Paywall Structure
4. Pricing And Trial Setup
5. Copy Variants
6. Experiment Plan (2-4 tests with hypothesis, primary metric, guardrail)
7. Risks And Tradeoffs

References

• references/revenuecat-2025-onboarding-playbook.md – Onboarding rules, benchmarks, and tests
• references/revenuecat-2025-paywall-playbook.md – Pricing rules, trial strategy, benchmarks, and tests
• references/revenuecat-2025-subscription-apps-highlights.md – Report highlights on trial timing, conversion, and paywall placement
• references/mobile-onboarding-usability-guidance.md – Usability-first guidance on when onboarding is justified and how to keep it minimal
• references/adapty-2025-in-app-subscriptions-highlights.md – Pricing mix, regional trends, and paywall tactics

Philosophy

• The decision to subscribe happens before the paywall
• Optimize for Day-0 trial starts and annual adoption
• Prefer clarity and value-first messaging over gimmicks